Jason Hawkins is in his 6th season as head coach of the Trolls, after taking over the reigns of the Trinity Men's Basketball program in the 2018-19 season. Hawkins brings experience to the position as he has coached at the collegiate and high school levels for the past 18 years.
In 2020-21, Hawkins led the Trolls to a 10-10 overall record, including a 6-4 mark in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC). The Trolls earned post season appearances in both the CCAC Tournament and the NCCAA North Central Regional. Trinity entered the CCAC Tournament as the six seed, but fell in the Quarterfinals to a surging Indiana University-Northwest team. After an 83-71 win over Hannibal-LaGrange University to open the Regional Tournament, Trinity would fall at the buzzer to the University of Northwestern in the finals. Northwestern would go on to win the National Championship.
In 2019-20 season, the Trolls had a 11-19 overall record with a 6-16 record in conference. The team finished the season ranked 24th in NAIA Division II for three-point field goals made.
During the 2018-19 season, his team was fifth in the conference for offensive rebounds and seventh in the conference for defensive rebounds. He also coached the No. 1 ranked player in the conference for steals.
Prior to Trinity, he served as the head men’s basketball coach at Don Bosco PrepInstitute in Crown Point, Indiana, where he led the team to Mid-American Prep Tournament titles for three seasons. He also successfully helped his athletes transition to collegiate programs, with 24 student-athletes receiving NCAA Division I scholarships.
From 2011-14, Hawkins was the head men’s basketball coach at Indiana University-Northwest, where he increased the team’s winning percentage each season. He was the head coach at Calumet College of St. Joseph from 2004-06 and led that program to their first-ever post-season victories.
Hawkins spent one season as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Elmhurst College. Before that, he was with Valparaiso University’s basketball program for two years as an assistant. Hawkins played collegiately at Valparaiso University for three seasons from 2000-03. In his career, the Crusaders were regular season conference champions, earned a NCAA Tournament bid in 2002, and participated in the 2003 NIT Tournament.
Along with that, Hawkins was involved in high school athletics for a number of years. In 2015, he served as the athletic director at Lake Station Edison High School and the prior year at Charter School of the Dunes in Indiana. At the high school level, he coached, taught and was an assistant athletic director at Marquette Catholic High School in Michigan City, Indiana from 2007-10.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Valparaiso in 2003 and a master’s degree in business administration from Ashford University in 2010.
