Mr. Bohn,
I am a lifelong CU football fan and an alum (XXXXX). I grew up in a small town in Colorado and I started watching CU football in the early 70s (when I was about 7 or 8) and I fell in love with the colors, the stadium, and Ralphie. I've been a big fan ever since, even though I have spent my entire working career in California. Some of my personal highlights include meeting Eddie Crowder when he was the AD, attending a Mallory practice and receiving an autographed jersey from CU player named XXXXXXXX when I was pretty young (he'd played high school ball for a California powerhouse high school team XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX), getting a personal pep talk outside Folsom from Mac soon after he was hired (along with my then girl friend, now wife of 22 years), playing high school football against Barnett's Air Academy team and then later meeting him at an alum function, etc. One of my prized possessions is a 1990 jersey, signed by Hagan, Bienemy, JJ, and OC. I mention all this so you don't think I'm some fairweather fan.
Over the years, I have donated to the CUAD, and to XXXXXX, and to XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, and to the scholarship program that helped me attend CU (XXXXXXXX). I've purchased season tickets that I rarely used, just to try to support the program. I've stopped all donations, across the board.
This brings me to the point of this e-mail. CU football has become a laughingstock here on the West Coast. In my opinion, it is damaging the reputation of the University as a whole, right at a time when we should be celebrating our membership in the Pac 12 and using this opportunity to engage our large and generally successful alumni base in the Pac 12 footprint. Rarely does a Monday morning pass that I don't hear questions and comments at work from a Cal or Stanford or UCLA grad about the state of CU football. The folks old enough to remember how great we once were are aging and there are actually people I work with who don't understand why CU was even asked to join the Pac 12. I find myself defending the program based upon historical glory that is now fading as the years pass. My fellow alums on the West Coast are, like me, fatigued by this continuing failure. We should be energized and upping our commitment to CU, but instead we find ourselves apologizing and explaining the situation and how we arrived at this low point.
In sum, I want a reason to believe again. Coach Hawkins seemed like a nice man, but he was kept longer than he should have been. That clearly hurt recruiting and put Coach Embree and his staff in a hole to start. But, I frankly see no sign that this staff can either coach or recruit our way out of this hole. Recruiting is going so poorly (according to all of the various services that cover such things)-- we aren't bringing in Pac 12 caliber players. And, the coaching has been truly awful to watch. The lack of experience has cost us in so many ways-- the team is not put into a position to win, youth and injuries considered. I'm a big fan of Coach Embree and his staff as people and as former Buffs, but they have utterly failed in their effort to turn this program around and they are not, in my opinion, well positioned to move us forward.
We need wholesale change. Our reputation is so damaged at this point that this staff cannot effectively recruit enough top talent to fix this. Please consider bringing in an entirely new staff, lead by a coach that has both the experience and the reputation to immediately effect a positive change, despite the hole we are in. This, coupled with a facilities announcement, would give us hope again. Ask us for money. Put together a big public campaign to fund our path back to glory. I'm not a huge donor, but I'll give if you sell the vision. The first step is to demonstrate that CU has a commitment to winning. I really believe you want to win, but I question whether the rest of the leadership even cares. I'd like to see signs that CU wants to win so I don't feel like I'm investing in failure. I'm XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX--- when I need XXXXXXXXXXXX to move, I first sell a vision and then I show tangible, actionable steps that work to achieve the vision.
You can win us all back-- we have a dormant, disillusioned fan base out here. Bring in a winner at Head Coach and start the ball rolling again.
Thanks for allowing me the chance to share my thoughts.
