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Worst Coach ever at CU? Fairbanks or Hawkins?

sackman

Hates the Counting Crows.
Club Member
Having survived through the Fairbanks years, I still have memories of how much of a jackass that guy was. Yet, with each day that passes, I'm finding myself wondering if he might actually have been a better coach than Hawkins is.
Is that possible?
There are a lot of similarities between the two. Fairbanks had an entitlement mentality, just like Hawkins does. He thought the facilities were the reason he was losing. He blamed the talent, not his own inability to recruit talent. He was an alloof, self absorbed egomaniac. Just like Hawkins. Losing was never his fault, always somebody elses.
If history repeats itself, the next guy we hire will take us back to the promised land. From the darkness comes the light. Fairbanks begat McCartney. Hawkins begat ...?
 
The one thing Hawk has going for him in this argument is that Fairbanks didn't just kill the football program. He nearly killed the entire athletic department. However, I am of the belief that his doing so had more to do with a weak AD (Crowder) than him personally. If Hawk could get away with it, he'd try to cut 4-5 sports and get himself a new pair of shoes every week, too.

By the time Fairbanks was done in Boulder, Folsom would regularly shoe-horn around 25,000 into the stands. They had walk-up tickets available for $5. The overall program is much stronger today than it was in March of 1982. Having said that, the trajectory is going in the wrong direction. We're getting closer to 1982 every day.
 
Bud Davis. Bud was a Grad Student getting his Ph.D. and the Alumni Director and had been a HS football coach. When the proverbial ***** hit the fan with Sonny, CU drafted Bud to coach the football team. They went 2-8. Bud tells the story that before the Air Force Game he told the team he would resign if they beat AFA. CU was a 21 point underdog and won 34-10. The team carried Bud off the field on their shoulders...he resigned that tell. I think the team actually like Bud because he stepped in when no one would take the job.

Actually Hawkins is much worst - I justed wanted to retell the story. Bud is a great Buff and a great man. He wrote the book - Glory Colorado! A history of the University of Colorado


 
I've always heard that Fairbanks didn't care. Hawk clearly cares.

I don't see that he cares. He believes that the coaches should not work long hours and they he should take lots of vacations. Why do you say that he "clearly cares"? I do not think he cares at all and has not for a long time. He only cares about listening to himself.
 
I don't see that he cares. He believes that the coaches should not work long hours and they he should take lots of vacations. Why do you say that he "clearly cares"? I do not think he cares at all and has not for a long time. He only cares about listening to himself.
Is there some kind of count on how many vacations he's taken? I also know he tells coaches not to stay overnight at Dal Ward. He sends them home to be with their families.

What a bad guy.
 
hawkins by far. i never even watched fairbanks coach but i am confident in my answer. simply because it is literally impossible to be a worse coach than dan hawkins.
 
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As I understand it, Fairbanks' damage was systemic and far-reaching. Processes failed. The structure deteriorated.

Like everybody else I'm frustrated and baffled by Hawks' inability to put a competitive product on the field (one play away from beating Baylor and TT at home is not competitive, in my mind), but I suspect he's worked hard to build the structure and processes necessary to support a good football team. Or at least it seems he was obsessed with that early on.

But frankly, I don't know what it takes to support a good team, or what processes we actually have in place--so it just occurred to me, I have no idea what the **** I'm talking about. What's new, right?
 
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