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Barnett safe as CU hurts its image
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Boulder - The home of the Buffaloes was turned into a pigsty, as Folsom Field was littered with garbage and embarrassment during Colorado's 30-3 loss to Nebraska.
Wasn't Mike Bohn hired as athletic director to clean up this mess?
But here's news for knucklehead CU fans who have a lot to learn about winning and class.
Bohn came to Colorado to change the university's sports culture, not to fire the football coach.
Gary Barnett's job is safe.
"Why would we make a coaching change now?" Bohn told me Saturday, in his most definitive statement that Barnett will receive a contract extension, the subject of much speculation since scandal rocked the football program nearly two years ago.
"Think about this: CU can't afford to buy him out. The school had $10 million in football ticket sales this year. And the team is outright champions of the Big 12 North Division again."
If Barnett was going to be fired, the time to do it was when he was placed on administrative leave early in 2004.
Bohn has chosen to judge Barnett on how his coach has taken responsibility for success and failure by the Buffs on the field and in the community since being reinstated.
Unless Barnett decides to walk away, he will be welcomed back on the CU sideline for years to come.
As terms of employment, I would demand Barnett tie a hefty portion of his salary to incentive clauses and strongly suggest he dismiss ineffective offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.
But Bohn said the announcement of Barnett's contract extension is primarily a matter of timing, so as not to detract from the conference championship game or a bowl trip.
Despite choking against the Cornhuskers, it was the ugly performance of unruly fans during the humiliating loss that disturbed Bohn most Friday.
Buffaloes behaving badly in the stands was a disgrace to sportsmanship, their school and the state.
"Some knuckleheads proved we have a long way to go to change the perception of this university around the country," Bohn said. "Rightly or wrongly, the University of Colorado is perceived as not user-friendly to our visitors, it doesn't travel well to football bowl games and it has a lot of work to do to become the class of the Big 12 Conference. We have a lot of issues to get our arms around."
Folsom Field was uncivil. Unsafe. Unclean. And football again trashed the reputation of a great university.
Not once, but twice during the game, a spectator jumped the railing and, without being halted by CU stadium security, ran across the field. Given the violence that has erupted in recent years at a baseball park in Chicago and a basketball arena in Detroit when the line between athletic participants and paying customers was crossed, this stupidity can no longer be dismissed as a silly college prank.
Bad went to worst in the fourth quarter, when disorderly jerks in seats reserved for CU students pelted the field with garbage - bottles, pompoms, anything not bolted down.
Referees were forced to stop the game for 10 minutes as peace was restored. Police cleared two sections of the stadium, but not before a TV network broadcasting the scene nationwide caught another "Animal House" moment for an institution that wants to be taken more seriously than a mindless party school.
Bohn said: "We need to ask: Why didn't we have Gary Barnett get on the microphone and ask them to stop? Or use a player to do the same thing and show this behavior was not acceptable?"
The stupidity was an insult to the seniors on the team who have worked so hard and lived so strong to scrub clean the program's image.
For too long, being a CU diehard has meant never having to say you're sorry.
Alums have scapegoated Buffs-bashers for a decline in recruiting fortunes, rather than acknowledge Barnett's nasty old habit of chasing off high-profile recruits such as Craig Ochs and Marcus Houston in disgrace. The chronic, destructive tendency to throw players under the team bus is the No. 1 reason why I once advocated the coach's removal.
Did you notice Barnett took full responsibility for the Nebraska loss? Bohn did.
Former CU football stars who turned a blind eye to the football program's real problems and cried witch hunt allowed themselves to get buffaloed by d!(k Tharp, whose seven years of benign neglect as athletic boss left a mess for Bohn.
Students who don't pay attention except when the Huskers hit town cannot comprehend why the Buffs have averaged a mediocre seven victories and five defeats since 1999.
Of course, you cannot spell "excuse" without a CU.
