1990 Championship quarterback talks about his time after playing
For many students at CU, the quarterback who headed up the 1990 National Championship team is a mystery. But the man who helped bring the University its only football championship can be found on the sidelines at every game along with a new generation of Buffs, primed for a taste at championship glory.
His name is Darian Hagan, and it has been a long ride for him since he wore his No. 3 jersey on the once Astroturf field at Folsom.
Hagan came to Colorado as an amazing multi-sport athlete from Los Angeles who not only lettered in football in high school, but also in baseball, basketball, and track. He would eventually be drafted by both the National Football League (San Francisco in the fourth round of the 1992 draft) and by Major League Baseball (Seattle and Toronto).
In 1989, his sophomore season at CU, he was nominated for the highest individual award in college football, the Heisman Trophy.
“It was fun,” Hagan said. “I never expected it. You know, first year starter in college, never expected it. I just went out and performed and did what I was asked to do, and being able to be up for the Heisman, go down to the Heisman ceremony, that was awesome.”
Though his team barely missed the national championship that year, the next year he would lead them back to the Orange Bowl, where they beat Notre Dame, the team that beat them the year before, to earn a national championship ring.
“We were close as a family,” Hagan said. “Everybody played for each other.”
However, what he remembers most about that team is not the national championship game, but a game in Texas against the Longhorns months earlier, when the Buffs were down going into the fourth quarter.
“Our defense had just made a stop, and our offense goes out, and meets them at the 50 yard line, and we started talking to them, keeping them up,” Hagan said. “They went down and got a safety, they kicked off, we had an 80 yard drive to win the game. That changed our season. We went from losing the previous week to winning ten in a row.”
In 1992, he left CU for the pros. Though he was selected by the 49ers in the NFL draft, he played the next five seasons in Canada for the Canadian Football League.
“It was wild, you know, twelve men on the field, motioning all over the place,” Hagan said. “It was like rugby on a football field with football pads, so it was fun. The experience was awesome.”
Other than the great health benefits that the citizens of Canada receive from the government, Hagan said it also gave him a reward he had never received before.
“With the experience of getting paid for a sport I love, that was an awesome feeling for the first time,” Hagan said.
Before his fifth and final season in the CFL, Hagan returned to Boulder to finish up his bachelor’s degree in Sociology, and graduated in 1996. Hagan said his degree means a lot to him, being the first person in three generations of his family to get a college degree.
“A lot of people thought I would never go to college,” Hagan said. “They doubted me, and to go and finish up at a prestigious university like this is special.”
After earning his degree, he stayed in Boulder and worked sales for the Transit Marketing Group for six years. He helped market and sell bus and light rail equipment throughout the country, and he said he met a lot of great people that he is still in contact with today.
“It was awesome, because I would never go and wear my rings or anything, but as soon as they heard my name, they knew who I was,” Hagan said.
In 2003, then Colorado head coach Gary Barnett asked Hagan if he had ever thought about coaching. Hagan, reluctant at first, finally gave it a try and joined Barnett’s staff in early 2004.
In 2005 Dan Hawkins took the reins as head coach for the Buffs. With most of Barnett’s staff not retained after the change, it seemed that Hagan would follow the same path. But that didn’t happen.
Instead, Hagan and current associate head coach and linebacker coach Brian Cabral were the only two members from Barnett’s staff that Hawkins kept.
“It was special that he kept us,” Hagan said. “He talks a lot about how coach Cabral is the heart, and I’m the soul of the program. For him to reach out on his own and do that says a lot about him, because a lot of other coaches probably wouldn’t have done that.”
Though he played quarterback at CU 17 years ago, today Hagan coaches the running backs. But don’t tell him he’s not qualified for the job. In this two starting seasons at CU, Hagan tallied up 2,007 rushing yards as a quarterback, a school record that still stands today. He was also a running back in high school.
“Coaching is coaching,” Hagan said. “Pretty much, here I was a glorified running back. I threw the ball a couple of times a game.”
In recent years, Colorado has best been known for its rushing attack, and this season the Buffs have a slew of young talent in sophomore Demetrius Sumler, and freshmen Ray Polk, Darrell Scott, and Rodney Stewart. Hagan said this can make for an exciting time to be a coach.
“Polk is a kid that is raw,” Hagan said. “He is going to be a special player once he figures it out, gets a spring under his belt. Right now he is running with the scout team. He’s 6-2, 215 – you can’t teach size and speed. He’s going to be awesome. Then you got Demetrius Sumler, who is the steady eddy guy, who does everything right. He’s physical on the run game, physical on pass protection.
“Then you got Darrell Scott, big, powerful speed back, that’s just getting into his groove. He’s a guy that you keep feeding him, and once he gets into a groove, he’s a smooth runner. He’s going to be good for us. Then you got Speedy (Rodney Stewart). And Speedy is a kid who instantly brings a wow factor to our program, and that’s something we didn’t have the first two years. We have that wow factor. It’s a crowd pleaser. He’s the real deal.”
With all this young talent, primed for winning, what is the one lesson that he tries to instill in the minds of his running backs?
“Never take anything for granted,” Hagan said. “What you’re given, you earned. Don’t be a taker – be a giver, it’s a team sport. There’s only one football, but you need to go out and play with passion, play with heart, and if you’re in it for selfish reasons, you’re in the wrong place.”
Hagan, now 38, has two sons, Darian, Jr.,19, and DeVaughn, 16, who also play football, and a daughter, Danielle, 12, who runs track. His oldest son, Darian, Jr., plays cornerback at California, while his youngest son, DeVaughn, plays running back at Cherry Creek High School in Denver.
In his spare time, Hagan enjoys sleeping, relaxing, cooking, playing golf and playing with his 10-week-old Saint Bernard puppy. However, with all these years away from the game, he said he still misses playing.
“I tell the guys all the time, if I could change positions with them, they coach me and I’ll be their running back, I would do it in a minute,” Hagan said. “I do miss it, but hey, my time has passed, and it’s a new generation, and it’s their team, and I want to see these guys have success.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ron Knabenbauer at Ronald.knabenbauer@colorado.edu.
