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worst CU football head coach in the last 50 years?

worst CU football head coach in the last 50 year?

  • dan hawkins

    Votes: 29 20.6%

  • jon embree

    Votes: 87 61.7%

  • chuck fairbanks

    Votes: 25 17.7%

  • other (if you pick this one, be prepared to defend your answer)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    141
I'm too young to have seen Fairbanks. Picking who worse worse between the other two is like choosing whether you'd like to be kicked or punched in the nuts.

Hawkins was bad, but not as bad as Embree. As bad as I wanted Hawkins fired, I believe he would have had a better W/L record than Embree. Hawkins did make it to one bowl game, but eventually his "Hawklove" went away and he crashed hard. Embree wasn't qualified to have the job and he proved it. He did excel a little in recruiting, but more than failed at gameday coaching, strategizing and rallying the team. He's a position coach at best. His staff didn't help at all either. Bienemy was totally lost as the OC. His offense wasn't suited for the players he had and he could be out strategized by any middle schooler who played NCAA 2013.
 
EDIT: "picking who was worse"

P.S. Anyone else having issues with being able to edit their posts? Google Chrome crashes when I try.
 
Lt.Col.FrankSlade said:
Did Fairbanks ever call a QB sneak on 1st and 10?
Click to expand...

he did something worse, in my view.

in 80, our Buffs were getting absolutely destroyed by barry switzer and OU. switzer was the oc for fairbanks and felt that fairbanks got too much credit for the vaunted sooner offense. so, barry sent his boys to work on the Buffs. they ran up about 500 yards of offense in the first half (the final score was 82-42). it was clear to everyone that barry was going to literally put up over 100 points and 1000 yards of offense on CU by the end of the game. fairbanks didn't want to be humiliated like that. so, at the half, he sent an assistant coach over to the sooner locker room to beg barry to lay off. switzer took this as chuck's admission that the ou offense was due to switzer's greatness and not fairbanks'. so, switzer magnanimously agreed to lay off in the second half. remember that ou ran the triple option at this time. so, the whole second half, ou ran the fullback up the middle off the triple option. every down except 4th. this allowed CU to throw the ball about a million times in the second half and close the scoring gap. and it allowed chucky to say that his new, pro-set offense was starting to come together-- look at the yards they put up.

this, imho, is worse than a blown playcall.
 
@mountain re: grandelius.

i specifically set the time line so that grandelius wouldn't be on the list. while he did, in fact, cheat as badly as you say, i think you have to look at the times and circumstances around that. it mitigates, i think, some of things he did.
 
Liver said:
he did something worse, in my view.

in 80, our Buffs were getting absolutely destroyed by barry switzer and OU. switzer was the oc for fairbanks and felt that fairbanks got too much credit for the vaunted sooner offense. so, barry sent his boys to work on the Buffs. they ran up about 500 yards of offense in the first half (the final score was 82-42). it was clear to everyone that barry was going to literally put up over 100 points and 1000 yards of offense on CU by the end of the game. fairbanks didn't want to be humiliated like that. so, at the half, he sent an assistant coach over to the sooner locker room to beg barry to lay off. switzer took this as chuck's admission that the ou offense was due to switzer's greatness and not fairbanks'. so, switzer magnanimously agreed to lay off in the second half. remember that ou ran the triple option at this time. so, the whole second half, ou ran the fullback up the middle off the triple option. every down except 4th. this allowed CU to throw the ball about a million times in the second half and close the scoring gap. and it allowed chucky to say that his new, pro-set offense was starting to come together-- look at the yards they put up.

this, imho, is worse than a blown playcall.
Click to expand...

I wonder if Embree wandered into the Fresno locker room at halftime and begged DeRuyter to lay off.
 
Liver said:
@mountain re: grandelius.

i specifically set the time line so that grandelius wouldn't be on the list. while he did, in fact, cheat as badly as you say, i think you have to look at the times and circumstances around that. it mitigates, i think, some of things he did.
Click to expand...

What you stated is true and the timeline which is why I just listed him as an honorable (dishonorable) mention. Grandelius impacted the program for decades following, maybe still now. CU is seen by some nationally as a "dirty" program and this came about because of what Sonny did.

It was bad enough that closing down the program was more seriously considered than at any other time in school history. Remember that this happened very close to the same time as when DU dropped football (officially in 1961 but had been in the works for a few years.)

I voted for Fairbanks. I wasn't aware of what had happened in that OU game, I just remember us looking like a jr. HS team lining up against a quality college team, Switzer could have put 100 on us by the end of the 3rd quarter if he wanted to.

The Fairbanks hiring was arrainged and pushed through by Jack Vickers and Robert Six who were highly successfull businessmen and had the money to get listened to. They wanted a high profile, buy your wins program like Nebraska and OU. They thought they had their guy to bring that when they convinced Fairbanks to bail out on the Patriots and lead them to glory. It turned out that he wasn't that interested in working hard, didn't have the resources, and didn't have the supporting coaching staff that he had taken advantage of at OU.

Interestingly enough, Six blamed CU for Fairbanks failure and never again was a big donor.
 
dio said:
Or Washington, or Oregon, or USC, Arizona, USC, UCLA
Click to expand...

