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Bohn's Decision to Retain Hawk

Buff_since76

Still a fan...
Club Member
Looking at Bohn’s retention of Hawkins, I think there might be other factors that led to his decision (a little self preservation in fact). The overall goal Bohn has had since he came on was to create a quality football program, and a competitive b-ball program that at least makes the NIT on a regular basis. With these to programs the AD can then fund all other sports, and become competitive on a national basis. Looking back at when Bohn gave Hawk the extension he thought the football program had turned a corner. Once the extension was announced his focus went to basketball, and building the $10 million practice facility to help b-ball. I believe there is a clause in Bz’s contract that states if there are no improvements to facilities, he can opt out after this year (I might be wrong on the timing, but I know Bz can opt out). Bohn truly believes Bz and his system can work long term at CU, and that he can establish a successful program (I’m not talking about NCAA championships, but at least getting invited to the dance twice a decade and the NIT the other eight years). Bohn had a choice; spend $3 mill to buy out Hawk plus another few million to sign a new coach and get a new staff, or build a practice facility for B-ball/v-ball and lock Bz into his contract. Since CU AD doesn’t have $18 million of cash lying around like ND, the two options were not mutually exclusive. If Bohn fired Hawk, then Bz may have left at the end of the year, and both football and basketball programs would be in disarray. That would mean Bohn himself would be out the door if the football team had a subpar season in 2010. So Bohn kept Hawk in order to build the practice facility (which he announced on the radio would start construction in April of 2010) and keep some stability in the B-ball program, and he knows he can let Hawk go (if the team doesn’t do well) for less than $2 million in 2010.
 
Reasonable, but I remain of the opinion that Bohn was undermined on this deal. He had his legs cut out from under him by DiStephano and (probably) Benson.
 
Reasonable, but I remain of the opinion that Bohn was undermined on this deal. He had his legs cut out from under him by DiStephano and (probably) Benson.
No matter who made the decision, it was based on economics, IMO. And believe me, no matter what people on this board think about me, I'd have been all for a change if we could have afforded to do it AND bring in the right guy. I just don't think the money was there and if it was, it would have set the program back financially. Despite you witholding your millions, I think CU's revenue will not change dramatically next year. :wink2:
 
No matter who made the decision, it was based on economics, IMO. And believe me, no matter what people on this board think about me, I'd have been all for a change if we could have afforded to do it AND bring in the right guy. I just don't think the money was there and if it was, it would have set the program back financially. Despite you witholding your millions, I think CU's revenue will not change dramatically next year. :wink2:
yup, cause of the extra game.
 
Looking at Bohn’s retention of Hawkins, I think there might be other factors that led to his decision (a little self preservation in fact). The overall goal Bohn has had since he came on was to create a quality football program, and a competitive b-ball program that at least makes the NIT on a regular basis. With these to programs the AD can then fund all other sports, and become competitive on a national basis. Looking back at when Bohn gave Hawk the extension he thought the football program had turned a corner. Once the extension was announced his focus went to basketball, and building the $10 million practice facility to help b-ball. I believe there is a clause in Bz’s contract that states if there are no improvements to facilities, he can opt out after this year (I might be wrong on the timing, but I know Bz can opt out). Bohn truly believes Bz and his system can work long term at CU, and that he can establish a successful program (I’m not talking about NCAA championships, but at least getting invited to the dance twice a decade and the NIT the other eight years). Bohn had a choice; spend $3 mill to buy out Hawk plus another few million to sign a new coach and get a new staff, or build a practice facility for B-ball/v-ball and lock Bz into his contract. Since CU AD doesn’t have $18 million of cash lying around like ND, the two options were not mutually exclusive. If Bohn fired Hawk, then Bz may have left at the end of the year, and both football and basketball programs would be in disarray. That would mean Bohn himself would be out the door if the football team had a subpar season in 2010. So Bohn kept Hawk in order to build the practice facility (which he announced on the radio would start construction in April of 2010) and keep some stability in the B-ball program, and he knows he can let Hawk go (if the team doesn’t do well) for less than $2 million in 2010.

whoa paragraphs?:smile2:
 
Until basketball actually makes money, I don't see Bohn going out of his way to help the hoops program at the expense of football. He knows where the AD's bread is buttered.
 
