NU puts Woody Paige over the edge

[WCHusker]

Paige: Time for Hawk, CU to get real

By Woody Paige

The Denver Post

Posted: 11/28/2009 01:00:00 AM MST

 

 

Colorado's Aric Goodman misses a field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter Friday -- one of his two misses Friday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post )BOULDER — The golden repriever has been permitted to continue to dwell in his Pollyanna-Peter Pan-Pinocchio flight-of-the-imagination palace by the Flatirons.

 

"We need to clean up a few things," the present and future coach at the University of Colorado said Friday afternoon after his ninth loss of the season, the 33rd loss of his four-year stay with the Buffs.

 

A few things, Dan Hawkins?

 

No CU coach in history has been so unsuccessful from the start for so long.

 

"We were 10 plays from a bowl game."

 

Dream on, The Incredible Hawk.

 

More likely, the Buffs were 10 plays from winning a game. They had two conference victories, a 54-38 defeat at Toledo and an 0-6 record on the road.

 

Great. Hawkins gets another year. Good luck. Have a nice offseason.

 

Maybe the Buffs will win those 10 games he spews about next fall. Maybe the Buffs will play Big 12 Conference football, not intramural touch. Maybe Hawkins will scrub and scour a few things. Maybe the Buffs will win a road game. Maybe they'll find a kicker and a punter. Maybe the Buffs will go to the Papajohns.com Bowl.

 

Or maybe Hawkins will be fired after next season, and CU will have to buy him out for around only $2 million. And maybe someday Hawkins can become coach of the CU horseshoe team, because he seems to believe that close counts in college football, but being a factor in the Big 12 doesn't count.

 

The people in Boulder can pour syrup and honey all over Hawkins, but make no mistake. The decision to retain Hawkins was all about money.

 

I have supported the contention that Hawkins deserves one more season — because Colorado can't afford to pay him off — and he will have a full set of seniors (including those who have redshirted) and he can't say a year from now his team is too young.

 

But, at some point, he has to win eight games, or 10 games, or 12 games, and how's that going to happen if the Buffs continue to be a wretchedly coached team, as they were again this season?

 

"I think these guys just have to take the lessons they have learned a little bit, and have the guys that sat out this year and get them injected into it," Hawkins said.

 

The coaches have to take the lessons of failure and learn more than a little bit, and this isn't some clean- up on aisle five.

 

Athletic director Mike Bohn — who prematurely gave Hawkins a contract extension (and where was Hawkins going?) — announced on Thanksgiving he had his coach's back and that the coach would be back.

 

The players certainly got fired up to win one for the coach. They weren't very good, especially on that sequence at the Huskers' 15 in the fourth quarter. Delay of game, false start, incompletion, interception. Don't be fooled by a score of 28-20. There is no rivalry anymore between the Buffs and the Cornhuskers.

 

Nebraska is rushing back to greatness. Colorado has remained inconsequential.

 

After the game, Hawkins addressed his return for the first time, when I asked him about it. "I think they (the AD and chancellor Phil DiStefano) have a great perspective on the chore that this was. More than anybody, they have an understanding of all the little things that go into this deal," Hawk said.

 

This deal. Coaching at a major university in a major conference is not a "this deal." It's a major responsibility, and Hawkins didn't even understand that in his postseason spiel.

 

How about: "I've done a lousy job of coaching, and my assistants have done a lousy job, and if we do a lousy job again, I'll resign and not ask for a buffalo nickel from the Buffaloes."

 

Instead, he wants to dredge up that "this place (that would be Colorado) was burned to the ground" before he got hired. Pathetic excuses instead of positive results. Hawkins said he and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini were talking before the game about how tough it is to turn around a program.

 

Pelini, in his second year, has already won nine games, twice.

 

I asked Hawkins, "What is your objective for next season, and what will you do if you win only three or four again?" But I stopped after "next season" because I knew he wouldn't respond to the second part of the question.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

It doesn't matter. We'll see how 2010 plays out when Colorado travels to Cal, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas (with a new coach) and Nebraska, meets CSU in Denver and has home games against Georgia, Hawaii, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas State. It looks like a five- or six-win season.

 

Hawkins said: "For those who are disappointed, just call Mike Bohn and say, 'What can I do to help?' And then, jump in and help."

