Initial Reaction to the Report of Dan Hawkins Being Retained As Colorado's Head Coach

I am not going to lie, I didn't expect Dan Hawkins to be back at the helm of the Colorado football program in 2010. I am a results oriented guy.  I love statistics, l love the facts and love them because they are concrete, they aren't fictional. That is what makes sports great, it is definable by numbers. I am also a dreamer, I have visions of Colorado football back when I was a kid with Kordell Stewart at quarterback, I remember watching Colorado win bowl games. I remember when Colorado was a winner.

Now I am not saying I expect Colorado to compete with Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska every year. But, like in every profession in this world that involves highly compensated individuals, you expect progress. You expect results and whether Mike Bohn, Dan Hawkins and Phil DiStefano care to acknowledge it or not, winning is the result.

To me, this decision cannot be defended by looking at the numbers and I struggle with the current pieces being in place to deliver the end goal of being a successful football program any time soon. To me, the University of Colorado made the easy decision by keeping Dan Hawkins. It just fits right now with the level of commitment to athletics in Boulder compared to other Big 12 programs. Yep, the reasons are there not to be a successful program. We have heard them all before: the assistant coaches only receiving one year contracts, academic admissions are not realistic for athletes, Colorado is not near a hot bed of recruiting, facilities are out of date and the scandal of four years ago that Dan Hawkins continues to reference.

All of those are valid reasons for Colorado struggling and should not necessarily to be considered excuses. 

read more after the jump...

But the dreamer in me envisioned a coach that wouldn't say, "if you only knew what we had to deal with four years ago, you would know this isn't an easy thing to get turned around." I pictured a coach where his team showed progress on the field, played hard on the road, his team didn't make excuses for looking past Colorado State, not allowing his players to play without energy on the road and not losing to programs like Toledo in year four, with all due respect.

I had visions of a coach who said he was going to fix it and meant it. A coach that would get the best out of his players each Saturday and if he didn't, he would demand it. He would demand things and fix things to win.

Today, the University of Colorado had a chance to send a message that it isn't acceptable to go 2 - 18 on the road. It isn't acceptable to lose to Toledo and Colorado State. It isn't acceptable winning less games in year four than in year two or year three with a much easier schedule. The University had a chance to say we want to be successful in athletics and winning only 33% of your games is not successful just like doing your job 33% of the time for every other profession isn't acceptable. Let's get this straight, Dan Hawkins' job is to win ball games. It is every coach's job to run a clean program as well, it isn't only relegated to Colorado. But like it or not, you can say the coaching profession is full of slimy individuals but winning is the goal.

But the University said, poor us. We are too poor, we don't have the facilities, we had the scandal. Translation: winning isn't the priority. Bottom line, it isn't the priority.

And that is the tough fact about being a Colorado Buffalo fan right now. The program isn't going to battle with winning in mind. And that is very obvious right now. Yes, all we can do and all we have control over is to root for the Buffs and hope it works out but it isn't easy.

Sure, keeping Dan Hawkins might turn out well next year and he could win 7 or 8 games and the Buffs could turn it all around. But what proof do we have that he can lead a team to victory on the road? What proof do we have that Dan Hawkins has made an improvement from year one to year four and that year five will be different?

Yes, their are more questions than answers right now.

So what is the judgment pole for Dan Hawkins next year?. Will four wins show improvement and allow Dan Hawkins to be here in 2011?

The next question is what took the University so long to announce Dan Hawkins would be returning in 2010 and why all of this discussion about an announcement? Obviously, Colorado was close to firing Dan Hawkins. What was the reason they didn't. Odds are, it was money, the money from the extension Dan Hawkins received in 2008 and the goal of winning not being THE priority. But I expect Colorado to lose plenty of money next year with Dan Hawkins as the head coach.

Like I said, I am a numbers guy: