Too Great Expectations?

The Daily Camera reports that Dan Hawkins isn't that bad, it's just the program:

The simple truth is that Colorado is not a top-tier football factory -- certainly not at the same level as Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. Rather, Colorado has been an upper-level second-tier program, capable of the occasional appearance in the Top 25 and -- when the stars align -- a legitimate shot at a league championship and a top-10 finish.

Don't worry guys. Colorado has never actually been good, except for a couple of years in the early 90's. Dan Hawkins isn't any worse than average. No need to get mad at Hawkins, it's unlikely the program will ever be much better. That's my summary of the article.

Look, I agree that Colorado hasn't always been a great football school. But look at the last 30 years before Hawkins:

Bill McCartney: 93-55
Rick Neuheisel: 33-14
Gary Barnett: 49-39

That's a 62% winning percentage and that's including McCartney's early losing seasons. That comes out to 7.4 wins in a 12 game season and a bowl invitation. I don't think any Colorado fan expects us to be in the top 10 every year and compete for a national championship. But they expect a team that consistently beats bad teams. A team that at least competes in the Big 12. A team that goes to a bowl game. A team that once in a while has a shot at a BCS bowl or maybe even a national championship. Thats all anyone wants.

The Daily Camera is right though, the damage done to the program by Hawkins will be difficult to repair because Colorado doesn't have the funding and fan base of Texas or Oklahoma. Thats why the sooner Hawkins goes the better. The longer he stays, the longer it will take to return to the level of the McCartney/Neuheisel/Barnett years.

A Sigh of Relief

Let's just say I'm glad the Buffs aren't playing a game this weekend. For the first time all season, and probably the only time this season, I won't be dreading the Buffs game all Saturday. My friends will probably appreciate not receiving all my angry texts during the game -- "What is Dan Hawkins doing?" "Wow Cody actually threw a ball over the line, too bad he overthrew Scotty by 10 yards" "Why does the camera keep showing Hawkins sweating on the sideline? I can't stand looking at him"

I wonder what Hawkins is doing this weekend. Game planning? Maybe he's trying to figure out how to deflect blame after the inevitable loss next Thursday. I've got an idea, take a page outta Lane Kiffin's playbook. Run the clock. Run the ball every play. Don't snap the ball with less than 5 seconds on the play clock. (Oh, my bad you never hike the ball with less than 5 seconds on the play clock) If you only let the Mountaineers have 10 offensive possessions, they can't score more than 70 points. Well, unless Cody throws a pick-6. Score a couple points -- Mike Bohn might like the performance so much he gives you an extension. I'm surprised he didn't already give you one when you SHUTOUT THE COWBOYS!

I'm happy just to watch the Broncos this weekend, at least I know they will win more than one game this season.

200 Signatures and Counting

Keep 'em coming.

The More You Know, The More You Love Hawkins

From ESPN:

[T.C.'s] dream was to play at CU, where Barnett was the head coach and was planning to bring T.C. in. But Barnett was let go after the '05 season, and T.C. spent much of his senior year of 2006 in limbo. CU's new coach, Dan Hawkins, had brought in his own son, Cody, to play quarterback, so T.C. needed to look somewhere else.

"That really bothered me," Barnett says. "If I would've stayed, then T.C. would've come to Colorado. That broke my heart as much as anything. He needed to go play where his dad played. And it couldn't happen."

Glad to see Hawkins passed this guy up for Cody, since Cody is a much better quarterback.

Colorado's Mike Gundy

Looks like I'm not the only one comparing Dan Hawkins to Mike Gundy.

From NCAA Fanhouse:

For a minute, it looked as if Dan Hawkins was going to make like Mike Gundy did two years ago, and declare, "I'm a man. I'm 40."

It was Gundy, Oklahoma State's coach, who directed that at a female sports writer who had been critical of the team's quarterback. He made a point of mentioning the reporter didn't have any children.

What is it about whether sports writers have children and Big 12 football.

There was Hawkins, the embattled Colorado coach, following his team's 24-0 whitewash Saturday over Wyoming, going the children route.

"Unfortunately, in this business (of sports media), there's not a lot of you that have children,'' Hawkins said in his rant. "I don't know why that is. But when you have kids you love them up and you give them unconditional love. And you hang in there.

