Northwestern University defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz looks on from the sidelines during a game last year. Hankwitz retired after the 2020 regular season with 400 victories as an assistant coach for 11 teams. Photo courtesy of Northwestern University.
A conversation with Mike Hankwitz
By Greg Gielczyk
Born in Ludington and raised in Scottville, George Michael “Mike” Hankwitz, 73, was a record-setting basketball player as well as track competitor in addition to being an all-state football player at Mason County Central High School.
When Hankwitz started receiving scholarship offers to play football in college, it was a done deal. He eventually signed with the University of Michigan and got to play in his senior year for legendary coach Glenn “Bo” Schembechler.
Originally beginning his college career as a linebacker, Hankwitz finished it as the Wolverines’ primary field goal kicker and started on the 1969 Big Ten championship team that played in the Rose Bowl.
Hankwitz said that remains the high point of his playing career.
“When Bo came in, he wanted to meet with every player to get to know them,” Hankwitz recalled. “He wanted to know a little bit about you.”
“He asked me, ‘What are you going to do when you graduate?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m going to coach.’ I was thinking of basketball initially, because I liked basketball, and there is a lot of teamwork, and stuff.
“So he goes ‘Well, have you thought of being a graduate assistant? You’re helping us. You’re breaking down film, you’re helping coach, you’re scouting. You’re learning football thoroughly.’
“I thought, ‘Wow, that sounds pretty interesting.’ So I did it, and I was hooked. By the time I was a graduate assistant, we were coaching the (junior varsity team), getting them ready to play a game, calling plays. That was a blast.”
Hankwitz said he would have been happy coaching high school sports, but Michigan assistant coach Jim Young was hired as the head coach at Arizona and invited Hankwitz to go with him.
That began a 51-year run as an assistant coach at 11 different stops for Hankwitz, including a 10-year stint at University of Colorado under Hall of Fame coach Bill McCartney. He also coached at Texas A&M, 1997-2002, under another Hall of Famer, coach R.C. Slocum. There, he helped guide the Aggies’ famous “Wrecking Crew” defense.
He also returned for a time to Colorado and was defensive coordinator at Wisconsin before being hired at Northwestern in 2008 and retiring in 2020.
The numbers are there, of course … 400 victories as an assistant coach, two stints as an interim head coach, all the bowl games and being part of nearly 40 winning teams.
But what was the most rewarding part of his coaching career?
“You’re coaching a group of players. You get to know them a lot,” Hankwitz said. “You see them grow and develop. I was a DB coach, I was a linebacker coach, I coached D-ends and then I became a coordinator where I coached a position, but I oversaw the whole defense, called the plays and stuff.
“So, I had different responsibilities as I went along. I interviewed for some head coaching jobs. Looking back, I wish there were some things I would have done prior to that to prepare myself for it.
“But, when it didn’t happen, I just said I was going to be the best coordinator I can be. As the game changed, the offenses changed, you always had to change and come up with new ways to stop them, new ways to defend them.
“So, it was always fun. I was blessed to be around a lot of great people. I never felt like it was work. It was like I was still playing. You’re still competing. You don’t think about the hours. You just enjoyed what you were doing.”