I doubt this. Basketball is simply not as important at CU as football is - same as virtually every other big school in the country.
 
Until basketball actually makes money, I don't see Bohn going out of his way to help the hoops program at the expense of football. He knows where the AD's bread is buttered.

At this point he might figure that there's no harm in buttering another piece of bread in case the first one goes bad.....

He doesn't even have to turn men's hoops into a profit center (although it should be if Buzz is getting this team turned around the way it appears he might be...). If he can just cut the deficit there he's made his job much easier.... :cool:
 
Basketball is low hanging fruit. If Bohn can fill the Coors event center with paying customers, there's a lot of money to be made.

A good team will fill it. I witnessed it at AZ when Lute came.

Football would rely on higher ticket prices (and donors) to have a big effect on income.

I say, bring back beer sales. Seriously. I need one right now.
 
No matter who made the decision, it was based on economics, IMO. And believe me, no matter what people on this board think about me, I'd have been all for a change if we could have afforded to do it AND bring in the right guy. I just don't think the money was there and if it was, it would have set the program back financially. Despite you witholding your millions, I think CU's revenue will not change dramatically next year. :wink2:

I think it was based on politics more than economics. Economically, this will have a long term negative effect, imo. We may never find out how many season tickets will be cancelled by the retention of Hawk, but I think it is going to be substantial. It just isn't worth paying all that scratch for season tix to see a couple of wins a year, when you can scalp tix under face and participate in all Bohn's ticket deals for quality seats.

It was a political call because even though everyone with a brain knows the AD would pay for the buyout, Benson didn't want to be saddled with it while pleading his case to the State for funding.

At least that's my guess as to why Hawk's back.
 
I thought the general scuttlebutt was that money was there to be had. That blows this argument out of the water from the get-go.
 
Reasonable, but I remain of the opinion that Bohn was undermined on this deal. He had his legs cut out from under him by DiStephano and (probably) Benson.


I know for a fact that Bohn is now a Puppet to the chancellor and Prez.

He has no choice but to go along with the story, because the truth beings negative attention to the chancellor and president and Bohn cannot afford for that to happen.
 
I am not a Bohn apologist, but here is where he started:
- He inherited an AD that was already $8 million in the hole, and needed facility upgrades to all of its sports.
- There is no T. Boone Pickens in Colorado, so you have to nickel and dime your way through your budget.
- The University is under strict laws of a public university, but the state only accounts for 5-8% of total funding and doesn’t have spare cash to help the athletic department. I believe in 2010-11 they are cutting another $21 million from CU.
Bohn’s plan was:
- Upgrade the necessary things in football to make it competitive (locker room, offices, study room, weight room, and get a bubble) so that the team can be decent/competitive and give the AD a budget surplus every year.
o For 08-09 football cost $13 million to operate and brought in $27.8 million
o If we can make a bowl, do better during the season and sell more tickets that revenue figure should go over $30 million easily
o Budget surplus for the year 08-09 was $1.6 million
- Upgrade the B-ball facilities and get the other major revenue generator helping
o For the 08-09 year men’s B-ball earned $3.99 million and cost $3.91 million.
o Reasonable goal would be for men’s b-bal to earn $6.7 million, which would put men’s and women’s b-ball at break even
o Would earn revenue through more ticket sales, better TV/Radio deal, apparel and concession sales, and money for tournament (NIT) play
- Then make the major renovations to football to make them a national contender
o Pay top notch coaches competitive salaries
o Continue to improve facilities
o Top of the line field house
o Increase Folsom seating capacity to increase revenue
Unfortunately Hawk has put a slight damper on the grand plan. If Bohn fires Hawk, and spends $7 million on buy outs and new coaches, he is then left hoping that football has a great 2010. If they don’t Bohn would probably be fired, Bz might leave because all of CU’s excess cash is being put into b-ball so why stay? Then the next AD starts off by saying he is going to try and fix the mess of the last régime. Sound familiar?
 
