Michael G. Hawkins is the associate athletic director for communication services (SID) at Francis Marion University, and is entering his 40th year at the university.
Hawkins, 62, served as sports information director and news writer within the University's Office of Communication Services for 21 years prior to accepting his current post and moving to the athletics department in 2006.
A 1985 graduate of Francis Marion, he is a longtime member of the College Sports Communicators (formerly College Sports Information Directors of America , CoSIDA). He was a participant in the CoSIDA Mentorship Program for 2016-17 acting as a mentor, and currently serves on the CoSIDA SID Recognition Week Committee. He has taken part in multiple CoSIDA Fitness Challenges, and received a 25-year award from CoSIDA at the organization's 2018 national convention in Washington, D.C.
Hawkins was a participant in the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship Class (2022) presented by CoSIDA and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
He currently serves as the chairman of the Sports Information Director committee within the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas. He previously served a two-year term as chairman of the Peach Belt Conference SIDs Committee (2018-20), and is a past member of the Peach Belt Conference Hall of Fame selection committee.
Francis Marion was honored with the inaugural Peach Belt Conference SID Office of the Year award for the 2013-14 school year, and again garnered that award for the 2019-20 year.
During his time at Francis Marion, he has worked at numerous Peach Belt Conference and NCAA championship events. In the fall of 2013, he worked at the NCAA Division II men's and women's soccer national championships.
He served as a member of the statistical crew at the 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992 NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournaments in Kansas City, Mo., and was director of information for women's basketball for NAIA District Six in the late 1980s.Â
The Porterville, Calif., native is a product of Florence's Wilson High School and earned the B.S. degree in mathematics from Francis Marion in 1985. He served as student SID at FMU from 1981 to 1985.
In 2012, he was honored by Francis Marion University by having the pressbox at the new Griffin Athletic Complex named after him. He was inducted into the Florence Area Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.
He is a life-long fan of the New England Patriots (since 1971) and San Diego Padres (since 1974), in addition to having grown up with FMU athletics (since 1970). He is married and has two children, one of whom played soccer at The Citadel and one who played soccer at Winthrop University. The latter received one of two CoSIDA Member Child Scholarships for 2014. He is also a proud grandfather of twin boys and one granddaughter.
Hawkins serves on the board of directors of the Helping Florence (S.C.) Flourish organization and previously served as co-chair of the group's Racial Bridging Unit. He has spent eight years as a member of the NCBWA Southeast Region Committee (2018-2022). He represented FMU at both the 2018 Savannah Grove Elementary School STEAM Career Fair and the 2024 McLaurin Elementary School Career Fair, talking with elementary students about careers in athletics.
(7-2025)
"If life were more like soccer, you'd get all the minutes you wasted returned to you at the very end. For most of us, those wasted moments would add up to a decade or more of "added time" appended to our Earthly existence. Who wouldn't want to see -- on his or her deathbed -- a fourth official raise an electronic signboard, lit up with a red "10" to indicate another 10 years' time tacked on, our Golden Years extended indefinitely by that greatest gift of all: Fergie Time."
Steve Rushin, SI columnist
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