He demands conditioning, execution of fundamentals and teamwork. He is soft-spoken, but firm; business-like, yet personable.
Among active coaches his record ranks 8th in the nation, best on the West Coast for number of wins achieved. The record, quite succinctly, speaks for itself.
Cliff Hamlow has built and maintained a winner at Azusa Pacific for 23 seasons. He gained his 400th coaching victory in 1974-75, just five seasons after winning No. 300. During his tenure the Cougars have had 13 20-plus winning seasons and in 16 campaigns they've finished better than .500. Six time the winning percentage has been .800 or better. Two times it was .793 and .778. Since the merger of Azusa College and Los Angeles Pacific College in the fall of 1965, Hamlow's teams have won 259 and lost 129, a .668 percentage. Despite a 12-19 record last year, Hamlow's past ten team have a .673 winning percentage (200-107.
The Cougars won the NAIA District 3 championship in 1973-74, the first time they had won the title in their seventh try. The won the Southern Division of the the District that year with a 9-1 m ark, but have finished 4-6 and 5-5 the past two seasons. They won the Gold State Athletic Association (since dissolved) eight of the 13 years they participated, winning 78 of 106 games.
Educationally, Hamlow graduated from Denair High School (Modesto) in 1952. He attended Azusa College (then known as Pacific Bible College) where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in education in 1956. He continued his studies at the University of Southern California, receiving a master's degree in 1965. After further studies at USC he completed work for his doctorate in education at Walden University (Fla.) this past spring.
Athletically, Hamlow served as basketball coach during his senior year at Azusa College. The following year he added the head baseball, cross country, and tennis positions. He remained as baseball coach until 1965 and was an assistant in football during the 1960-61 seasons.
Hamlow Coaching Record
Year Record Pct. Cumulative
1954-55 7-2 .778 7-2
1955-56 20-5 .800 27-7
1956-57 21-9 .700 48-16
1957-58 6-19 .240 54-35
1958-59 15-13 .536 69-48
1959-60 13-18 .419 82-66
1960-61 16-10 .615 98-76
1961-62 20-10 .667 118-86
1962-63 9-20 .310 127-106
1963-64 21-11 .656 148-117
1964-65 24-4 .857 172-121
1965-66 23-6 .793 195-127
1966-67 16-16 .500 211-143
1967-68 21-9 .700 232-152
1968-69 28-7 .800 260-159
1969-70 29-6 .829 289-165
1970-71 25-11 .694 314-176
1971-72 26-10 .722 340-186
1972-73 28-7 .800 368-193
1973-74 28-5 .848 396-198
1974-75 12-16 .429 408-214
1975-76 11-17 .392 419-231
