I was in a dark place. I think we all were.
Two bowl games in 14 years will do that to a person.
Having a head coach give you hope by selling you on competing for championships and delivering on a recruiting class only to lie to everyone and leverage our support to get a better deal on the way out after 1 year... well, it sucked. It sucked hard.
And seeing that I was gullible enough to believe a snake oil salesman who, for a price, was even willing to talk about character while wearing a rapist Mateen Cleaves jersey to suck up to the Sparty faithful... well, that was a whole other level of nauseating.
It caused a feeling of desperation. I want so ****ing badly for us to be competing for championships at CU again. I was 100% on board to go for the jugular with a risky hire like a Steve Sarkisian who would draw the national press and make a splash in SoCal recruiting. Similarly, I was ready to take a risk on Eric Bieniemy for the same reasons with a selective memory lapse of 2011-12. Could either of those coaches have worked at CU? Damn straight. Could they have also blown up on us? Also, damn straight.
But when you're at the high roller table, short stacked, and have a bad hand (i.e., hiring in February), I figured the only way you're probably going to own your competition is if you have the biggest set of balls at the table and you're willing to raise the stakes while showing no fear.
But I was forced to swallow a hard lesson. This is not the movies. This is reality. The cards are not hidden and the hands in this game are won by those who can buy them. There is no bluffing when hiring a head coach. At the end of the day, we were chasing the guys who were in the best offensive coordinator jobs in college and pro football, respectively. To leave those jobs they had a ton of risk, too. Their demands were going to be on the edge of what CU could deliver and beyond. And I don't blame them for that. These were deals that probably couldn't be made at the end of the day.
On Saturday, I wasn't ready to accept this truth. And while I was having my guts ripped out during that basketball collapse against UCLA, I got word that we had turned to a coach I had not thought about since the Nov/Dec 2010 search with Karl Dorrell. I was in a very bad place from the Sark/EB disappointment and hoops. I did not handle it well.
As I posted about my mood, having been asked by friends & family about the situation and if I was holding up alright:
I thought that CU may have given up. You know, just hire someone who is a "true Buff". Make sure it's someone with high character. Don't worry about competing for championships. Set new expectation of not sucking and being squeaky clean while making the occasional bowl. Hire someone who will stay for a decade while we fans are reduced to running APR and "beauty of the Flatirons" smack. I went from anger to desperation to depression in a very short time.
Sunday it became official.
I don't know, though. Something started to happen Sunday night into this morning. Maybe it was because I knew I needed to relax and not be such a dick to my family. Who knows? But I decided to relax with some silliness and we all watched Dumb and Dumber that night. I laughed. I let go of tension. Maybe I was even inspired a little bit.
Today, with skepticism, I took an early lunch and put the earbuds in at my desk to watch the introductory press conference.
Yes, Coach Dorrell is as understated as I anticipated. He did not charge the room with a rah rah speech. He didn't try to sell me.
Instead, he talked from the heart and it was authentic. It was sincere. A football coach actually called a new job his "dream job" and instead of me calling bull**** on it, I was choked up right along with him. I actually believed him. I legitimately started to believe that there were still others out there like me who believe, even in that crazy coaching profession, that some things are still more important than money.
Not that the money doesn't matter. It always does. It has to be enough. It has to be enough to show respect and market value. But it doesn't have to be what is driving someone. Other things can still drive someone. Family. Dedication to your craft. A passion for mentoring and helping others achieve their goals. Loyalty to people and places that made you the man you are. Living where you want to be. A personal and professional dream. This stuff is what came through to me with Karl Dorrell.
This is the kind of character I want in a leader. The kind of leader who doesn't just make a player willing to run through a wall because it's what will get him to the NFL or win the game that day or whatever. No. This is the kind of leader who can call you up in 20 years, even if you haven't kept in touch like you should have. And when you get that call, your immediate reaction is that it doesn't matter what's going on in your life -- if he needs you then you'll be on the next flight. And you know he'd be that way for you.
We talk about recruiting. We talk about all the other stuff that goes into a football team's success. But that kind of trust and building family? That's what really wins championships.
That's what we lost sight of too often these past 15 years and particularly in the last year. We thought we hadn't, but how easily we were duped proves otherwise. That trust and family is what it's all about.
Now, I'll still be watching the staff hires closely. I'll be focused on whether recruiting is being emphasized and successful. I'll care a lot about scheme, game plans, execution and all the rest. That stuff matters just as much as it always did. I will not hesitate to hold Karl Dorrell accountable for all those things and take him to task when I think he deserves it.
But you know what? I believe in him. Not only do I want to win so badly it hurts, I want even more to win with a head coach and man who I'm proud of.
So I rallied today. Karl Dorrell has my full support. I'm proud that he's our coach.
Time to start winning again and be the program we all know this is supposed to be.
Go Buffs!
