Hawkins doesn't cheat. He insists that his players go to class. He does his best to teach...

Hawkins doesn't cheat. He insists that his players go to class. He does his best to teach accountability and responsibility, and he tries to teach that practicing such traits will reap long-term rewards.

Simply, he tries to teach the same things that all of us expect from our co-workers, our employers and our employees. The fact that many sports fans are willing to accept far less from "their" teams and coaches is a sad commentary on society.

Those are also the reasons CU athletic department officials and administrators across the campus wanted him to succeed. They want to believe that doing things the right way can still produce the right results in college sports.

Thing is, we should all be tired of cheaters. We should be sick of coaches who break the rules and call it a matter of business, who embarrass their universities and families but are forgiven because they win.We should be tired of programs that make a mockery of the term "student athlete." Tired of programs who use up a kid`s eligibility, then send him out into the real world with no degree, no skills -- and no chance of ever getting hired by one of the rich alums who patted him on the back on Saturdays.

Neither should we continue to tolerate coaches -- and fans and media and administrators -- who look the other way when a player beats hell out of his girlfriend on Wednesday and still plays on Saturday. We should not think it`s OK for coaches to simply say they will "handle discipline internally."

But we do. All too often, simply in the name of winning, we accept behavior from coaches and players that we would never -- ever -- permit in our little corners of the world.

It is hypocrisy at its zenith.

That being said, I also realize that while Hawkins has tried to do the right thing at Colorado, he has failed to do the one thing that coaches must do to keep their jobs:

Win. He has lost roughly twice as many games as he has won in his tenure here. His teams have never shown the ability to improve as the seasons have progressed; rather, they tend to regress. Doing it the right way is terrific -- and it can be done -- but the bottom line in the business of college sports is that no matter how you do it, you`d better win.

Neill Woelk - Boulder Daily Camera

Bingo! Something we have muttered on this site since the beginning of the year. Somehow, winning needs to be intertwinned in "the right way" or "things." I am just surprised how long this sort of comment has been used by Hawkins. The question for Mike Bohn is what is the goal for the football program?

2 months ago irish1611 12 comments 0 recs |

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Boise State

Did Hawkins do it the right way up in Boise? It seemed to translate into wins there. Yes I realize the WAC is not the best football but we haven’t beat the teams Boise State would kill. I for one just don’t understand why it can’t translate to the Big 12 North (which we all must admit right now is quality football).

by dsmba on Nov 17, 2009 8:08 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

I think it is now easy to see that Chris Peterson was the key at Boise State

He was the X’s and O’s guy, something that I believe Hawkins is lacking.

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by irish1611 on Nov 17, 2009 8:16 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Yep

It’s more than clear at this point that Hawkins had little to nothing whatsoever to do with the success of Boise State, who hasn’t missed a beat since Hawkins left and has arguably gotten better and better each year.

Obviously, all the credit for Boise State’s success belongs to Chris Peterson, and we hired the wrong guy out of Idaho.

by AllBroncsallday on Nov 18, 2009 10:01 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

MY god

Give me a freaking break, he acts like Hawkins is the only coach that runs a “clean” program in the nation, excuse me, but there are plenty of programs that run their program the right way and manage to win at the same time, imagine that. I don’t remember Urban Meyer being a cheater, Jim Harbaugh is he a cheater, I can go down the line. I am sick of this Poly anna attitude that you have to somehow cheat or bend the rules to win, does Air Force bend the rules, do they cheat? Yet they win and are going to a bowl game, and I guarentee you they would kick CU’s ass on the field with kids with far less physical talent, the fact is they get coached the right way and are dedictaed and play up to their talent level. Neil you miss the point, Hawkins has shown he can not coach or motivate the kids to play, he was hired as a “head coach”, that means you coach, you make your players play up to or beyond their abilities. He has failed to do what is in the first line of his job description and that is to coach!

The fact is that I think people get the idea of kids being kids versus having criminals on your program confussed. I don’t expect all players to be angels, they are going to drink, probably do some drugs, and probably do something stupid in their time at the University, most students do that (I know I did). The question is do they learn from their mistakes and grow or is it something deeper where they are just irresponsible idiots that will never get better. Yes I don’t want players beating and raping women, or endangering the lives of other people (DUI), that is not tolerable. But if a kids says gets a little too much fun after finals and ends up urinating on a police car, it may not be the end of the world. I don’t need boy scouts, I need people that want to do well on the football field and at class, but if they want to have some fun during waht is supposed to be the best times of their lives, I am not going to get that upset.