 

It's hard to help when coach Peter Polly Pino plays fantasy football and "The Glad Game" and won't come into the real world.

[BeachBuffs]

I keep waiting for the ever popular "blame Bush" from Hawkins, it works everywhere else why not here?

[Street Novelist]

oh oh...Paige said Colorado is no longer Nebraska's rival...don't tell you-know-who

[Alex 4.0]

Hawkins said: "For those who are disappointed, just call Mike Bohn and say, 'What can I do to help?' And then, jump in and help."

 

aka - donate towards my buyout so I can get the hell out of this place.

[Tacky]

Paige: Time for Hawk, CU to get real

By Woody Paige

The Denver Post

Posted: 11/28/2009 01:00:00 AM MST

 

 

Colorado's Aric Goodman misses a field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter Friday -- one of his two misses Friday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post )BOULDER — The golden repriever has been permitted to continue to dwell in his Pollyanna-Peter Pan-Pinocchio flight-of-the-imagination palace by the Flatirons.

 

"We need to clean up a few things," the present and future coach at the University of Colorado said Friday afternoon after his ninth loss of the season, the 33rd loss of his four-year stay with the Buffs.

 

A few things, Dan Hawkins?

 

No CU coach in history has been so unsuccessful from the start for so long.

 

"We were 10 plays from a bowl game."

 

Dream on, The Incredible Hawk.

 

More likely, the Buffs were 10 plays from winning a game. They had two conference victories, a 54-38 defeat at Toledo and an 0-6 record on the road.

 

Great. Hawkins gets another year. Good luck. Have a nice offseason.

 

Maybe the Buffs will win those 10 games he spews about next fall. Maybe the Buffs will play Big 12 Conference football, not intramural touch. Maybe Hawkins will scrub and scour a few things. Maybe the Buffs will win a road game. Maybe they'll find a kicker and a punter. Maybe the Buffs will go to the Papajohns.com Bowl.

 

Or maybe Hawkins will be fired after next season, and CU will have to buy him out for around only $2 million. And maybe someday Hawkins can become coach of the CU horseshoe team, because he seems to believe that close counts in college football, but being a factor in the Big 12 doesn't count.

 

The people in Boulder can pour syrup and honey all over Hawkins, but make no mistake. The decision to retain Hawkins was all about money.

 

I have supported the contention that Hawkins deserves one more season — because Colorado can't afford to pay him off — and he will have a full set of seniors (including those who have redshirted) and he can't say a year from now his team is too young.

 

But, at some point, he has to win eight games, or 10 games, or 12 games, and how's that going to happen if the Buffs continue to be a wretchedly coached team, as they were again this season?

 

"I think these guys just have to take the lessons they have learned a little bit, and have the guys that sat out this year and get them injected into it," Hawkins said.

 

The coaches have to take the lessons of failure and learn more than a little bit, and this isn't some clean- up on aisle five.

 

Athletic director Mike Bohn — who prematurely gave Hawkins a contract extension (and where was Hawkins going?) — announced on Thanksgiving he had his coach's back and that the coach would be back.

 

The players certainly got fired up to win one for the coach. They weren't very good, especially on that sequence at the Huskers' 15 in the fourth quarter. Delay of game, false start, incompletion, interception. Don't be fooled by a score of 28-20. There is no rivalry anymore between the Buffs and the Cornhuskers.

 

Nebraska is rushing back to greatness. Colorado has remained inconsequential.

 

After the game, Hawkins addressed his return for the first time, when I asked him about it. "I think they (the AD and chancellor Phil DiStefano) have a great perspective on the chore that this was. More than anybody, they have an understanding of all the little things that go into this deal," Hawk said.

 

This deal. Coaching at a major university in a major conference is not a "this deal." It's a major responsibility, and Hawkins didn't even understand that in his postseason spiel.

 

How about: "I've done a lousy job of coaching, and my assistants have done a lousy job, and if we do a lousy job again, I'll resign and not ask for a buffalo nickel from the Buffaloes."

 

Instead, he wants to dredge up that "this place (that would be Colorado) was burned to the ground" before he got hired. Pathetic excuses instead of positive results. Hawkins said he and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini were talking before the game about how tough it is to turn around a program.

 

Pelini, in his second year, has already won nine games, twice.

