Coaches Profiles

Head Coach

Scott Hawes is entering his second year as head wrestling coach at Hannibal-LaGrange College. Hawes brings 12 years of coaching experience on all levels of competitive wrestling from middle school to the NCAA/NAIA collegiate level. Hawes wrestled during his high school and college careers receiving numerous team and individual awards, including several second and third place finishes in state and tournament matches, state champion for the Michigan Association of Christian Schools, and Freestyle Champion for the Can-Amera Games. In 1995, Hawes earned a fourth-place finish in the NCCAA Tournament. As a student-athlete at Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Hawes was coached by USA Olympic Gold Medalist, Ben Peterson. Following his graduation from Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Hawes accepted a full-time ministry position as assistant pastor for First Baptist Church, Rochelle, IL. While ministering in Rochelle, Hawes began to coach wrestling and soccer at the Rochelle Township High School and wrestling at Rochelle Middle School. After 7 years of coaching in Rochelle, IL, Hawes accepted the position of head wrestling coach and director of student ministries at Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Watertown, WI where he coached for 4 years. In his four years of coaching at Maranatha, Hawes experienced success coaching Maranatha's first-ever 2nd place finisher and NCAA All-American in the 2007-08 season. However, Hawes defines success more than earned awards and records. "As a coach, I want to help equip men to succeed on the mat, in the classroom, and in life, but more importantly, I also want every wrestler to know that they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ." Along with his middle school, high school, and collegiate wrestling coaching experience, Hawes has trained coaches and wrestlers for the Rochelle, Illinois IKWF Wrestling Club, and coached soccer at RochelleTownship High School. Hawes and his wife Jenny have two sons, Austin and Chase, a daughter, Reagan, and reside in Hannibal, MO.
In a recent press release from the National Wrestling Coaches Association it stated, “The NWCA is excited to announce it has secured a $30,000 grant that can be utilized to scholarship “up-and-coming” college coaches who have been nominated by their peers to participate in a “one of a kind” Coaches Leadership Academy “focus group” in conjunction with this year’s NWCA Convention in Ft. Lauderdale. To a large extent, the future success of college wrestling lies in the hands of these aspiring young coaches.” Coach Hawes was one of 30 college coaches selected to participate in this first ever Coaches Leadership Academy.

Coach Hawes is also the advisor to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Huddle on HLG’s campus.
In his free—time Coach Hawes enjoys hunting, fishing, riding motorcycles and speaking at churches in the area.



Assistant Coach

Coach Ian Northcott is in his third year coaching at HLG. Coach Northcott was responsible for starting the wrestling program at HLG during the summer of 2007.

Specialty
Coach Northcott’s main responsibilities in the wrestling program are to work with the lower weight classes, recruiting, strength, conditioning and weight management

Education
Coach Northcott’s grow up in St. Charles, MO before attending HLG where he graduated with in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Recreational Management and then returned back to Hannibal in 2007 to help start the wrestling program. Along with Northcott’s coaching responsibilities he has taken on the task of completing a Master of Science in Exercise Science degree from California University of Pennsylvania. He is projected to finish this course in 2010. Northcott is also completing certification in Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention through NASM

Head Coach Scott Hawes had this to say about Coach Northcott,

“Coach Ian Northcott’s discipline and determination is what perpetuated what success we saw in our first competition season of HLG wrestling. Without Coach Northcott’s dedication our first season may not have happened. The burden I faced in transitioning in as the head coach was lightened by Coach Northcott’s humility, love for wrestling and HLG, and his desire to see HLG wrestling build a solid foundation for the future. After meeting Coach Northcott and spending countless hours communicating about the future of HLG wrestling it was apparent to me that we had similar goals in coaching but more importantly Coach Northcott loves God. Coach Northcott’s love for God also makes it possible for us to find cohesion as a coaching staff. We do want not to have our cohesion centered on just wrestling and our love for the sport. Our love for the sport naturally brings cohesion, but that cohesion is strengthened because of our mutual love for Jesus Christ and our desire to please Him in our lives and in our wrestling program. This is something that we both want to model and pass on to our wrestlers.”