The architect of Fort Lewis College’s successful men’s basketball program has died.
Bob Hofman, the winningest coach in program history who led the Skyhawks to 20 win seasons in three decades and has the court inside Whalen Gymnasium at FLC named after him, died in his sleep on the morning of Aug. 10. He was 75.
Hofman had been dealing with back issues over the past few years. He had multiple spine surgeries and in February, doctors found he had an infection in his spine, which took its toll on Hofman, said his wife, Nancy.
Despite his health issues over the past few years, Hofman enjoyed watching the Los Angeles Dodgers play and win the World Series in 2024. Nancy said he enjoyed spending time with his family, keeping in touch with his former teammates at University of Colorado Boulder and his high school and college buddies.
“His players have been like family ever since and even from in the ’80s,” Nancy said. “They’ve kept in really close contact and one thing was he felt really lucky that there wasn’t the portal going on there because he had guys stay for five years. They really got to know each other really well, had a lot of good chemistry and loved each other.”
The longtime Skyhawks head coach finished his FLC career with a 359-190 record and 245-115 record in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Hofman’s 359 wins are a program record.
FLC won three RMAC regular season champions, six RMAC West Division titles, four RMAC postseason titles and made the NCAA Division II playoffs seven times under Hofman.
“Coach Hofman had the largest impact of anybody on me as far as coaching goes,” Hofman’s former player and assistant coach Bob Pietrack said. “Not only myself, so many of the players that he came in contact with over the years, the life lessons that he taught and the way that he treated all of the players and the coaches was excellent. … There wasn’t another person out there just like him. He was a very good coach, a very good person and somebody that any impressionable young man would be lucky enough to be around.”
After his coaching career, the court inside Whalen Gymnasium was named “Bob Hofman Court” in 2016. Hofman was also inducted in the FLC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021.
After graduating from University of Colorado in 1974, Hofman coached in high school from 1974-1981 before returning to Colorado as an assistant coach from 1981 to 1983.
Hofman coached the Skyhawks in two different stints, first coaching FLC from 1983 to 1987. In Hofman’s first season at FLC, the Skyhawks went 10-17 overall and 6-10 in the RMAC. FLC improved to 22-9 overall in 1985-1986 under Hofman. In Hofman’s final season of his first stint, FLC finished 20-6 overall and 12-2 in the RMAC, winning the regular season and tournament championship.
He then moved on to coach at Eastern Washington University for three seasons. He then was an assistant for a year at Fresno State before coaching at Western State College (now Western Colorado) for five seasons.
In 2000, Hofman returned to FLC and coached the Skyhawks until 2015. FLC finished 9-17 overall in 2000-2001, but didn’t have a losing season under Hofman again. The Skyhawks won 20-plus games eight times in Hofman’s second stint, including a 24-6 record in 2007-2008 with a RMAC championship, RMAC shootout championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
One member of that 2007-08 team who’s grateful for Hofman and is following in his footsteps is Devon Manning. The head coach of Kirkland Central High School girls basketball team, Manning played for Hofman and FLC from 2004 to 2008. But, he could’ve never had the chance.
“He gave me a second chance in the sense of when he recruited me, he originally offered me and I actually told him I wasn’t going to go to Fort Lewis,” Manning said. “But, then I called him back and asked if the offer still stood. He said yes; he could’ve easily told me no and wished me best of luck, but just the kind of guy he is, he gave me a second chance to accept that offer … where I am now it’s really because of him and his generosity toward me.”
One of Hofman’s best seasons was in 2010-2011, when he led the Skyhawks to a 24-8 overall record and a 15-7 record in the RMAC. FLC made it to the Sweet 16 of the Division II NCAA tournament.
In 2015, Hofman decided to retire and Pietrack took over as his successor. The two Bobs had been together for 15 years, from Pietrack’s playing days for the Skyhawks from 2000 to 2004 and his time as an assistant under Hofman from 2004 to 2015.
Pietrack always loved Hofman’s incredible intensity on the court as he was a mild-mannered man off the court. He felt indebted to Hofman after he mentored Pietrack, gave Pietrack a walk-on spot and gave Pietrack the chance to be his assistant.
Some of Pietrack’s favorite memories with Hofman were in 2002. The Skyhawks won the RMAC West division and on consecutive nights in Denver, FLC knocked off the RMAC’s No. 1 team in Metro State (MSU Denver) and No. 7 Nebraska-Kearney to win the RMAC tournament championship. Metro State went on to win the national championship three weeks later.
Those two nights summed up how FLC punched above its weight class in the RMAC under Hofman, Pietrack said.
Pietrack thought Hofman’s ability to adjust and his ability to relate to players, whether he was 10 years or 40 years older than him, were Hofman’s greatest strengths. Manning thought Hofman’s communication skills and his understanding of his players were two of Hofman’s strengths.
Along with Nancy, Hofman is survived by his sons Nick and Lucas.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