No, it has over 16K undergrads. And as Sacky pointed out a few of them, there are a number of large schools where basketball is bigger than football.

Arizona, UCLA, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan St., Illinois, Wake Forest.....the list goes on. College basketball is a massive money maker.
 
Looking at Bohn’s retention of Hawkins, I think there might be other factors that led to his decision (a little self preservation in fact). The overall goal Bohn has had since he came on was to create a quality football program, and a competitive b-ball program that at least makes the NIT on a regular basis. With these to programs the AD can then fund all other sports, and become competitive on a national basis. Looking back at when Bohn gave Hawk the extension he thought the football program had turned a corner. Once the extension was announced his focus went to basketball, and building the $10 million practice facility to help b-ball. I believe there is a clause in Bz’s contract that states if there are no improvements to facilities, he can opt out after this year (I might be wrong on the timing, but I know Bz can opt out). Bohn truly believes Bz and his system can work long term at CU, and that he can establish a successful program (I’m not talking about NCAA championships, but at least getting invited to the dance twice a decade and the NIT the other eight years). Bohn had a choice; spend $3 mill to buy out Hawk plus another few million to sign a new coach and get a new staff, or build a practice facility for B-ball/v-ball and lock Bz into his contract. Since CU AD doesn’t have $18 million of cash lying around like ND, the two options were not mutually exclusive. If Bohn fired Hawk, then Bz may have left at the end of the year, and both football and basketball programs would be in disarray. That would mean Bohn himself would be out the door if the football team had a subpar season in 2010. So Bohn kept Hawk in order to build the practice facility (which he announced on the radio would start construction in April of 2010) and keep some stability in the B-ball program, and he knows he can let Hawk go (if the team doesn’t do well) for less than $2 million in 2010.


Great post, I think you made an excellent point. And Bohn is doing a great job turning around the basketball program for all his mishaps with football. Already this season early attendance is up at least 50%. Its taking time but the bball program is becoming quite good. If by next year the coors event center is filling up 60%-70% for basketball games, Bohn can definitely claim a victory here.
 
It was a political call because even though everyone with a brain knows the AD would pay for the buyout, Benson didn't want to be saddled with it while pleading his case to the State for funding.

I don't think this is far from the truth. Imagine the State Budget meeting for CU w/ Ritter, Benson, DiSteph, etc. IF the buyout was done (especially with private money):

Benson - "We just discovered a new rock on the moon and want money for our Geology Dept. to study it."

State Committee - "You just spent $3 million plus to pay a guy that is not going to work there anymore and we are trying to CUT the state budget."

Benson - "But the money for that buyout came solely from private funding, not from the state or CU athletic department."

State Committee - "Oh okay. Then go get some private money to study your rock."

Benson: "Okay. Thank you. Next line item."
 
I don't think this is far from the truth. Imagine the State Budget meeting for CU w/ Ritter, Benson, DiSteph, etc. IF the buyout was done (especially with private money):

Benson - "We just discovered a new rock on the moon and want money for our Geology Dept. to study it."

State Committee - "You just spent $3 million plus to pay a guy that is not going to work there anymore and we are trying to CUT the state budget."

Benson - "But the money for that buyout came solely from private funding, not from the state or CU athletic department."

State Committee - "Oh okay. Then go get some private money to study your rock."

Benson: "Okay. Thank you. Next line item."

Buttermaker - you got it. The political climate cannot be separated from how decisions were made this year. The state is in a budget crisis. CRISIS, okay? People losing benefits, and jobs, and health care do not give a crap that the $3mil came from outside sources. It sounds wasteful to Benson and DiStephano and they cannot do that at this time.
 