Embree thought a halftime adjustment meant putting his hands down his pants in the lockerroom and moving things around so his thighs didn't pinch him as much when he walked back out on the field for the second half.
 
Duff Man said:
Doesn't the fact Embree actually cared and was still terrible count against him?
Click to expand...

:stupid: This is exactly correct!

The fact that WB "cared", yet egotisitcially refused to change anything about his approach, his strategy, his staff, his manner, coupled with the fact he had no plan, actually is a reason to double down on his rank as worst ever!
 
Liver said:
he did something worse, in my view.

in 80, our Buffs were getting absolutely destroyed by barry switzer and OU. switzer was the oc for fairbanks and felt that fairbanks got too much credit for the vaunted sooner offense. so, barry sent his boys to work on the Buffs. they ran up about 500 yards of offense in the first half (the final score was 82-42). it was clear to everyone that barry was going to literally put up over 100 points and 1000 yards of offense on CU by the end of the game. fairbanks didn't want to be humiliated like that. so, at the half, he sent an assistant coach over to the sooner locker room to beg barry to lay off. switzer took this as chuck's admission that the ou offense was due to switzer's greatness and not fairbanks'. so, switzer magnanimously agreed to lay off in the second half. remember that ou ran the triple option at this time. so, the whole second half, ou ran the fullback up the middle off the triple option. every down except 4th. this allowed CU to throw the ball about a million times in the second half and close the scoring gap. and it allowed chucky to say that his new, pro-set offense was starting to come together-- look at the yards they put up.

this, imho, is worse than a blown playcall.
Click to expand...

Was there. Score should have been 82-63. Walter Stanley dropped a couple of long passes when he was behind the OU secondary and the CU TE that day also dropped a sure TD.

The fact that Eddie hired a friend who didn't care, under pressure from $$$ donors can't trump the fact that WB allegedly DID CARE, but still wouldn't change!

Cripes! WB had three ex-HC's on his staff and yet, he refused to learn anything from them!
 
Credit to JE, EB and JWebb for turning the "quick" one step bubble screen route into an incredibly slow developing play and then calling it 15 times a game for an average of 1.2 yards per attempt.
 
IMO, it has to be Fairbanks. As previously mentioned, not only did he not care and was a drunk, he was also the 1st coach to bring down a respected CU football program and it really pissed me off when he started f**king with the uniforms
 
As much as I despise Fairbanks, the blue uniforms were not his doing. That was something the Regents pushed on the school. Fairbanks got blamed for it, but it wasn't his fault.
Killing half the athletic department in an ego driven hissyfit - yeah, that was his fault.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
Jaximus said:
I'm too young to have seen Fairbanks. Picking who worse worse between the other two is like choosing whether you'd like to be kicked or punched in the nuts.

Hawkins was bad, but not as bad as Embree. As bad as I wanted Hawkins fired, I believe he would have had a better W/L record than Embree. Hawkins did make it to one bowl game, but eventually his "Hawklove" went away and he crashed hard. Embree wasn't qualified to have the job and he proved it. He did excel a little in recruiting, but more than failed at gameday coaching, strategizing and rallying the team. He's a position coach at best. His staff didn't help at all either. Bienemy was totally lost as the OC. His offense wasn't suited for the players he had and he could be out strategized by any middle schooler who played NCAA 2013.
Click to expand...

While JE didnt do bad in national recruiting, he certainly burned every bridge with the local state schools. Yet another reason not to like him IMO.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
 
Hugegroove said:
IMO, it has to be Fairbanks. As previously mentioned, not only did he not care and was a drunk, he was also the 1st coach to bring down a respected CU football program and it really pissed me off when he started f**king with the uniforms
Click to expand...

WizzersGhost said:
Was there. Score should have been 82-63. Walter Stanley dropped a couple of long passes when he was behind the OU secondary and the CU TE that day also dropped a sure TD.

The fact that Eddie hired a friend who didn't care, under pressure from $$$ donors can't trump the fact that WB allegedly DID CARE, but still wouldn't change!

Cripes! WB had three ex-HC's on his staff and yet, he refused to learn anything from them!
Click to expand...

I was there as well, sitting in the OU section (my old man got us free tickets from a buddy in the oil business). That was the day I learned to hate OU with every ounce of my being. For that, I am grateful to the drunken bastard!
 
sackman said:
As much as I despise Fairbanks, the blue uniforms were not his doing. That was something the Regents pushed on the school. Fairbanks got blamed for it, but it wasn't his fault.
Killing half the athletic department in an ego driven hissyfit - yeah, that was his fault.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Plus his contract stipulated that he got a brand new pair of those nasty white leather loafers that coaches used to wear. Every week. He'd throw them away after one use. Plus he spent 100k remodeling his office while the school was shutting down baseball. We were very close to football extinction.
 
Embree. I hoped against hope he was the guy to change our trajectory. Of the three, I rooted for him the most, and was let down the most. There's a reason most coaches pay their head coaching dues as coordinators and/or as the head guy at Backwater State. I remember the moment I went from,"he's got no talent, program is in shambles, he's got no talent, he's got no... Oh no he has no clue and he's confusing yelling with crouching."
 
