Karl Hobbs

College coach infobox


Name = Karl Hobbs
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DateOfBirth =
Birthplace = flagicon|United States Roxbury, Massachusetts
DateOfDeath =
Deathplace =
Sport = Basketball
College = George Washington
Title = Head coach
CurrentRecord = 114-65 (.637)
OverallRecord =
Sports Information Dir.= Brad Bower
Awards = A-10 Coach of the Year (2006)
Championships = A-10 Tournament Championship (2005, 2007)
A-10 Regular Season Championship (2006)
Player = *
Years = 1981–1984
Team = UConn
Position = Point guard
Coach = *
CoachYears = 1987–1993
1993–2001
2001–present
CoachTeams = Boston University (asst.)
UConn (asst.)
George Washington
FootballHOF =
CollegeHOFID =
BBallHOF =

Karl Hobbs is the head coach of the George Washington University Colonials men's basketball team. He has won two Atlantic 10 Conference championships, and has led the Colonials to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Hobbs is known for his high-energy, frenetic coaching style. He often spends entire games pacing up and down the sidelines yelling and whistling to his players.

Early years

Karl Hobbs grew up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a neighborhood of Boston. Hobbs began at basketball at Burke High School before he transferred to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in highly controversial decision in which Burke coach Joe Day accused Cambridge coach Mike Jarvis of illegally recruiting Hobbs. At Cambridge, Hobbs played point guard alongside Patrick Ewing. They won the Massachusetts State High School title and Hobbs was named Massachusetts Schoolboy Player of the Year for the 1979-80 season. After high school, the 5'8" Hobbs attended the University of Connecticut playing basketball for coach Dom Perno and setting a school record (since-broken) with 534 career assists - a total that currently ranks fourth in school history. After graduating, Hobbs signed with the Rhode Island Gulls of the USBL.

Coaching career

Early positions

Hobbs joined Jarvis's staff as an assistant coach at Boston University in 1988 and remained there as an assistant through 1993. Then, he joined Jim Calhoun as an assistant at UConn where he stayed from 1993-2001. During this time, he worked at both schools in the training and development of their guards and honed his recruiting skills. When Dave Leitao left Calhoun's staff to become the head coach at Northeastern University, Hobbs was elevated to his position as the top recruiter. Hobbs is credited as the recruiter who brought Richard Hamilton, Caron Butler and Khalid El-Amin to UConn, among others, and he was vital in the development of Ray Allen.

Through Hobbs's fourteen years as an assistant, he was a member of coaching staffs that made eight NCAA Tournaments and two NIT appearances. Additionally, UConn made five Sweet Sixteen appearances during his tenure and won the 1998-99 National Championship.

During this time, it was natural for Hobbs's name to begin popping up for head coaching vacancies. Some of the various schools at which he was a candidate were the University of New Hampshire, Fordham University, Tulane University, American University, the University of Hartford, the University of Delaware, the University of Miami, Siena College and Drexel University before he finally accepted an offer to become the head coach at George Washington University in May 2001.

GW coaching history

On May 7, 2001, Hobbs was named the head coach at the George Washington University after pervious coach Tom Penders resigned amidst scandals and a lack of success. After completing his first two season just 24-33, Hobbs led the Colonials to a 18-12 record in 2004 and a bid to National Invitation Tournament. There they were defeated by the University of Virginia. In 2006, Hobbs was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Colonials to their first undefeated conference regular season, the NCAA Tournament, and a 27-3 record in only his fifth year at the helm. Hobbs now holds a 1-3 record with GW in NCAA tournament games.

Hobbs won his first Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in 2005, the first in GW history, and then added the second in 2007 in Atlantic City. On January 3, 2007 he achieved his 100th win at the Smith Center over Fordham.

Hobbs is well known for his hyperactive demeanor on the sidelines. He is known for his intensity, fast substitutious, frequent whistling and hollering at his players. His teams are typically characterized by their frenetic, trapping defense which has led the Colonials to be one of the top teams in steals the past few seasons. Additionally, he tends to recruit stocky guards and pencil-thin, athletic forwards while coaching one of the quickest teams in the country.

Two of Hobbs's players at George Washington played in the NBA and a third was drafted in the second round in 2006. They are: Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall, and J. R. Pinnock.

Head coaching record

CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=
postseason=
poll=noCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name=George Washington
startyear=2001
conference=Atlantic Ten Conference
endyear=|CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2001–2002
name = George Washington
overall = 12-16
conference = 5-11
confstanding = 5th (West)
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2002–2003
name = George Washington
overall = 12-17
conference = 5-11
confstanding = T-4th (West)
postseason = CBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2003–2004
name = George Washington
overall = 18-12
conference = 11-5
confstanding = 2nd (West)
postseason = NIT 1st RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 2004–2005
name = George Washington
overall = 22-8
conference = 11-5
confstanding = 1st (West)
postseason = NCAA 1st RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2005–2006
name = George Washington
overall = 27-3
conference = 16-0
confstanding = 1st
postseason = NCAA 2nd RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
season = 2006–2007
name = George Washington
overall = 23-9
conference = 11-5
confstanding = 3rd
postseason = NCAA 1st RoundCBB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
season = 2007–2008
name = George Washington
overall = 9-17
conference = 5-11
confstanding = 13th
postseason =CBB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = George Washington
overall = 114-65
confrecord = 59-37CBB Yearly Record End
overall=114-65