He demands conditioning, execution fo fundamentals and teamwork. He is soft-spoken, but firm; business-like, yet personable.
The man of many seasons at Azusa Pacific College, Cliff Hamlow begins his 28th year with 503 wins. Among active coaches his record ranks 6th in the nation, best on the West Coast. He was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame this past Spring and is third among NAIA active coaches with 500-or-more wins. His record, quite succinctly, speaks for itself.
Hamlow's Cougars have won 20-or-more games in a season 15 times, and 19 of his teams have been above the .500 mark. Six times the winning percentage has been .800-or-better and on two other occasions it was .793 and .778. Since the merger of the schools (Azusa and Los Angeles Pacific Colleges) in the 1965, Hamlow's teams have a smart 331-195 record.
Under Hamlow the Cougars have won one NAIA District 3 championship (1973-74) have won or shared four district division titles (division set-up initiated in 1973-74) and have been a playoff participant 11 times in the past 16 seasons. Prior to that they won the Golden State Athletic Association eight of the 13 seasons 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.) in 1976.
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
1976-77 12-19 .387 431-250
1977-78 14-17 .451 445-267
1978-79 13-20 .394 458-287
1979-80 25-10 .714 483-297
1980-81 20-18 .526 503-315
