Kirk Martin loved that about her when he made her part of his first recruiting class at Cedarville University in 2001 (she was Kari Flunker then) and then watched her become one of the best players in school history, leading the Yellow Jackets to a pair of NAIA Division II national runner-up finishes in her final two years in 2004 and ’05.
“She was born to lead,” he said. “She had an incredible gift as a freshman of speaking motivation to her teammates. I constantly called her a Michael Jordan — someone extremely talented but who could motivate players around them to be better.
“To be honest, I was so envious of her ability to just tell it like it should be told, and they had enough trust in her to receive it. Players just responded to her in the correct way.”
Wright State still sees Hoffman as a natural leader, which is why she was picked out of a host of candidates — including top assistants from high-profile schools — to take over for Katrina Merriweather, who left for Memphis.
Hoffman was Martin’s top assistant at Cedarville for six years and then succeeded him when he retired in 2016. She led the Yellow Jackets to a 106-38 record, three conference titles and their first trip to the NCAA Division II tournament.
“I’m pretty blunt. Kirk has always told me I have that Wisconsin bluntness in me,” she said. “I think if you’re not being real, you’re fooling yourself.”
Hoffman is from a tiny town in uppermost Wisconsin called Florence (pop. 497). And there’s no easy way to get there, as Martin found out while recruiting her.
Having beaten out Michigan Tech for her college commitment, he headed north with a letter-of-intent in hand for her to sign. But the trip took a toll, and by the time he got there, Martin couldn’t keep the family from, you might say, seeing him being real.
“I had to fly a puddle-jumper from Chicago … because Kari lives in the boonies. When the plane started landing, I got sick — to the point where I shared my food in (an air-sickness) bag,” he said, chuckling.
“She was waiting at the house. I got out of my car, and I couldn’t quit throwing up. I’M IN HER FRONT YARD THROWING UP! She and her high school best friend are watching me, at which time her friend says, ‘Flunk, are you actually going to go play for this man?’”
She did, and that commitment paid off for both parties. Martin took a career risk in leaving Southeastern High School, where he’d won a state title in 1996, to start his 15-year stint at Cedarville.
But he knew it’d all work out — as long as he could keep signing players like Hoffman.
“I love to tell this story: We gave away a game the second game of the year. We just couldn’t make any shots,” he said. “We go in the locker room and then I come out. I’m talking to my family, and out she comes with her shirt tail hanging out, tears in her eyes. Her dad is with her. She starts shooting — crying and shooting — because she hadn’t shot well.
“I looked at the people around me and said, ‘She’s a keeper. This is what we want right there.’’”
Hoffman is second in career scoring for the Yellow Jackets (2,275 points) and first in 3-pointers (338).
And she was at her best in the biggest games.
“We were playing Concordia (Neb.) in the national semifinals. We’re down two, and she was fouled with no time on the clock. She just walks out on the floor, and makes them both — doesn’t even touch iron. Nothing but net,” Martin said.
“She walks over to me and basically says, ‘Let’s go get ‘em!’ We scored the next 13 points (in overtime) and made it to the championship game.
“She’ll be clutch (as a coach) in crunch time.”
Hoffman choked up once during her introductory press conference Friday. That was when she remembered her father, Mark, who died in 2016 after a battle with ALS at age 58.
When she regained her composure, she thanked Martin, who was in attendance along with about three dozen Wright State administrators and coaches. She called him “my other dad” and thanked him for believing in her.
She added later: “He started this whole coaching process for me. He was the first to tell me, ‘You have it. I want you as my (assistant) coach, and I’m going to make sure that happens someday.’
“He told me that when I was 20 years old, and that belief when I was 20 years old meant the world to me. I’ll never forget it.”
Martin expects Hoffman to continue her winning ways with the Raiders — in part because of her candor and confidence.
She’s spent all but two of the last 20 years at a Christian college, and she calls herself on her Twitter account a “Jesus follower.”
A popular Bible verse about communication is “speaking the truth in love.”
Hoffman has a history of doing that in her interactions.
Of course, some of that might just be her Wisconsin bluntness.
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