 

I asked Hawkins, "What is your objective for next season, and what will you do if you win only three or four again?" But I stopped after "next season" because I knew he wouldn't respond to the second part of the question.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

It doesn't matter. We'll see how 2010 plays out when Colorado travels to Cal, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas (with a new coach) and Nebraska, meets CSU in Denver and has home games against Georgia, Hawaii, Baylor, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Kansas State. It looks like a five- or six-win season.

 

Hawkins said: "For those who are disappointed, just call Mike Bohn and say, 'What can I do to help?' And then, jump in and help."

 

It's hard to help when coach Peter Polly Pino plays fantasy football and "The Glad Game" and won't come into the real world.

 

Good thing the worst day as a buff is still better than the best day as a husker

[307husker]

Yeah, you keep thinking that and hope you don't run out of whatever you're smoking...

 

Oh yeah, SCOREBOARD!

[papersun87]

Good thing the worst day as a buff is still better than the best day as a husker.

Seven posts and you come up with this.

 

Excellent.

[Tacky]

Good thing the worst day as a buff is still better than the best day as a husker.

Seven posts and you come up with this.

 

Excellent.

 

 

apparently you guys don't have a good memory

 

those are words out of hawkins mouth himself.

 

I'm a die hard husker

 

Edit:

http://www.cornnation.com/2009/11/24/11716...ise-of-colorado

"If you took Hawkins' "The worst day as a Buffalo fan is better than the best day as a Husker fan" comment as anything other than political stumping, you need a better sense of humor. And tell me you didn't enjoy his "Go play intramurals brother" rant. Both gave Husker fans a great sense of joy because they gave us so easy a target to hate. "

[irafreak]

Tacky it was a compliment. We all remember that quote. That's why he is applauding. Let me say it in different words. "Nicely done!"

[papersun87]

Good thing the worst day as a buff is still better than the best day as a husker.

Seven posts and you come up with this.

 

Excellent.

 

 

apparently you guys don't have a good memory

 

those are words out of hawkins mouth himself.

 

I'm a die hard husker

 

Edit:

http://www.cornnation.com/2009/11/24/11716...ise-of-colorado

"If you took Hawkins' "The worst day as a Buffalo fan is better than the best day as a Husker fan" comment as anything other than political stumping, you need a better sense of humor. And tell me you didn't enjoy his "Go play intramurals brother" rant. Both gave Husker fans a great sense of joy because they gave us so easy a target to hate. "

I totally remember. That's why I enjoyed your remark so much.

[Animal_Mother]

I keep waiting for the ever popular "blame Bush" from Hawkins, it works everywhere else why not here?

 

I'm sure "blame Bush" moment is fast approaching. Every time I visit Boulder to see family I wonder how and why CU even attempts to continue and field a football team. Most folks there just don't seem to give a sh#t. I know its a different attitude once you get out away from Boulder, but I don't know how Hawkins puts up with the general malaise that just seems to hang in the air.

[sarge87]

bump

[sarge87]

The Buffs forums aren't taking the news of retaining Hawkins very well as some of the season ticket holders (about 50/50 split) are deciding to let their tickets go back, and threats of not donating a single dime until they have Hawkins' head on a stick.

 

Some are against retaining Hawkins and voting with their wallets.....

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

nope.

 

i buy tix i can't even use, just to support the program. but, it is a 2-way street. i've gotten the message loud and clear from this administration: they don't care about winning. period.

 

as a result, i don't care to donate to an enterprise that is not positioned to succeed.

 

i am not trying to start another flame-fest, nor am i overly emotional about it at this point. i am just voting with my wallet. i am done with financial support to CU, ACROSS THE BOARD, until they demonstrate a commitment to winning. i donate to arts/sciences, norlin, the schollie program that gave me a schollie, and the CUAD. after today, not one more penny to anything for CU until changes are made.

 

i am just plain tired of the bull**** from them. i'll always be a fan and a Buff, but i am not investing in leadership i don't believe in.

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

I will not be renewing. I am drifting very close to the point of not caring. It hit about the time Niles Paul reached the end zone on another special teams disaster. I am sick of losing. I will go to 2-3 games next season by buying individual tickets and I will most likely be making a road trip to see the Buffs, but I can sit comfortably at home for most of the home games next season.

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

I will not be renewing. It's a fiscal decision to me.