"And sometimes they flunk science and sometimes they strike out. And sometimes they drop fly balls. And sometimes they miss last-second shots. But when you're a true parent and you're a true teacher and you hang in there, you keep believing in them and you keep working on things and eventually it turns.''

And sometimes the kid overthrows receivers. Hawkins should know about that since his son, Cody Hawkins, just happens to be the quarterback for the woeful Buffaloes.

Week 3: Where's the Hate?

Atown Andy,

You watch the Buffs rock the Cowboys today? Dan Hawkins is the man! Take your website down -- it's a joke. Thanks for the laughs.

- "Real" CU fan

Anyone want to guess how many of these emails I got after the win yesterday?

Zero. That's right, not a single one.

And how many emails of the opposite variety would I have gotten had the Buffs lost? How many more people would have signed the petition?

Last week Texas beat Wyoming 41-10. Yesterday Colorado beat Wyoming 24-0. Texas is ranked #2, but is there a single person that thinks the Buffs should be ranked? Is there a single person that thinks the Buffs are good? Is there a single person that thinks the Buffs will win another game this season? The answers are no, Dan Hawkins, and maybe.

Let's take a look at two other box scores. Last week Toledo beat Colorado 54-38. Yesterday Ohio State beat Toledo 38-0. After watching the Colorado game last weekend, Jay Crawford announced on ESPN's First Take that he was worried about Ohio State losing to Toledo. He was legitimately worried that Toledo was good enough to be a ranked team. Well I have some good news for you, Jay, Toledo isn't good. Isn't good at all. Colorado is just worse, much worse. The Buffs are TERRIBLE.

On the other hand, I'm glad I didn't get any hate mail yesterday. It means Buff fans haven't been so deflated by Dan Hawkins' losing ways that they get excited about going 1-2 against mediocre teams from non-BCS conferences. Thanks guys. So long as Buff fans aren't willing to settle for mediocrityshit, Hawkins' days as head coach are numbered.

Game Day: Wyoming @ Colorado

Great job by the Buffs today. Right on track for 10-2 -- one down, nine to go!

Expect another retro-journal tomorrow.

Watch the Buffs beat Wyoming this Saturday

Go Here and open the video at the top of the article. You will need to allow the pop-up.

Or you could watch the 2009 Buffs play instead, but I'm warning you -- the Buffs probably won't be winning that game.

My favorite part of the video is every time John Hessler takes the snap and then looks OVER his offensive line. Its a pleasant feeling you just don't get watching Cody play.

Getting the Ball Rolling

I'm excited to report that the website has been mentioned by two media outlets this week:

From Yahoo! Sports:

"The obligatory Fire [Coach X] Web site is up and running."

2HellNBack from allbuffs.com reports coverage on Channel 2 news:

"Not only has FireDanHawkins.net been launched, but has made it's way onto the news (Channel 2-The Deuce 7:00 News)."

More coverage, more signatures, then hopefully some results!

You Make Us Proud, Dan

Glad our football program is finally getting some national coverage for all of Dan Hawkins' hard work. Welcome to the Bottom 10!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=bottom10091609

Expect the Expected

Looking forward to the Wyoming game on Saturday!

Together We Will Be Unstoppable

Be sure to check out the links section of the sidebar:

FireHawkins.net
From the website:

Darrell Scott is finally getting the ball . . . via the kickoff return. He now has 13 in 2 games, or on-pace for 78 for the season. Josh Smith set the single season record last year with 50.

This is a dubious record to be setting, as it is a sign of how often your opponent is scoring.

Fire Dan Hawkins Facebook Group
















Thanks to Mark and Evan for their websites.

Reading Between the Lines

Vegas has the Buffs FAVORED by 7 points against Wyoming this weekend. Call me shocked, to say the least. Here's 10 reasons why Wyoming isn't the favorite:

1. Vegas thinks Toledo and Colorado State are really good and Texas isn't
2. Third time's the charm for being the favorite and covering the spread
3. Dan Hawkins told Vegas that Tyler Hansen will be the starting quarterback this weekend
4. "10 wins, no excuses" means 10-2, Colorado already has two losses, so now it's time for the ten wins
5. Teams that lose to their in-state rivals and let the opposing fans rush the field are really good at home
6. Vegas is predicting a breakout of swine flu in Laramie this week
7. ITS THE BIG 12! ITS DIVISION 1 FOOTBALL!!!
8. Gary Barnett is making a surprise comeback, Dan Hawkins will be fired before the game
9. Vegas saw Cody's career high 356 yards and 4 touchdowns in Toledo last Friday and didn't bother to look at the 3 ints or the scoreboard
10. CU beat Wyoming the last time they played (in 1997)

Add your own in the comments.