That garbage must stop. That is the culture Bohn must clean up. Folks who truly love the Buffaloes will stop whining, grab a broom and get to work.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
Barnett safe as CU hurts its image
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Boulder - The home of the Buffaloes was turned into a pigsty, as Folsom Field was littered with garbage and embarrassment during Colorado's 30-3 loss to Nebraska.
Wasn't Mike Bohn hired as athletic director to clean up this mess?
But here's news for knucklehead CU fans who have a lot to learn about winning and class.
Bohn came to Colorado to change the university's sports culture, not to fire the football coach.
Gary Barnett's job is safe.
"Why would we make a coaching change now?" Bohn told me Saturday, in his most definitive statement that Barnett will receive a contract extension, the subject of much speculation since scandal rocked the football program nearly two years ago.
"Think about this: CU can't afford to buy him out. The school had $10 million in football ticket sales this year. And the team is outright champions of the Big 12 North Division again."
If Barnett was going to be fired, the time to do it was when he was placed on administrative leave early in 2004.
Bohn has chosen to judge Barnett on how his coach has taken responsibility for success and failure by the Buffs on the field and in the community since being reinstated.
Unless Barnett decides to walk away, he will be welcomed back on the CU sideline for years to come.
As terms of employment, I would demand Barnett tie a hefty portion of his salary to incentive clauses and strongly suggest he dismiss ineffective offensive coordinator Shawn Watson.
But Bohn said the announcement of Barnett's contract extension is primarily a matter of timing, so as not to detract from the conference championship game or a bowl trip.
Despite choking against the Cornhuskers, it was the ugly performance of unruly fans during the humiliating loss that disturbed Bohn most Friday.
Buffaloes behaving badly in the stands was a disgrace to sportsmanship, their school and the state.
"Some knuckleheads proved we have a long way to go to change the perception of this university around the country," Bohn said. "Rightly or wrongly, the University of Colorado is perceived as not user-friendly to our visitors, it doesn't travel well to football bowl games and it has a lot of work to do to become the class of the Big 12 Conference. We have a lot of issues to get our arms around."
Folsom Field was uncivil. Unsafe. Unclean. And football again trashed the reputation of a great university.
Not once, but twice during the game, a spectator jumped the railing and, without being halted by CU stadium security, ran across the field. Given the violence that has erupted in recent years at a baseball park in Chicago and a basketball arena in Detroit when the line between athletic participants and paying customers was crossed, this stupidity can no longer be dismissed as a silly college prank.
Bad went to worst in the fourth quarter, when disorderly jerks in seats reserved for CU students pelted the field with garbage - bottles, pompoms, anything not bolted down.
Referees were forced to stop the game for 10 minutes as peace was restored. Police cleared two sections of the stadium, but not before a TV network broadcasting the scene nationwide caught another "Animal House" moment for an institution that wants to be taken more seriously than a mindless party school.
Bohn said: "We need to ask: Why didn't we have Gary Barnett get on the microphone and ask them to stop? Or use a player to do the same thing and show this behavior was not acceptable?"
The stupidity was an insult to the seniors on the team who have worked so hard and lived so strong to scrub clean the program's image.
For too long, being a CU diehard has meant never having to say you're sorry.
Alums have scapegoated Buffs-bashers for a decline in recruiting fortunes, rather than acknowledge Barnett's nasty old habit of chasing off high-profile recruits such as Craig Ochs and Marcus Houston in disgrace. The chronic, destructive tendency to throw players under the team bus is the No. 1 reason why I once advocated the coach's removal.
Did you notice Barnett took full responsibility for the Nebraska loss? Bohn did.
Former CU football stars who turned a blind eye to the football program's real problems and cried witch hunt allowed themselves to get buffaloed by d!(k Tharp, whose seven years of benign neglect as athletic boss left a mess for Bohn.
Students who don't pay attention except when the Huskers hit town cannot comprehend why the Buffs have averaged a mediocre seven victories and five defeats since 1999.
Of course, you cannot spell "excuse" without a CU.
That garbage must stop. That is the culture Bohn must clean up. Folks who truly love the Buffaloes will stop whining, grab a broom and get to work.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.