ahoelsken
Well-Known Member
I'm pissed off enough after today that I decided I wanted to send Saliman a message. Drafted something really quick and thought I'd throw it up here. While I might have a different idea on how best to fix this cluster**** than some, we all want the same thing. I'll probably send this early next week. Let me know what y'all think.
President Saliman,
My name is Andrew Hoelsken. I’ve been a lifelong Colorado football fan, and I was at the game against Air Force this past weekend. On the way back to Denver, I decided I wanted to take a few minutes to express my disappointment as a fan at the state of the program to you at this point in time. Before I do that, please let me share my perspective. I remember the glory years fondly. I remember the 1990 team beating national powerhouses like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Notre Dame on their way to one of the greatest seasons in college football history in my opinion. I remember the Miracle at Michigan-including my late grandfather excitedly calling my father and I asking if we had seen the end of it. I remember meeting Michael Westbrook the week after that game after Rashaan Salaam ran all over Texas’ defense. I remember 62-36 in 2001, and I remember being at games like Utah in 2016. That experience was one of the best I have ever had at Folsom-and it showed what this program can accomplish.
After watching the first two games of the 2021 season, I am alarmed at what I’ve seen. After having the opportunity to attend the Texas A&M game last season, I believe our defense played their hearts out. They showed the heart of a buffalo that afternoon. I left Empower Field thinking we probably should have won that football game. Unfortunately, our offense struggled to move the ball for much of that game. That trend continued throughout last year, and I haven’t seen much that indicates that anything has changed based on the losses to TCU and Air Force. That has had a major impact on the culture of the team in general in my view. After TCU scored 10 points in the third quarter, I saw some really alarming body language from our players. In short, the heads down that I saw on the CU sideline (Brady Russell referenced this postgame last week) indicated a “here we go again” vibe. I saw something similar this afternoon in Colorado Springs. We dug an early hole because of our continued struggles offensively, even with the effort and heart our players showed today. The final score indicated a lack of leadership from the coaches in this program more than anything in my view.
Here’s what is most alarming to me as a fan-our fanbase deserves better than what we’ve seen for the last 14 games from this program. We came awfully close to selling out last week’s home opener against TCU. I have not seen anything on social media in terms of the ticket allotment for today’s game, but I can tell you what I saw at the game today. There were a lot of CU fans at the Academy. It is clear to me that this fanbase loves this program. Given that, this fanbase deserves significantly better than what it has seen over the last year plus. Further, the shape that college football is in makes fixing this program that much more urgent. In my view, a successful football program is the easiest way to market a university. In my view, this is especially true at an institution like the University of Colorado. We have the greatest stadium in the sport, as well as the greatest tradition in the sport in Ralphie. I’d be remiss if I did not mention realignment in this message as well. I believe our lack of success is widening the gap between programs like ourselves and fellow Pac 12 institutions like Oregon and Washington.
In short, I no longer believe that Karl Dorrell is the right individual to lead this program. I have seen continued struggles on offense in particular that date back to the first game of the 2021 season against Northern Colorado. Defense might win championships, but you can’t win if you can’t score points. In addition to that, I do not believe that Rick George and Lance Carl deserve another opportunity to lead a search for another football coach. It is hard for me to not look at the departure of Mel Tucker and believe that Rick George could have prevented that by including a higher buyout should Tucker have left CU for another opportunity. George and Carl have compounded that mistake by forcing this institution into competing against itself for the services of a candidate like Karl Dorrell.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this message.
Go Buffs!
Andrew Hoelsken
President Saliman,
My name is Andrew Hoelsken. I’ve been a lifelong Colorado football fan, and I was at the game against Air Force this past weekend. On the way back to Denver, I decided I wanted to take a few minutes to express my disappointment as a fan at the state of the program to you at this point in time. Before I do that, please let me share my perspective. I remember the glory years fondly. I remember the 1990 team beating national powerhouses like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Notre Dame on their way to one of the greatest seasons in college football history in my opinion. I remember the Miracle at Michigan-including my late grandfather excitedly calling my father and I asking if we had seen the end of it. I remember meeting Michael Westbrook the week after that game after Rashaan Salaam ran all over Texas’ defense. I remember 62-36 in 2001, and I remember being at games like Utah in 2016. That experience was one of the best I have ever had at Folsom-and it showed what this program can accomplish.
After watching the first two games of the 2021 season, I am alarmed at what I’ve seen. After having the opportunity to attend the Texas A&M game last season, I believe our defense played their hearts out. They showed the heart of a buffalo that afternoon. I left Empower Field thinking we probably should have won that football game. Unfortunately, our offense struggled to move the ball for much of that game. That trend continued throughout last year, and I haven’t seen much that indicates that anything has changed based on the losses to TCU and Air Force. That has had a major impact on the culture of the team in general in my view. After TCU scored 10 points in the third quarter, I saw some really alarming body language from our players. In short, the heads down that I saw on the CU sideline (Brady Russell referenced this postgame last week) indicated a “here we go again” vibe. I saw something similar this afternoon in Colorado Springs. We dug an early hole because of our continued struggles offensively, even with the effort and heart our players showed today. The final score indicated a lack of leadership from the coaches in this program more than anything in my view.
Here’s what is most alarming to me as a fan-our fanbase deserves better than what we’ve seen for the last 14 games from this program. We came awfully close to selling out last week’s home opener against TCU. I have not seen anything on social media in terms of the ticket allotment for today’s game, but I can tell you what I saw at the game today. There were a lot of CU fans at the Academy. It is clear to me that this fanbase loves this program. Given that, this fanbase deserves significantly better than what it has seen over the last year plus. Further, the shape that college football is in makes fixing this program that much more urgent. In my view, a successful football program is the easiest way to market a university. In my view, this is especially true at an institution like the University of Colorado. We have the greatest stadium in the sport, as well as the greatest tradition in the sport in Ralphie. I’d be remiss if I did not mention realignment in this message as well. I believe our lack of success is widening the gap between programs like ourselves and fellow Pac 12 institutions like Oregon and Washington.
In short, I no longer believe that Karl Dorrell is the right individual to lead this program. I have seen continued struggles on offense in particular that date back to the first game of the 2021 season against Northern Colorado. Defense might win championships, but you can’t win if you can’t score points. In addition to that, I do not believe that Rick George and Lance Carl deserve another opportunity to lead a search for another football coach. It is hard for me to not look at the departure of Mel Tucker and believe that Rick George could have prevented that by including a higher buyout should Tucker have left CU for another opportunity. George and Carl have compounded that mistake by forcing this institution into competing against itself for the services of a candidate like Karl Dorrell.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this message.
Go Buffs!
Andrew Hoelsken
