Why Hawkins Deserves 1 More Year

Two of my favorite days of the year are Thanksgiving and New Years Day.  Both of these events force you to slow down and reflect about the past, be thankful about the present, and look to the future.  That's why in the midst of this Thanksgiving season I'm thankful for having Dan Hawkins as a coach.  I know that I'm in the minority and many would admit me to a mental institute for my opinion.  It's true that I've seen reports with as high as 82% of fans wanting to part ways with CU's coach.  Yes my opinion has wavered over the year with the extreme emotional lows of this season, but I feel that the best thing for Colorado is to give him another year.  Here are 4 points that lead me to the belief that Hawk needs another year:

1) In 2005 our program was left in shambles

Sure many of you will say that we had players like Jordan Dizon, Terrence Wheatley, and Mason Crosby, but the discipline and reputation of our program was severely bruised and battered because of Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett.  Our program may of won a lot of games between 1995 and 2005, but during this time we came to expect yearly recruiting violations and rape allegations etc etc.  I remember being proud of our record but embarrassed of how far we had fallen from the McCartney days, a time where wins were accompanied by class.  Sure, things weren't perfect under McCartney, but the man ran the program with integrity.  This is where opinions differ.  I personally prefer a coach who does things the right way but some will take wins at any cost.

The bottom line is we needed someone with a strong focus on cleaning up the program and getting back to our winning ways and Hawkins fit the bill then and especially fits the bill now.

2) When Barnett left in 2005 the Big 12 North was the biggest joke it had ever been.

Yeah we won 4 of five Big 12 North titles from 2001 to 2005, but what the heck did they mean in 2004 and 2005?  Every team in the Big 12 North was abysmal from 2003 to 2005 and we got killed in both Big 12 Championships, including what we would all agree was the most embarrassing loss in CU history, a 70-3 loss to Texas.

Everything about the team was imploding and we knew that we were not even close to hitting rock bottom due to Neuheisel and Barnett's shady tactics.

3) I believe that Hawk can only truly be judged on 2 of his 4 years

2006

Yeah we lost to Montana State, but the cupboard was bare and we had hit rock bottom thanks to our former coaches.  The consolation was that we played in a exorbitant amount of close games and had our players known the system better, we would have won a lot more.

2007

We can all agree that this was a decent season with big wins against Oklahoma and Nebraska and what could of been a shocking comeback against Alabama, who was one year away from being a National Title contender.

2008

The year of injuries.  We had 120 games lost to seniors.  Not an excuse, but a year we almost went to a bowl even when the only people without injuries was our coaching staff.

2009

I agree that this year was inexcusable.  Hawk proclaimed 10 wins no excuses and his team didn't play with passion.  Sure we were close to winning a lot more games but we didn't know how to finish or win on the road.  We have to keep in mind that we lost Helfrich at the worst possible time and that hurt us more than anything.

I believe that the only year we can truly have beef about, is this year.  We can let the coach off in my opinion for the first year when he was installing his system and for 2008 when we almost made a bowl even though we had one of the worst injury years in college football history.  I'm not convinced that any coach could of competed in 2008 with our youth, lack of depth and injuries.  We have to agree that 2007 was a pretty good year with some close calls.  Which leaves us with 2009 which I believe was horrible.  I feel like I can only truly judge Hawk on his 2007 and 2009 seasons and that leaves me with a 50-50 verdict that leads me to believe he needs one more year.

4) The McCartney standard

We've all heard the stat that Bill McCartney was 14-30-1 in his first four seasons.  Many of you will say that in his fourth season he was 7-5 and Hawk was 3-8 but at the end of the day Hawk's 16-33 and McCartney's 14-30-1 over four seasons are very similar.  Gary Pinkel was 22-25, Mangino was 19-29, and heck even Frank Beamer was 17-26 in his first four seasons at Virginia Tech.  In all their careers the fifth season was the most telling.