 

As many have pointed out, it's a fiscal decision to retain Mr. Hawkins (IMO he has not earned the title "coach"). There isn't enough money to buy him out.

 

Well, guess what, my money for my tickets is an investment. It's an investment in my entertainment and in my pride in my alma mater. NO ONE buys tickets to see their Alma Mater's program get embarrassed. Over the past four years, I have seen both decline dramatically (I'm still proud and will forever be proud to be a graduate of the University of Colorado, but I am not proud to be a fan of the sports teams in general of the University of Colorado). My return on my investment after this past year is non-existant. So what happens when your investment vehicles stop performing? YOU STOP ****ING INVESTING IN THEM. From my standpoint, the leadership and management of the Athletics arm of the University no longer has interest in pleasing the shareholders, and so I will stop giving them my money. When (and God I hope it's a 'when' and not an 'if') they start caring and providing entertainment and increasing my pride in my Alma Mater's sports teams again, I will start investing again.

 

Not to mention the fact that I have a wedding to pay for (my own) very shortly, so dollars are precious now.

 

And while we're on the subject of money, it's been beaten into the ground about the $3 to $3.5 million it would cost to buy Mr. Hawkins out. A significant chunk of change to be sure. But does anyone know if a cost analysis has been done on how much it's going to cost to retain him? I mean a true best case-worst case-middle case analysis of how much season ticket dollars will be lost, donation dollars will be lost, sponsorship dollars will be lost, and so on and so forth? Not just over the next year, but the next 2, or 3 or 4? Based on what I've seen, I can't see where that has been done. And THAT data is just as important as how much the buyout. Because if the #'s of people that are going to withhold their money is as huge as is feared, they will not all come back as soon as the next coach is announced. It'll take 2, 3, 4 or more years for them to trickle back. Pissbomber, have you heard anything on this?

Some are more optimistic.....

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

I will be renewing and given that so many people will not be, probably going the upgrade route too. Not as a nod to Hawkins or anybody else but Buff Football is a part of me.

 

I started going to games during the Fairbanks era and my family started in the 1950s. I am not an alumni and have no loyalty to the university other than the football and basketball programs. I just had my first kid this year (son) and I want him to grow up having the opportunity to experience game days at Folsom, win or lose.

 

Also, I believe that the last thing this program needs is people jumping ship. We have our backs against the wall financially as it is.

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

I'll be renewing, actually I should say I'll be taking over the bill for my Dad who only makes a few games a year anyway. Me and one of his friends are gonna get two tix each. We just get the cheap seats and sit behind the band in general admission.

 

Like everyone else I'm not very happy with the situation up there. Having said that tailgating before and after CU games has been tradition since '89 for me and the people I hang with on gameday.

Re: FAO Season Ticket Holders

As I sat in todays game with the same group of alum & boosters as I have for 25 years. They pretty much talked me into buying tix again for 2010. They also said they would understand if I didn't renew. But when one of them said they would really miss me, It made me pause and think just how much I would miss them as well. Anyway, I caved in. You guys can ripp me if you want, but it's easier said than done when you consider giving up something that's been part of your life for so long.

Looks like most are split on this situation...

 

With the economy the way it is, the AD will need those donations when the legislature starts trimming down budgetary expenses. I know UNL is about to take a $40 million dollar hit in next years budget, and I'll bet it will be about the same or more for Colorado.

 

That CU schedule for next year isn't going to help matters in the morale department either.

 

No matter how we feel about the CU program, rivalry or not, it is still in our best interest they get this mess straightened out before it tanks their entire program. We need strong teams in the Big XII North Division, otherwise we'll be relegated to a punchline in a joke when talked about in college football circles, and it doesn't help our strength-of-schedule (SOS) if we play weak sisters in North Division games.

[carlfense]

I keep waiting for the ever popular "blame Bush" from Hawkins, it works everywhere else why not here?

 

Didn't we discuss the idea that CU couldn't afford to buy Hawkins out AND hire a new coach over in the Big12 section? I think I argued that Hawkins would be back because CU is so deep in the hole financially.

[Street Novelist]

On a side note, did anyone see Bo's postgame press conference? He was taking questions from the media and the sCUm band decided to start playing right behind them. The conference had to stop several times because you couldn't hear anything that was being said. very classy indeed