Yellow Shirt said:
Embree. I hoped against hope he was the guy to change our trajectory. Of the three, I rooted for him the most, and was let down the most. There's a reason most coaches pay their head coaching dues as coordinators and/or as the head guy at Backwater State. I remember the moment I went from,"he's got no talent, program is in shambles, he's got no talent, he's got no... Oh no he has no clue and he's confusing yelling with crouching."
Click to expand...

Did that moment happen the first year or the 2nd?

For me, it was the CSU game in year 2. It was when I saw, after 2 series, them throw down the flash cards for signaling in plays for the hurry up spread attack they were unveiling that year... but I didn't want to believe my rational mind... and then it slowly built from there until the game losing drive by Sac State when I fully accepted that there was no hope.
 
Buffnik said:
Did that moment happen the first year or the 2nd?

For me, it was the CSU game in year 2. It was when I saw, after 2 series, them throw down the flash cards for signaling in plays for the hurry up spread attack they were unveiling that year... but I didn't want to believe my rational mind... and then it slowly built from there until the game losing drive by Sac State when I fully accepted that there was no hope.
Click to expand...
I saw your heart break. It was very sad.
 
Buffnik said:
First game I've ever left early. I think I left our seats and headed to the parking lot when Sac State crossed the 50.
Click to expand...
It's ok, it's not the first heart I've seen break when hanging out with Rugged. More seriously, we all knew they were gonna do it. I was just hoping we would get a lucky break and they would fumble or something.
 
I didn't even watch the Fresno State game. But as low as I was, I still thought it was a practical joke when I was texted the 1Q score. Maybe that was the actual low point.
 
Buffnik said:
I didn't even watch the Fresno State game. But as low as I was, I still thought it was a practical joke when I was texted the 1Q score. Maybe that was the actual low point.
Click to expand...

**** that game, I was on my swim team bus and my friend (Vol Fan) said the score after the first quarter, I didn't believe him. I looked on score center and thought it was a typo. :sad:
 
Buffnik said:
I didn't even watch the Fresno State game. But as low as I was, I still thought it was a practical joke when I was texted the 1Q score. Maybe that was the actual low point.
Click to expand...

yup--- i didn't watch either.

checked the score on my phone, and that's where the last little shiny piece of Buff hope for me died. i'm working to get some hope back, but when the wound in my heart scarred over, it became challenging.
 
Jealous of those who missed the Fresno State slaughter.

I watched all four stinking quarters because it was apparent that history was being made. I will never forget being witness to the worst unexpected ass whoop in Colorado history.
 
Skidmark said:
Jealous of those who missed the Fresno State slaughter.

I watched all four stinking quarters because it was apparent that history was being made. I will never forget being witness to the worst unexpected ass whoop in Colorado history.
Click to expand...

Watched the entire thing too. What those that didn't watch need to understand is that they actually were quite generous in terms of what they could have made the score line. 100 was within reach
 
I also saw the entire Fresno disaster. I just couldn't look away..

TD05:41Isaiah Burse 97 Yd Pass From Derek Carr (Quentin Breshears Kick)028
i
TD02:39Robbie Rouse 94 Yd Run (Quentin Breshears Kick)035


I was already on board with firing Embree at that point, but that was when I could no longer understand how people could defend him. We got Mizzou'd in the first freaking quarter.
 
I don't remember if I watched it all or not, I got drunk enough I was numb to it :lol:. I do remember laughing at our D alignment when they were down inside our 5 one drive, it was pathetic.
 
Last edited:
We could devote an entire thread to the abysmal stats from last season.

DRIVE TOTALS: FS drive: 9 plays 65 yards, 02:54 FS TD

DRIVE TOTALS: COLO drive: 4 plays 17 yards, 00:00 COLO INT

DRIVE TOTALS: FS drive: 5 plays 45 yards, 01:40 FS TD

DRIVE TOTALS: COLO drive: 3 plays -11 yards, 00:00 COLO PUNT

DRIVE TOTALS: FS drive: 1 play 12 yards, 00:04 FS TD

DRIVE TOTALS: COLO drive: 3 plays 7 yards, 00:00 COLO PUNT

DRIVE TOTALS: FS drive: 1 play 94 yards, 00:13 FS TD

Darragh O'Neill punt for 52 yards, returned by Isaiah Burse for 14 yards, fumbled, forced by Christian Powell, recovered by Colo Jeffrey Hall at the FrsSt 35, FRESNO ST penalty holding declined.

DRIVE TOTALS: COLO drive: 3 plays 0 yards, 00:12 COLO PUNT

DRIVE TOTALS: FS drive: 2 plays 97 yards, 00:45 FS TD

DRIVE TOTALS: COLO drive: 3 plays 5 yards, 01:32 COLO PUNT

That has to be the most comically bad quarter of football in the history of football. Hawkins' 4th quarter at Kansas a close second.
 
I went to the UW game in year 1 where the Huskies scored 6 straight TDs again (i think)
 
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