Courtney Hawkins Talks Difficulty of Coaching High School

Courtney Hawkins discusses Mel Tucker's comments about high school coaching being more difficult than coaching at Michigan State Spartan football.

East Lansing, MI—When Mel Tucker from Michigan State football talked about hiring Courtney Hawkins from high school to coach college, he got a lot of people’s attention when he said he thought, “It is harder to coach in high school then college.” So Hawkins was asked about the difficulties he faced a Flint Beecher High School in Flint, Michigan.

“I mean, I appreciate that by Coach Tucker but, you know, high school and one thing about it is I was at a high school that was in the bottom five percent of poorest high schools in the state of Michigan so a lot of the luxuries, amenities, the actual needs – we didn’t have. I’ve spent a lot of time going out, trying to make sure that the playing field was level, and I think that’s kind of what Coach Tucker was talking about. I didn’t have anybody breaking down film; I broke down film. I did all the scouting. I’ve coached every position on our offense and part of the defense. So then you have the demands of being a head coach, answer to parents and the administration side from being an athletic director, and everything that goes on and taking care of all the other sports with, which had the same issues. That job was a job where I never slept doing that job because there was always something going on. College football is on that same level. There’s the opportunity now to focus more on one position and honing the craft of the receivers and doing my part on special teams. I think the same time and the same hours, the same effort in to be great and to be a champion. Nothing has changed from me from that standpoint because I’m super competitive. I’m not going let you win if we sit down and play marbles or darts or shoot pool; I’m going to play like my life is depending on it because that’s just kind of how I’m wired. I’m going to bring that same energy, same passion to the receiver position, and the coaching staff.”

The Spartans kick off the season on September 5, 2020. They will be hosting in the Northwestern Wildcats with a rare, season-opening Big Ten game.

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