Veteran coach T.J. Hardeman becomes the seventh coach in Azusa Pacific’s 37-year history of women’s basketball.
Hardeman comes to Azusa Pacific after spending the past 3 seasons as the women’s head coach at Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) rival Hope International University in Fullerton, Calif., where he put together one of the most remarkable turnarounds in conference history.
Hardeman inherited a Hope International program that finished last in the GSAC 5 straight seasons and had won just 5 of 96 conference games from 1999 to 2004. However, he led the Royals out of the cellar and to more victories than they had combined for in the 5 previous years, fashioning a 38-58 (.396) 3-year record. He guided the Royals to 16 GSAC victories the final 2 seasons, 10 more than they had collected in the 6 previous seasons in the conference.
In 2006, he caught everyone’s attention in the GSAC when Hope International posted its first-ever 20-win season and qualified for its first-ever NAIA postseason action. His Royals carved out a 20-14 overall record, which included a 10-10 slate in GSAC play and a sixth-place finish. For his effort, Hardeman was named the GSAC Coach of the Year, the first HIU coach ever to be so honored in any sport.
Prior to taking over the Hope International program, Hardeman spent 20 seasons as a boy’s head coach on the high school level in Southern California, serving 7 (1982-89) years at Paramount (Calif.) High before moving on to Troy High in Fullerton, Calif., where he coached for 13 (1990-2003) more campaigns. While at Troy, he led the Warriors to the CIF playoffs 11 times and was named the Freeway League Coach of the Year 4 times as well. Though now coaching at Azusa Pacific, Hardeman will continue his ties with Troy High, teaching psychology and sociology full-time.
Hardeman played his collegiate basketball at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., where as a 1975 freshman he played for his father, Tine Hardeman. T.J. then played the next 3 seasons for NAIA Hall of Famer Chet Kammerer. Along with his dad, who was a 4-year letterman at Westmont in the mid-1950s, T.J.’s 3 younger siblings – Tom, Terri and Todd – also played basketball at Westmont.
Hardeman graduated from Westmont in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education. He earned a master’s in curriculum and instruction from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., in 1983.
T.J. and his wife, Cindy, live in Brea, Calif. They have 4 adult children, Heidi, a former 4-year basketball player at Biola, Katie, a former 4-year hoopster at Westmont, and sons Travis and Trent, who both are current members of the Hope International men’s basketball team and played for T.J. at Troy High
