Would Shanahan be an option for the Buffs?

It’s not exactly a state secret in Colorado that head coach Dan Hawkins is coaching on thin ice and could very well be let go at the end of the season.

Perhaps the only thing standing between Hawkins and a spot on the coaching unemployment line is an economic mess at the university and a hefty buyout clause in his contract.  Could that change, though, if a Colorado Football Svengali suddenly showed an interest in the Buffs?

As the coaching silly season kicks into high gear, rumors are beginning to build across the vast expanses of the Internet that former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has an interest in the UC job if it opens up.  Or that the Buffs are ready to open up the vault for Shanny’s services. Or some combination of the two.

Woody Paige of the Denver Post, who knows Shanahan just about as well as any member of the media, offers up his thoughts on a possible Shanahan-Colorado hookup.  Paige makes a helluva point that, given the fact that the Broncos are still on the hook for $14 million in pay to Shanahan, “Colorado could pay him a pittance the first two years.”

He also points out the obvious, that coaching at CU would allow Shanahan to remain in Denver, the place he’s called home for nearly 15 years.

That being said, Paige doesn’t paint a positive picture that the rumors have any basis in reality, given what he knows about the former NFL coach.

Shanahan has not met with or talked to Bohn, who hasn’t made a final decision about Hawkins’ future and can’t take action alone. CU chancellor Phil DiStefano is a serious Hawkins loyalist. CU president Bruce Benson, a football fan who attends most games, has ambivalent feelings about the coach’s ability. But he’s aware that blowing millions on a black-and-gold parachute will cause a backlash to his fundraising efforts.

Unrest among alums, boosters, former players and students (those who care about CU football) is escalating, and lopsided defeats to Oklahoma State and Nebraska to end the season may open checkbooks from boosters in order to buy out Hawkins.

A high-ranking official at CU, who would not be named, asked me: “You know Shanahan well. Would he come to CU?”

I think: Shanahan wouldn’t go to CU, he much prefers the NFL, and CU won’t pursue him. I also believe Hawkins will be given one more season.

You wouldn’t say the door is completely closed on a Shanahan-CU pairing simply based on this lone article, but you could wager a pretty good chunk of change — based on Paige’s knowledge of the subject of this rumor — that the door is closed enough that nothing is getting through it.