If it weren’t for Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez or, possibly, LSU’s Les Miles, there’s little doubt that Colorado’s Dan Hawkins would sit atop most/all of the preseason coaching hot seat lists.
Hell, if it weren’t for a financial crunch at his university, you could make the case that Hawkins wouldn’t even be in the position to appear on any type of list this year because he’d be standing in the coaching unemployment line.
Regardless, Hawkins survived yet another disappointing season and remains the head coach of the Buffaloes. For how long remains up in the air and will be determined by what exactly happens on the field in 2010, a fact that’s far from lost on a coach entering his fifth season at the school with a 16-33 record.
“It’s time to cinch it up a little bit,” Hawkins told the Boulder Daily Camera in what is no doubt the early frontrunner for understatement of the year.
Never one to be short on confidence in his program or his players, Hawkins feels like the 2010 edition of the Buffaloes are thiiis close to turning a corner, a turn that presumably wouldn’t lead straight into the path of an oncoming semi.
“I think for us, being able to go through all the stuff that we’ve gone through, you need to be able to learn from that and take some emotional energy into whatever it is you do,” Hawkins said. “You take that experience and kind of go, ‘All right, I’ve been to this stadium. I’ve seen that team. I’ve played. I’ve done this. I’ve done that. It’s time to cinch it up a little bit.’
“I think that’s certainly a progression we need to take. Any great pursuit is driven by some passion and some experience that comes from a variety of places. You realize how close you are but yet how far you are away and how much effort it takes to close that gap.”
If Hawkins wants to keep his current title, he’d better hope that, come the end of the 2010 season, they are not very far away at all in closing the mammoth gap that currently separates Colorado from even mildly successful programs.
Especially with a move to a new conference looming on the horizon.
Explain why Rich Rod is on the hot seat? Trying to bring the Wolverines into the 21st century takes at a minimum 3 seasons. Heck, let a draft class graduate. Embrace the spread
You should tailor your system to the people already there; if he had, he wouldn’t have gone 3 – 9 and 5 – 7.
As for Hawkins, he’s done. Stick a fork in him and send him out. As for Rich Rod, this season is it. Anyone who watched him at WVU full well knew that his cursing, demeaning, win at any cost (including having Pac Man types on your team) was not going to be a show that would play well on the road at Ann Arbor. Here’s the test–when a “successful” coach leaves the school and goes to another,–(1) does the school he leaves falls on its face; and (2) does his new location show improvement? Well, WVU is till averaging 10 wins a season (with a real gentleman for a coach) and the Wolverines couldn’t beat almost anybody the last two years. Do you think Rich Rod being unable to recruit Pryor or anyone else to run the spread is just a fluke? Watch this year and see the spread continue to flounder while more Wolverine players jump the slowly sinking ship. If Rich Rod hadn’t had “Doc” Holiday recruiting for him at WVU, getting the players he needed, he wouldn’t have won at WVU either. As a Mountaineer fan, thanks for leaving Rich Rod, and as a Wolverine fan, sorry you landed in Ann Arbor.
Typical WVU fan, clueless & stupid. Doc Holliday was never on Richs staff. Let Coach Rod go. I’ll put it in WVU terms for you: You leave subway to go to Quiznos because it’s a Better job. Know what your talking about before you open your yapper.