Two bowl games in 14 years will do that to a person.
Having a head coach give you hope by selling you on competing for championships and delivering on a recruiting class only to lie to everyone and leverage our support to get a better deal on the way out after 1 year... well, it sucked. It sucked hard.
And seeing that I was gullible enough to believe a snake oil salesman who, for a price, was even willing to talk about character while wearing a rapist Mateen Cleaves jersey to suck up to the Sparty faithful... well, that was a whole other level of nauseating.
It caused a feeling of desperation. I want so ****ing badly for us to be competing for championships at CU again. I was 100% on board to go for the jugular with a risky hire like a Steve Sarkisian who would draw the national press and make a splash in SoCal recruiting. Similarly, I was ready to take a risk on Eric Bieniemy for the same reasons with a selective memory lapse of 2011-12. Could either of those coaches have worked at CU? Damn straight. Could they have also blown up on us? Also, damn straight.
But when you're at the high roller table, short stacked, and have a bad hand (i.e., hiring in February), I figured the only way you're probably going to own your competition is if you have the biggest set of balls at the table and you're willing to raise the stakes while showing no fear.
But I was forced to swallow a hard lesson. This is not the movies. This is reality. The cards are not hidden and the hands in this game are won by those who can buy them. There is no bluffing when hiring a head coach. At the end of the day, we were chasing the guys who were in the best offensive coordinator jobs in college and pro football, respectively. To leave those jobs they had a ton of risk, too. Their demands were going to be on the edge of what CU could deliver and beyond. And I don't blame them for that. These were deals that probably couldn't be made at the end of the day.
On Saturday, I wasn't ready to accept this truth. And while I was having my guts ripped out during that basketball collapse against UCLA, I got word that we had turned to a coach I had not thought about since the Nov/Dec 2010 search with Karl Dorrell. I was in a very bad place from the Sark/EB disappointment and hoops. I did not handle it well.
As I posted about my mood, having been asked by friends & family about the situation and if I was holding up alright:
I thought that CU may have given up. You know, just hire someone who is a "true Buff". Make sure it's someone with high character. Don't worry about competing for championships. Set new expectation of not sucking and being squeaky clean while making the occasional bowl. Hire someone who will stay for a decade while we fans are reduced to running APR and "beauty of the Flatirons" smack. I went from anger to desperation to depression in a very short time.
Sunday it became official.
I don't know, though. Something started to happen Sunday night into this morning. Maybe it was because I knew I needed to relax and not be such a dick to my family. Who knows? But I decided to relax with some silliness and we all watched Dumb and Dumber that night. I laughed. I let go of tension. Maybe I was even inspired a little bit.
Today, with skepticism, I took an early lunch and put the earbuds in at my desk to watch the introductory press conference.
Yes, Coach Dorrell is as understated as I anticipated. He did not charge the room with a rah rah speech. He didn't try to sell me.
Instead, he talked from the heart and it was authentic. It was sincere. A football coach actually called a new job his "dream job" and instead of me calling bull**** on it, I was choked up right along with him. I actually believed him. I legitimately started to believe that there were still others out there like me who believe, even in that crazy coaching profession, that some things are still more important than money.
Not that the money doesn't matter. It always does. It has to be enough. It has to be enough to show respect and market value. But it doesn't have to be what is driving someone. Other things can still drive someone. Family. Dedication to your craft. A passion for mentoring and helping others achieve their goals. Loyalty to people and places that made you the man you are. Living where you want to be. A personal and professional dream. This stuff is what came through to me with Karl Dorrell.
This is the kind of character I want in a leader. The kind of leader who doesn't just make a player willing to run through a wall because it's what will get him to the NFL or win the game that day or whatever. No. This is the kind of leader who can call you up in 20 years, even if you haven't kept in touch like you should have. And when you get that call, your immediate reaction is that it doesn't matter what's going on in your life -- if he needs you then you'll be on the next flight. And you know he'd be that way for you.
We talk about recruiting. We talk about all the other stuff that goes into a football team's success. But that kind of trust and building family? That's what really wins championships.
That's what we lost sight of too often these past 15 years and particularly in the last year. We thought we hadn't, but how easily we were duped proves otherwise. That trust and family is what it's all about.
Now, I'll still be watching the staff hires closely. I'll be focused on whether recruiting is being emphasized and successful. I'll care a lot about scheme, game plans, execution and all the rest. That stuff matters just as much as it always did. I will not hesitate to hold Karl Dorrell accountable for all those things and take him to task when I think he deserves it.
But you know what? I believe in him. Not only do I want to win so badly it hurts, I want even more to win with a head coach and man who I'm proud of.
So I rallied today. Karl Dorrell has my full support. I'm proud that he's our coach.
Time to start winning again and be the program we all know this is supposed to be.
Go Buffs!
Last edited:
ing pissed off for greatness. 