The Bohn Treatment

Here's an email I received earlier this week:

First of all I need to give you a little background on my CU history. I started going to CU football games since I was 15 and I am now 60. My family has had season football tickets since 1986. I did not renew my tickets this year with a very heavy heart. I want to support those young men on the football team but after much soul searching I felt it best not to renew the tickets. The reason that I decided to do this was because the university administrators will not listen to logic. They will only listen to dollar signs - the only voice I have. I e-mail Mike Bohn last year and laid my heart out in that e-mail. I explained that I am not a huge financial contributor but my family and I travelled to CU for 23 years from Trinidad which is a 500 mile round trip. I explained to him that I felt his decision to renew Mr. Hawkins contract was a bad idea. His only response was "you rock"! What a condescending comment that was especially after telling the man what CU has meant to us. If you don't have enough sensitivity, professionalism, and intelligence to respond decently he has no business being an athletic director of a major university. I hope that the petition works and we can get Hawkins out of there.

Ace
Trinidad, Colorado

Ace can't be alone. Spread the word about the petition -- Hawkins must go!

Better Prepare for the Worst

Petition to Fire Dan Hawkins

To: Mike Bohn

CU football coach Dan Hawkins has embarrassed our proud football tradition on and off the field and caused damage to our program that will take years to rectify. He needs to be fired immediately for the following reasons:

1. Inability to recruit Big 12 caliber players -- the best players on the team are walk-ons.
2. Big losses to mediocre teams in mediocre conferences.
3. 13-26 win/loss record in 4 seasons. No winning seasons.
4. Calling aggressive plays for starting players when there is clearly no chance of winning, thereby disregarding CU players' safety.
5. Players are poorly coached in the games' fundamentals such as tackling, blocking, and catching.
6. Talented players sit on the bench and watch the team lose.

We sincerely ask you to consider replacing Dan Hawkins with a new head coach as soon as possible. By not doing so, you are putting your credibility and career in jeopardy.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Sign the Petition yourself: http://www.petitiononline.com/danhawk/petition.html

Week 2: Toledo Retro-journal

This was a hard game to watch. Missed tackles, bad passes, no blocking, terrible playcalling, kids getting hurt in garbage time. Only reason to keep watching was the hope that Hawkins would embarrass himself enough to get fired.

1st Quarter
15:00 My Dad asks me "Who's Toledo?" A bad team thats probably better than us.

11:47 Camera pans to Dan Hawkins with his greasy hair and greasy expressionless face. When did Hawkins decide it was cool to cover his hair and face in Vaseline before every game?

10:45 Decent drive ending in a punt. Not surprised at all. Buffs able to keep the ball out of the endzone on the punt, but nobody is able to down it before the 14 yard line. TV commentator calls it "poor field position".

8:39 Buffs give up a 60 yard pass on 3rd and 10. Vintage Dan Hawkins. This is what bad teams do, they can't stop plays on 3rd and long. Watch the Broncos the last 2 years, its the exact same problem.

7:18 Rockets touchdown, no real surprise here. Buffs break up the 2-point conversion play, probably one of the better plays of the game. I make a mental note that this will probably be the only drive of the game where the Rockets don't score 7.

3:10 Toldeo running play, 2 missed tackles. A 2 yard loss turns into a first down. Tackle by Jeff Smart, aka the only person on the defense that should be starting on a Big 12 team.

3:00 Deep pass. Our safety is over the top 5 yards away when the catch is made, which is the closest he gets to the receiver on the play. The receiver just runs diagonally all the way to the endzone. 13-0.

1:43 Announcer talks about Tyler Hansen being redshirted. Hawkins will probably burn the redshirt with 3 weeks left in a meaningless season. Again.

:20 Big run by Darrell Scott. This guy hasn't run for less than 5 yards all game. Why doesn't he get the ball every carry? Why didn't he run more than once last week? Why does Dan Hawkins still have a job?

