Colorado Football...too many Hawkins?

Colorado Football…too many Hawkins?

I used to be a Colorado Football fan years ago, back when they had Cordell Stewart and had some stuff going on, but last night watching Colorado get spanked by Toledo 54-38 had me thinking on something that bothered me a few years ago when they hired coach Dan Hawkins.

This was a brilliant coach when he was with Boise State, and the reason why they enjoy the success they had today. It was clearly based on his work and how he put them on the map…but folks, I gotta tell you, something just doesn’t smell so right about how he got the job in Colorado.

He was quoted as saying he would never leave Boise State…but then took a big money contract to go to Colorado in late 2005. Some will remember that he didn’t quite get off on the right foot when we opened his mouth and criticized a parent on the playing time of her son. He was quoted as saying, “It’s Division I football! It’s the Big 12! It ain’t intramurals!”

I’m going to bring that quote right back at him in a moment.

I am not going to argue Dan Hawkins’ ability to coach, he has proven himself, but what I AM going to argue is that maybe with him taking this job, he had a second motive…to promote his son over everybody else.

Cody Hawkins, the quarterback of Colorado, is of course, Dan Hawkins’ son. The performance the entire team had last night against Toledo was terrible. Toledo was 3-9 last year folks…how can a Big 12 team lose to a 3-9 MAC team?

One of the reasons was the quarterback. Cody Hawkins threw 64 passes, only completing 30 of them…that is NOT good. He threw for an average of 5.6 years per completion…that is NOT good. He threw three interceptions…that is NEVER good.

And yet, Coach Hawkins left his son in the game almost until the end of the game, knowing there was no way they could win. In fact, he almost paid for that when his son got hit with a helmet-to helmet shot that he may still be having headaches over today.

Why would a coach leave his starter in on a loss cause? Isn’t this the time to get the second string in and get some reps. Not if the quarterback is your son.

Colorado is now 0-2, and hasn’t even touched their Big 12 schedule yet. They have to play Wyoming and West Virginia before seeing Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Nebraska. And with Colorado finishing 5-7 last year, this is not looking good.

Cody Hawkins is a junior, and is the starter. He has been on the time since 2007, one year after Dan Hawkins got the job…and has been the feature piece of the Buffaloes since…anybody see any connection there?

In 2007 they were 6-7...that was the year their former starter, Bernard Jackson, was “moved” to other positions to make room for Cody Hawkins…the coach’s son….

Hmmm.

In 2006, which was Dan Hawkins’ first year as coach at Colorado, they were 2-10. And get this…the year BEFORE Hawkins got there…they were 7-6. Uncanny.

All this leaves me to wonder what the real agenda of Dan Hawkins might have been. I have no problem putting family first, but when it seems to show such favortism, then the objective seems to be less than honorable.

Is it just me, or was this move by Dan Hawkins designed just so he could coach his son in a strong conference as a starting quarterback? Again, big props to a father who is willing to do everything he can to help his son…but I can just as easily take away those props when his objective is higher than the university that hired him to WIN. It seems to be a disrespect to all those players on the field if the coach’s son is getting all the attention, and the only real push out of the team. It seems disrespectful to the alumni and fans that this man seems to be putting everybody off to the side just so he can coach his son in a strong Division I school.

It just gives the appearance that he took the job so he can coach his son up to hopefully play in the NFL, forsaking everybody else.

The records seem to prove this. Since Hawkins has been there, his record is currently 13-26. Since his son has been their quarterback, they have been 11-16. You tell me how hard it would be to recruit a good quarterback when you KNOW that you would be competing against the coach’s son….

And to me it I think Colorado probably already knows this, and it would be bad press if the Buffs fired a head coach with his son still on the team…that’s not “family oriented”. If there is any truth to that, then they might have cursed themselves to at least one more season, since Cody Hawkins is a junior.

Folks, I can see this kinda favortism happening in high school, it happens all the time. Good players on high school football teams getting moved aside for some rich parent’s son who don’t know the difference between a football and a slice of pizza, but this should not happen in Division I football…and certainly not in a BCS conference like the Big 12.

I can partly admire a father trying to help his son, but I just don’t agree that this is the stage to do it, not with a major college football program as a platform. I just don’t agree with Dan Hawkins playing his son as the starting quarterback, and we have seen the results of this effort. It leads one to believe that he is willing to sacrifice team and school just to make his son look good…and the stats don’t really help him. And as long as he continues to do that, the Colorado Buffaloes will never find the winning days they had the year before they hired him.

Coach Dan Hawkins said it himself…”It’s Division I football! It’s the Big 12! It ain’t the intramurals!” I agree.

So start treating it like Division I football, start treating it like the Big 12 and give Colorado the respect they PAID you to do.