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When Tim Hankinson was hired in 1985, current players were concerned about having to compete for their starting positions, former left back Ron Dornau said. But to ease the tension, Hankinson constantly “goofed off” with assistant Godwin Iwelumo. 

The duo implemented unique drills that other teams weren’t doing at the time, Dornau said. The team would throw the ball instead of using their feet. In another drill, players tied each other up with rope to show how everyone should advance in certain formations.

“He was very passionate about the game,” former forward Steve Morris said. “Very passionate about developing teams and developing players.” 

On Sept. 22, 2022, Hankinson died after a battle with stage four adenocarcinoma, an aggressive form of lung cancer. He coached Syracuse from 1985-1990, helping it to its second-ever Big East title in 1985. Hankinson finished with a 69-40-18 record, though 33 of his wins were stripped away due to NCAA violations. Prior to Syracuse, he coached at Oglethorpe, Alabama A&M and DePaul, then moved on to coach several professional clubs in the United States, Sweden, Jamaica, Guatemala and India following his time with the Orange. 

Hankinson developed several letter-winners including Morris, goalkeeper Chris Whitcomb and Dornau. Morris’ 50 points in 1989 is the program’s single season record while Whitcomb is SU’s all-time saves leader with 408. 

“Tim always gave me the opportunity to shine in areas of the field that I knew I could be successful in,” Morris said. “(He) supported me and supported players to play with personality and flair.”

Morris had successful junior and senior years in high school, which allowed him to get a few offers. Hankinson, who previously coached at DePaul in the Chicago area, was one of the first coaches to contact Morris around the end of his senior year. 

Aside from his different drills, Hankinson ingrained discipline within the team, especially with fitness. He’d make the team run one side of the field, jog another, then run two sides, jog one, until they ran around the entire field. He also had them do aerobics in Manley Field House.   

“None of my other friends who were playing for other Division-I teams did any of that stuff,” Dornau said. “From a fitness standpoint, it was unbelievable what we had to do then.”

Tim Hankinson coached the Orange for six seasons, helping them get their second Big East title in 1985. Courtesy of Yvette Miller Hankinson

After just one season in charge, Hankinson led Syracuse to its second-ever Big East Championship after a 1-0 win over UConn. In 1986, the Orange finished with a 16-5-2 record, going on two winning streaks of four-plus games. But eventually, they fell in the Big East Championship to Seton Hall and missed the NCAA Tournament. 

Hankinson told The Daily Orange in 1986 that he “expected” an at-large bid to the tournament. The 16 wins are the second-most in a single season in program history. 

Morris said that every year he was there, Syracuse consistently cracked the top-20 in the rankings and occasionally got in the top-10. Still, it struggled to sustain the level of play since recruiting players to central New York was a “challenge,” Morris said. 

“The recruiting battles weren’t easy, but we were in them always,” Morris said. “While we did find some success was the fact that we found good players, (Hankinson) gave us opportunities to compete on a level playing field and to hopefully have some success.”

Hankinson recruited a variety of players from several different regions, including the Caribbean and Canada. He wanted to create a sense of personality and style within the team. 

On Jan. 13, 1987, Hankinson was informed that Dornau wouldn’t receive another year of eligibility. Dornau had barely played in his freshman season three years earlier, under then-head coach Alden Shattuck. So Hankinson pushed to get Dornau another year of eligibility, and though the attempt was unsuccessful, it showed how Hankinson would’ve “done anything” for his players.

Dornau said Hankinson had a more “tactical” style. Hankinson could “tear apart the opponent” and always had a gameplan ready. He utilized the 4-4-2 formation with a sweeper, trying to get on the front foot. Dornau said Hankinson allowed him to do overlapping runs on the outside to get up in the attack. 

In a game against UConn in the Dome, Dornau used the tactic to get open with 30 seconds left in the game. He launched a shot from 35 yards out, scoring one of his two career goals. 

“I always found (Tim) to be very caring,” Morris said. “He cared about his players (and) it generally showed up in how our teams were built.”

At the age of 5, Hankinson began playing soccer at St. David’s School in New York City. He played in high school at the Storm King School, a boarding school in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, where he was co-captain his senior year in 1973. 

“He didn’t seem to take himself too seriously. And he was really dedicated to excelling in sports,” said David Hartcorn, Hankinson’s co-captain at Storm King in 1973.

In his first meeting with Hankinson, Hartcorn noticed his short hair cut compared to everyone else’s long, “really bad” hair. 

“The whole hippie thing was going,” Hartcorn said. “Tim was one of the few guys in the school that had short hair. He (was going to) mature well beyond the rest of us.”

In Hankinson’s two varsity seasons, Storm King won both of its league championships, defeating its “hated” rival New York Military Academy in both finals. 

After graduating from Storm King, Hartcorn and Hankinson decided to become “squatters,” not packing up and heading home from the boarding school. Nobody knew they were there, and eventually through a connection with a friend’s father, the pair got a job at a local felt factory in Newburgh, New York.

Following high school, Hankinson played collegiately at South Carolina from 1973-76. As a player-coach, he earned his United States Soccer Federation C and B Licenses, which kickstarted his coaching career since there wasn’t a professional league for him to play in.

He first coached at Oglethorpe in 1979, advancing the program to the NAIA District Finals. Then after coaching Alabama A&M to two top-three finishes in the NCAA Tournament, he coached DePaul in 1982 in its inaugural season. 

After Syracuse, Hankinson coached in several locations domestically in the United States and internationally as well, even earning the head coaching job with the Colorado Rapids in the MLS. He finished his coaching career with the Chattanooga Red Wolves of USL League 1.

Tim Hankinson coached for about four decades, coaching collegiate teams and several professional clubs, domestically and internationally. Courtesy of Yvette Miller Hankinson

But in October 2020, doctors noticed that Hankinson had a high cholesterol number. Later tests revealed that he had several cancerous tumors that originated from his esophagus, spreading to  his stomach and liver.  

“He would have definitely continued to coach if he had the strength,” Yvette said.

Still, Hankinson did color commentary for San Antonio Football Club, the local USL Championship club where the family is now settled. He did until June 2022, when he couldn’t speak anymore. 

In 2021, Hankinson published two children’s books, The Adventures of Plato and The Adventures of Plato: Road Trip. The former teaches lessons from soccer to help 6-12-year olds to become better players and teammates, and the latter reinforces the soccer lessons while visiting a U.S National Team game. 

“(Tim) was just an unbelievable motivator,” Dornau said. “Every single game and every time we were in the dressing room, no matter who we were playing (or) how much better they were than us, it didn’t matter. He just said ‘look, we just play our game.’”

Published on October 12, 2022 at 9:35 pm

Contact Cole: colebambini@gmail.com | @ColeBambini