Opinion: Time to get rid of Hawkins

Head Coach Dan Hawkins walks to the sideline after speaking with his players in huddle. (CU Independent file/Molly Maher)

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As the boos poured down from the stands at Folsom Field, Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Tyler Hansen jogged toward his sideline after being sacked for a safety and received a much needed hug from his head coach. The time to chew players out for making mistakes has long passed in a season that cannot end soon enough for embattled head coach Dan Hawkins.

After patiently waiting to see if Hawkins could turn things around, now is the time to say what many Colorado fans have been saying for a while.

It’s time to let Hawkins go.

Maybe not today or even before the season ends, but by the time the holidays arrive, there needs to be a new coaching staff roaming the halls of the Dal Ward Athletic Center.

It isn’t simply because the Buffs lost another embarrassing home game Saturday to the Missouri Tigers 36-17 or because they are en route to their fourth losing season in as many years under Hawkins. It is those things and much more.

Hawkins and his boss, athletic director Mike Bohn, have implored fans to be patient. They say the program was in such bad shape when former head coach Gary Barnett left that there needs to be more time to point the program in the right direction. Hawkins has frequently pointed out that his team is still very young, they are doing things the right way and it will eventually show on the field.

But can this program afford to wait and see if those things actually come true?

Three million dollars is the amount it would cost to buy out Hawkins’ contract. It doesn’t seem like a lot of money when your program resorts to a buy one, get one free promotion because you can’t sell enough tickets to your homecoming game against a division opponent. Even with the promotion, the announced attendance at the game was only 45,634.

If attendance continues to drop and impatient donors stop giving money to the athletic department, it would be more financially prudent to buy out Hawkins and bring in someone else who will at least get people excited about the future of the program.

But the question many people want to know is how did it get to this point? This was a team that in its second season under Hawkins, upset the third-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and blew out its rival, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, to go to a bowl game.

From that season to where we are now, Hawkins has failed to take the program to the next step and has instead made poor coaching, staffing and recruiting decisions.

The recruiting has been very good at some positions and Hawkins proved himself to be a formidable recruiter by winning battles over Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Florida since he arrived, but he’s also failed to bring in enough playmakers at skill positions such as wide receiver. Despite his ability to bring in high profile recruits, players such as Kai Maiava, Josh Smith and Lynn Katoa have either been kicked off the team or decided to transfer somewhere else. Even running back Darrell Scott, who was thought to be the kind of player that can change the direction of a program like Darian Hagan did for Bill McCartney’s CU team in the 1980s, has failed to have any impact in his two seasons here.

You can’t blame Hawkins for all of that. But it has become increasingly clear that there are gaping holes on this team that have not been filled, whether it is walk-ons returning punts or young players forced to play before they are ready simply because there isn’t anybody else available.

Another troubling sign for this football team is its inability to improve week after week. Sure, they had the lead against No. 2 Texas at halftime, but the first half against Missouri was perhaps the worst this team has played all year. They were underprepared and arguably its most talented unit, the offensive line, looked lost.

I don’t take any joy in calling for Hawkins’ firing because he really does seem like a good guy and he genuinely wants this team to win. But college football is a business. If the fans stop showing up and they stop forking over donations, then it doesn’t matter what is going on behind the scenes.

For the second time in four years, Bohn needs to call a press conference and begin his search for the person who can build off of what Hawkins did well and start filling in the holes.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Callahan at Ryan.callahan@colorado.edu.