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Never imagined I would ever see it.
- Thread starter MtnBuff
- Start date
Medford M.
Well-Known Member
Say what you will, but the guy can coach a little. Who knows what could have happened if he never brought in Cody and almost all his 4 stars didn't flame out.
Just stop.
It wasn't about Cody and it wasn't about 4* recruits.
Hawkins came in and failed to establish a winning culture, failed to establish an identity. His teams were undisciplined and disorganized.
He may very well be one of those guys who's niche in life is at the lower level. I certainly wouldn't give him another job at the P5 level.
i think it speaks volumes about the way he's perceived and how people outside the program see the job he did at CU that he hasn't even sniffed a D1 HC job since he got fired.
Especially since outside of the performance of his teams he doesn't have any real disqualifying factors. He has been relatively scandal free, he got along well with his administrators and the boosters. He was relatively well liked by his players and hasn't involved himself in any conflict or controversy in his personal life.
His only real negative factor was that he did a terrible job.
I do think though that making Cody the QB was his downfall.
DrunkRalphie
Well-Known Member
No one got screwed harder under the Hawkins era than Tyler Hansen.
Yeah, when I was typing that reply I was torn on whether I should mention that the same applies to Barnett also, but then Barnett obviously has "the scandal" clouding his time at CU (at least when it comes to national perception, the vast majority of Barnett at CU happened before my time).
Simply based on his coaching ability and his resume I think Barnett should've gotten another shot after he was fired by CU.
How much longer would Barnett have been HC and how different would CU’s program be today had “the scandal” never been a thing?
That's nothing but the god damn truth. I was there for his debut against KSU in 2008 (thanks FC!) and Dan's poor handling of the QB situation essentially cost him his entire college career, but the fact the Bengals invited him for camp after he graduated somewhat does make me wonder what could've been if he hadn't been completely screwed by an inept coaching staff and a HC solely focused on giving his kid some record book entires.
I had expected him to do very well there. He's excellent as a big fish in a small pond. And while Petersen as OC and the HCs who preceded him had a lot to do with Hawkins' success at Boise State, you don't luck your way into the best winning percentage in all of college football. He's a very good coach in the right situation.
Still hate him.
Alright everyone...settle down. (and bring the funk.)
Sykobuff
Well-Known Member
You will get me angry just thinking about it. I have a ton of respect for Gary Barnett.
Barnett was a football coach and a very good one. He proved that as an assistant then at Northwestern and at CU. He wasn't a PR man and he wasn't a politician.
The CU administration completely threw Gary under the bus when faced with a media feeding frenzy based mostly on unfounded accusations and some outright lies. Because they didn't have the backbone to stand up for the truth the attacks continued instead of ending with the truth. The administration was afraid to take on the press and Mary Keeney.
Because of this a good man had his name soiled to the point that he never got a chance to coach again. Added to that the failure of the administration to effectively respond also meant that the roster of players who were on those teams also had their names soiled. The perception was that if a young man was a football player at CU he must be an out of control rapist. While there were a few individuals who crossed the line just like you will find in almost any program a huge number of high quality young men had their reputations hurt and the university administration stood by and allowed it to happen.
Concur
The program, IMHO, would have been sick. I’m talking Nick Saban good.
He had to walk away for his own reasons but, I think he may have coached another 10 years and been very successful if not for his personal life. And I’ll never fault him for that.
Any coach, actually. The wives basically go through hell. They are left on their own. Raising kids is a tough job. I don’t care how much money you have.
BM was special. Perhaps a once in a life time hire.
I don’t think CU will find another BM in my lifetime.
SINKRATZ
PhD in Analogy
We dropped a pretty big turd on the field last week.
The Monk
Club Member
Good point, if everything Hawkins did bad was good, he would have been great.
It's really too bad. I always liked Gary Barnett and thought he was a great coach. He's remained loyal to CU even after he was thrown under the bus.
When Hawkins took over at Boise everything was already in place for him. Most of the staff stayed with him, the player development pipeline was already in place, the recruiting network was in place. The offensive and defensive systems were already in place.
The biggest thing was that he didn't have to establish a culture, all he had to do was keep driving the bus.
When he got to CU he had to establish a culture and in that regard he failed completely. He didn't hire the right assistants or he didn't give them the authority and support they needed. He didn't establish accountability in the players, his entire time here the players treated him and the program like a joke (not all the players but enough to rot the entire program.)
I didn't hate him then or hate him now. I just see him as a guy who was in way over his head and wouldn't do what was needed to save himself.
I wouldn't shock me if after a couple years of winning big at UC Davis he doesn't get another chance at a BCS program, probably a G5 level school. If he has learned his lesson (doubtful based on history) and hires the right assistants he could very well be successful.
Prunes?
Seriously, GB would have built a very good program, absent the scandal that wasn't. Probably a perennial 9-10 win team, occasionally challenging for all the marbles. He was a very good HC.
D II Danny was a disaster. Cody compounded it. No QB was going to come here, and the ones who did magically developed TE or S skills. It was so obvious, and so pathetic, it annoys me to this day. Cody was not a DI QB and it showed, over and over. The day D II was fired was a good one for CU FB.
All of that aside, Hawkins is a good coach at the right place...he just is not a D I caliber coach.
AllStarBuffs
Member
SerenityBuff
Well-Known Member
Good for him. Fun fact: Cody is the WR coach at UC Davis.
Some things never change.
Or UC Davis will join the MWC.