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by Broncoman on Nov 17, 2009 8:15 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

A couple things

Yes, Woelk overblows the whole “Hawkins runs a clean program and does things the right way off the field.” I think Woelk has respect for Hawkins as a person and I think Woelk is a major fan of Colorado football. I don’t think he will ever bad mouth Hawkins like we want him to. I agree, he goes way too far on putting blanket statements out their about other football programs in the nation compared to Colorado.

I agree with FUHawkins that this program is not the cleanest thing in the world but it has improved overall on an off the field basis from where it was four years ago, I think Hawkins had a lot to do with that. He should be commended for getting the thinged cleaned up to a point and at least have some recruiting success.

The more and more Hawkins is on the job, the more and more he is not doing the right things. Calling fans and donors “internet scum” and people who never were in the arena battling is just stupid and irresponsible as a public figure. That is not the right way to do things, it is part of the pressure that comes with making a lot of money. Saying things like “10 wins, no excuses” is also irresponsible and not the right thing to do either. His judgement in the media is definitely lacking.

But don’t get caught up in Woelk’s long “the right way” piece of the story…skip to the last two paragraphs. That is all that matters in the article. Winning is the key and that is something we can all agree with.

The Ralphie Report - Go Buffs!...All Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by irish1611 on Nov 17, 2009 8:36 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

I hear you

It just makes me so freaking mad that people try to justify Hawkins tenure as that he runs a clean program, that somehow he is the only coach in the country capable of turning this program into a clean program. There are plenty of coaches that run clean programs and can win on the field and get their guys to play up to a higher level.

I also think Barnett got a lot of blame for things that were not in his control and the media did all it could to make Barnett out as this guy who had no control of the program, now a lot of those same media are saying they were wrong and Barnett was not to blame for a lot of the issues at the program. I think Neil and a lot of the guys in the media feel guilty for helping get Barnett run out of town and now they are trying to come up for excuses to keep Hawkins, and the only real excuse they can come up with is this whole clean program idea.

by Broncoman on Nov 17, 2009 9:25 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Do not be mistaken

Those players there are not angels, how many times have you seen one or more of them out at a party.

But as Broncoman said, look at USC, Pete Carroll not only embraces his community and is a winner, but he also has a disciplined football team. Sure the prestige for USC-Colorado is not even in the same universe, but Colorado is still a good program.

by FUHawkins on Nov 17, 2009 8:21 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

I think the "good kids" and "clean program" thing are so big at CU because of the end of the Barnett era.

My fiance is a CU grad and obviously has a lot of friends who are CU fans and graduates. She was embarassed of her University under Barnett and would rather lose into perpetuity than have players accused of rape and other scandals. I think some people forget or don’t realize how big a black eye that was for the University.

That being said, I think Hawkins gets one more year at best, and there is a 50/50 chance he gets canned before then.

by Texas Wahoo on Nov 17, 2009 9:14 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

From a slightly different perspective comes this piece

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=202&articleid=20091117_202_B1_MIKEGU979067&allcom=1

and this

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091117/SPORTS/711169818

by mam2jd on Nov 17, 2009 7:12 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Tulsa article

Gotta love the hatchet job this “reporter” does to Barnett’s tenure. Not to mention how he wrote that the Toledo game was the opener for CU this year. Uh, maybe take a few minutes and do some research on those claims and their eventual outcome under Barnett? And then perhaps check this year’s schedule? I know that seems daunting…what a joke.

by CleBUFFS on Nov 17, 2009 8:58 PM MST via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Neill's journey

Has been interesting to watch. After the team lost to CSU, I had an email conversation with him where he basically told me “Yeah, I get it but they simply can’t fire him due to the financial considerations. And hey, he could turn into the next Bill…” He wrote several columns to this effect.

I guess those financial concerns have gone away and he’s pretty sure we DON’T have the next McCartney in Hawkins now.

Yeah, we all like “the right way” but the main job of a Head Coach is WINNING FOOTBALL GAMES. If you can’t do that, all the other stuff doesn’t really mean much.

by AllBroncsallday on Nov 18, 2009 9:58 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

you want to win in D1,you either are a masterful coach like, Ken Niumatalolo at navy or Jim Harbaugh at Stanford who can win with lesser talent or you get gangbanger with speed, you lie and cheat like the rest of the country. Dont give me this bullshit about running a clean program. Running a clean program and winning national championships will never happen in this day with all the $ thats out there. Hawkins may be a stand up guy and a great mentor for life, but he can’t coach football…..

1990 National Champions- Colorado Buffalo's
1913,1957,2004 National Champs- Auburn Tigers

by trayrenfro on Nov 19, 2009 1:02 AM MST reply actions 0 recs