A Night with Mr. Bohn and Chancellor Phil

CU Athletics threw southern Colorado a Bohn…literally last evening when Mike and Chancellor Phil attended an athletic event hosted by the El Pomar Foundation in Colorado Springs.  The timing of the event was probably not the best for the CU staff, but it could not have been better for the alumni. 

They started the presentation with some raw financial numbers and educated those of us in attendance about where CU stood in comparison to its Big Twelve brethren.  They also addressed what was happening on campus as far as athletics were concerned.  BIG thank you to them!  I am pleased they came down and spent some time with us…and then they started (or made the mistake of) taking questions from the audience. 

Jokingly, Mr. Bohn said “I’m ready; I brought a bunch of backup”.  He may have brought backup, but he didn’t bring a whole lot of answers. 

Mike first answered questions about the bathrooms in the field house, and the antiquated sound system at Folsom and he assured us that they are improving all phases of the stadium and its facilities as money becomes available.  The new practice facilities for volleyball and basketball are also coming along which will enable our athletes to stay on campus to practice when the event center is busy.   

Then, after the easy questions were over, the fireworks began!

The next question was about the possible buy-out of Coach Hawk's contract to which Bohn said there were no plans to buy out his contract or replace him. 

The next question was about whom the backup QB was to which the answer was, "two walk-on freshmen".  Then there was a caveat to that answer and Bohn said, “Actually the “planned” back-up(s) were not on CU’s roster, they were starting QB’s for other programs.  One was at USC, and the other was starting in Bradford’s absence at OU”.  Mr. Bohn followed that by saying that CU was the first school to offer both of those players’ scholarships but they both had elected to go to other programs. 

??WAIT! Did he just say that the back-up quarterbacks that they were considering are starting at other division one schools?? Yes he did!

I think it is presumptuous to think that they would be backing up Cody and not the other way around.  Maybe they would have slammed the red shirt on one of those kids and we’d still be in the same predicament.   

At any rate, no matter how many highly touted quarterbacks there are sitting behind Cody or playing at other schools, the whole thing smells like an excuse to me.  A tough excuse to swallow after the head coach comes out with a “ten wins and no excuses” battle cry! I think his answer leads to the question - If the AD and the head coach aren’t even whistling the same tune, how do you expect the offensive play to come in from the sideline in an efficient amount of time?

The next question was something to the effect of, “Do you think these players went to other schools because they felt that with the coach’s son starting, they had little chance of seeing playing time at CU?” Bohn emphatically said NO!

My follow-up question that they didn’t have time for was something to the effect of “How do you make us believe that among the many two and three star recruits that start at CU, you let two high level quarterbacks slip out of your hands?”

Obviously, Bohn is not coming to an event of this nature to announce that they are buying out the contract of the head football coach and changing quarterbacks, but I am tired of hearing that he is as competitive as we are and he wants to see this team win because it just seems like more excuses on the pile, and fuel for my fire!

I support our team, I support the university, I just think there are too many questions, and as I stated before, not a whole lot of solid answers.