One more chance

I agree that the current amount of wins are inexcusable, but I don't believe we would be in a better situation in the future if we brought in a new coach.  We also are in an interesting scenario due to an untimely extension by our AD.  To me Hawk's 5th attempt gives me more optimism than anyone else we could hire.  I'm not convinced that we have many great options when it comes to hiring and Hawk deserves his final shot because he has done things the right way and has recruited some classy and talented players. 

Hawk has been a proven winner everywhere he coached and deserves A FIFTH year to resurrect a program that had fallen lower than anyone knew.  You can't argue that this team isn't close.  I don't like Hawk's excuses but I'm willing to give the man one more chance to change our minds.  If he fails miserably I will be the first to call for his firing, but if he succeeds, than the 82% of fans will owe the man an apology and this blog will sound a lot more sane.

The Broncos debacle

"What in the world have the Broncos done?" This is a thought that has gone through my head daily since December 30, 2008. This was the horrific date when this whole Broncos debacle began. The date when Mike Shanahan was fired and a date that has changed the lives of so many Broncos fans. Many Denver fans wanted this to happen all year long, but as we soon would learn, be careful what you wish for.

It's quite ironic that the firing date was one day before the new year because as we would soon find out, being a Bronco fan in 2008 was completely different than what we will experience in 2009. The next glorious move by Pat Bowlen was to hire a then 32 year old coach, who was from a supposed unstoppable Bellicheck line of coaches. Then Mr. Ego decided to try and trade for the "unbelievable" Matt Cassel(sarcasm). Now we most likely will lose Brandon Marshall and go on to a very difficult season. We all know the story and hate to relive it, but I never had a chance to give my two cents. Well, here goes....

I truly could not have dreamed a worse scenario. If you told me at the start of last season that we would lose our 2 time Super Bowl winning coach, our star quarterback and hire a 32 year old coach that looks like a younger version of Jon Favreau, I would have laughed at you. I could go on about this for pages, but it all comes down to one decision. Pat Bowlen firing Mike Shanahan. Sure we all thought Shanahan's time might be up, but why not have a good idea of who you are going to hire before you fire somebody. We looked at many coaches and settled with a 32 year old unproven coach. Josh McDaniels is an egotistical know it all that let his ego run Jay Cutler (and soon Brandon Marshall) out of town. I strongly dislike Josh McDaniels, but can't fault him for taking a great opportunity that only few 30 somethings have seen. I can however fault him for running Jay out of town and single-handedly destroying everything we have built as a franchise.


You may think Jay Cutler is a baby and a whiner, but all McDaniels had to do was pick up the phone and tell Jay that he was sorry for trying to trade for a highly overrated Matt Cassel. All he had to do was swallow his pride for one conversation and tell Jay he was our man. It all came down to this. But one piece of the story that we always forget is the fact that Pat Bowlen was the man who hired this young coach. I appreciate what Bowlen has done for Denver and the two Super Bowls he has won, but he made the worst decision of his career. So I hate to say it but the same man who built the Broncos and gave us John Elway has destroyed that same franchise. I'm strongly believe that more fingers should be pointed at our illustrious Broncos owner.

I'm trying to be positive about the Kyle Orton experiment, but it pained me to see Jay Cutler play against our team last night. Every Bronco fan that booed, booed because they were secretly hurting inside. We all may not admit it, but we all secretly or not secretly wish that the Vanderbilt man with so much talent was back in a Broncos uniform. I'm afraid that no matter how positive our outlook on this season is, we will be hurting as Bronco fans for a long time. Bowlen can try to make things right and admit his mistake but it will take time. I hope that I am completely wrong and will eat my words, but I'm afraid that my worst fears have became a reality and the Broncos are now "just another below average team." I guess there are always the Nuggets and Rockies to look to for hope.

My very own blog

I've been blogging with the wife for a while, but after months and months of thinking......."Hmm, I should blog about that", I've decided to start my own blog. Now I know what you are thinking, "Why in the world do we need to read another blog?" Well, because this isn't just any blog, it's a blog about sports, life and the joys, challenges, and straight up hilarity of moving from Colorado to TN. Of course during the football season, many posts will be about football and my beloved Buffs and Broncos, and some semi-neutral posts on the Vols (My wife is helping me to become a bigger fan). I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!