2nd Quarter

13:31 Buffs field goal. At least we aren't getting shut out.

10:41 Toldeo just picking our defense apart. Why are be playing the 4-3 when they bring out 4 and 5 receivers. I know Jeff Smart is good, but he isn't fast enough to cover a receiver 1-on-1.

8:52 Announcer talks about Dan Hawkins running drills in the parking lot before the game. "This ain't intramurals, brotha!"

8:36 Cody isn't that bad. Yes, he can't run, he can't make accurate passes, and he can't see over the offensive line, but he's tough and he doesn't throw the game away. He could be a Todd Reesing with good o-line, good receivers, good running game, and good defense. Too bad he won't have any of those until Dan Hawkins gets fired.

6:37 3 runs by Darrell Scott, first down.

4:50 Aric Goodman barely misses a field goal. Good effort on the drive, but still down 16-3.

1:43 Great catch by Scotty. This guy would be a great slot receiver.

1:35 Nasty hit on Hawkins. Fumble.

1:02 4th and 7. Good coverage. Toldeo QB scrabbles and jukes our LB, dodges another tackle, first down. Wow, this guy isn't a running QB at all. He was holding the ball in front of him with both hands when he ran. Wow, we suck.

:36 QB draw, multiple missed tackle attempts. Hardly got touched on his way to the endzone. Announcer is surprised (he keeps using the word over and over again) about how much faster and more athletic the Toledo players are. Great job recruiting, Dan.

3rd Quarter

15:00 My friend sends me a text "just woke up, rough game"

12:36 Toldeo receiver just runs past our safety for another touchdown. Hawkins should just take the safeties out of the game and put in more lineman. The safeties aren't having any effect in the passing game, might as well get some more pressure on the quarterback. 30-3

12:27 Return across the 50 by Scott. Again, why isn't this guy more involved?

7:26 Touchdown. Never want to score a touchdown too early against a mediocre MAC team. That would be playing right into their hands. Brilliant, Dan.

6:22 Another big pass by Toldeo. Jeff Smart trying to cover a receiver again.

3:54 Camera pans to Dan Hawkins. He looks sweaty and nervous. Is Dan Hawkins finally showing emotion?

3:46 Fake punt by Colorado. First Down. Announcer says Dan Hawkins is "a good gambler". Hey, at least he's good at something.

3:24 Andre Simmons comes into the game. Isn't this guy our only receiver with decent measurables (6'3"/210)? Didn't this guy play well last week? Why isn't he being used more?

1:43 Nice, touchdown. Way to cut the lead to 20 against a mediocre MAC team. I'm proud of you Dan.

1:35 Fumble. 3 CU players manage to miss the ball before Jimmy Smith falls on it. Travis Sandersfield, a walk-on from Limon, CO with the big hit to knock the ball loose. Ever notice how the best players on this team are walk-ons (ie. Jeff Smart, Scotty McKnight)?

1:23 Quick 14. Buffs look excited. Guys high-fiving and getting excited on the sideline. Even Dan Hawkins seems to be expressing some emotion. Maybe we have a chance.

4th Quarter

15:00 3rd and 6. QB draw. Toledo QB runs 61 yards practically untouched for the TD. So much for a comeback.

14:41 Another big return for Scott. He'll be a good player for whoever our new head coach is.

8:41 51-24

8:03 The Announcers are wondering why Cody Hawkins is still in the game? Maybe Dan Hawkins is just hoping some of his starters get hurt so he can blame the loss on injuries.

5:41 Wow, this game will really never end.

3:53 Cody Hawkins sets a career high for passing yards. Now we know why Dan Hawkins kept the starters in the game. Way to go!

1:56 Poor Cody. He's playing hard in garbage time. 12 yard run for a TD on 4th down, took a helmet-to-helmet hit. Doesn't look like he knows where he is. Hope he's alright, but honestly THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T PLAY STARTERS IN GARBAGE TIME. HELLO DAN HAWKINS?!?

0:00 38-54 Final. Game wasn't even close though. No talent, bad coaching, big losses. None of that is gonna change until Hawkins gets fired.

Can anyone guess the over/under when we start playing ranked teams? 50? 100? a million? It's like asking when the other team will put in the 3rd stringers and run every down.

Toledo Really?

54-38. Wow.