Coach Bob Foster interacts with his team at practice on August 27, 2009. (CU Independent/Michelle Davenport)
If Bob Foster has a claim to fame, it’s that he has un-retired more times than Michael Jordan and Brett Favre combined.
That’s no easy feat.
Foster has retired four times and every time he’s come out of retirement, he’s done it for pupils he’s mentored. And those pupils have to be special people. In Foster’s eyes, Colorado Buffaloes head coach Dan Hawkins fits the mold.
“I knew he was a special guy when he and his wife [Misti] were on their honeymoon and they were out at Bodega Bay [Calif.] in the sand dunes,” Foster said. “They didn’t have a tent to sleep in, and if anything, they were going to sleep under the stars. It was foggy and it was almost like rain, and we happened to be there camping in a trailer. We gave them a pup tent and I said, ‘This guy is a special guy. No question about it.’”
On June 1, Foster officially came out of retirement, again, to coach the Buffs outside linebackers this season after former offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich left for Oregon to assume the same position he held with CU.
Of the four times Foster has un-retired, twice it has been for Hawkins. The first time Hawkins lured Foster out of retirement was in 1995 when Hawkins was head coach at Willamette University. Foster’s role then was as a defensive consultant and the two worked together for three years.
Hawkins said he holds Foster in high regard. When people ask Hawkins who his mentors are, Hawkins’ answers aren’t legends like Knute Rockne or Bill Walsh. Instead, it’s Foster.
“He said, ‘Hey Hawk, make sure you work on getting this guy to the spot because if you don’t, they’re going to complete this route on us,’” Hawkins said. “I said, ‘Coach, that guy must be the stupidest guy in America because I’ve told him 1,000 times and he still doesn’t get it.’”
Hawkins continued.
“He got in my face and said, ‘You must be the stupidest coach in America because if you told this guy 1,000 times and he still doesn’t get it, you’re a lousy teacher.’ I was like, ‘Hmm, OK, I hear you. I guess I better figure out something different.’”
The bond Foster and Hawkins shared almost never came to be because when Hawkins first enrolled at UC-Davis, he was a fullback and Foster was the defensive coordinator.
Since mentor and pupil weren’t on the same side of the ball, odds were high that they might never have had the opportunity to form the relationship they have today. But during their time together, they each said they saw an attribute in the other that holds a special place in each of their hearts.
“We go back and we got some funny stories, but he was always the guy on our team that you wish everybody was like,” Foster said. “Super-coachable, all for the team, not for himself, that kind of a guy — the kind of a guy you loved to coach.”
Hawkins offered similar words.
“He had the great innate ability, and too many times in our profession, people love and want to see this demonstrative, screaming, maniacal, chest thumping, fist on the ground, let’s raise heck kind of a guy,” Hawkins said. “Everybody that ever played for him, he has such a great way about him and he’d draw out their best. If you were the fourth-team guy or the first-team guy, you’d jump on a spear for the guy. He’d genuinely love you, he did.”
Contact CU Independent Sports Editor Cheng Sio at Cheng.Sio@colorado.edu.
1 comment
Great story! Finally the Independent has a real sports section!