I don't think this is far from the truth. Imagine the State Budget meeting for CU w/ Ritter, Benson, DiSteph, etc. IF the buyout was done (especially with private money):

Benson - "We just discovered a new rock on the moon and want money for our Geology Dept. to study it."

State Committee - "You just spent $3 million plus to pay a guy that is not going to work there anymore and we are trying to CUT the state budget."

Benson - "But the money for that buyout came solely from private funding, not from the state or CU athletic department."

State Committee - "Oh okay. Then go get some private money to study your rock."

Benson: "Okay. Thank you. Next line item."

And why do we give a **** about moon rocks????????:lol:
 
I would think that if the buy out was donated money, selling it to the politicians would be no problem. You guys are grasping at straws there. They did not have donation money, and that is why they did not make the move. Not because of politics, but because they simply could not afford it.
 
Arizona, UCLA, North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan St., Illinois, Wake Forest.....the list goes on. College basketball is a massive money maker.


Wake Forest is tiny. I agree with the argument, just saying Wake Forest does not belong on that list.
 
I would think that if the buy out was donated money, selling it to the politicians would be no problem. You guys are grasping at straws there. They did not have donation money, and that is why they did not make the move. Not because of politics, but because they simply could not afford it.

Respectfully disagree. In this instance, perception and reality are the same. $3 million to fire one guy vs. $21 million budget cut
 
What I was told by a friend last night was that there was buyout money in place.

However, Bohn sat down with the major boosters in Maui and basically came to an agreement to keep Hawkins for another season.

The #1 reason was they did not have any strong canidates for HC. To buy out Hawk, would have forced them to settle for a lesser known HC that would have been just as big a risk.

CU was not going to get any of the big time names that were mentioned on this board. The boosters & Bohn crunched the numbers and decided that the loss in donations/ticket sales was going to be about the same as it would to fire Hawkins.

Without a better replacement option available to them, they decided to stay with what they had, knowing the buyout would be much less in 2010 if he fails.

#2 was the recruiting that would be lost. Since it took until end of November to make a decision on Hawkins, many people felt that getting rid of him now would eliminate any chance at a decent recruiting class for 2010.

I was also told that many boosters expect Hawkins to be on a very short leash when the new season starts. If 2010 starts like 2009 did with three losses in the first four, don't expect Hawkins to be around for the start of Big 12 play.
 
What I was told by a friend last night was that there was buyout money in place.

However, Bohn sat down with the major boosters in Maui and basically came to an agreement to keep Hawkins for another season.

The #1 reason was they did not have any strong canidates for HC. To buy out Hawk, would have forced them to settle for a lesser known HC that would have been just as big a risk.

CU was not going to get any of the big time names that were mentioned on this board. The boosters & Bohn crunched the numbers and decided that the loss in donations/ticket sales was going to be about the same as it would to fire Hawkins.

Without a better replacement option available to them, they decided to stay with what they had, knowing the buyout would be much less in 2010 if he fails.

#2 was the recruiting that would be lost. Since it took until end of November to make a decision on Hawkins, many people felt that getting rid of him now would eliminate any chance at a decent recruiting class for 2010.

I was also told that many boosters expect Hawkins to be on a very short leash when the new season starts. If 2010 starts like 2009 did with three losses in the first four, don't expect Hawkins to be around for the start of Big 12 play.

I can see the logic in that. Doing SWAG math, I was having a hard time believing we would be able to pick up the names we were discussing too, especially when the hiring of new assistants was added to the equation.

If this is true, it would also help to explain why Bohn is sidestepping the answer to everyone's question of "How many wins does Hawk need next year?"

Let's just say he answered "8 plus a bowl win." Well, if Hawk goes 1-3 or 0-4 in OOC play, even though all would probably agree that even getting bowl eligible would be impossible (like this year,) there would still be the CHANCE that the team goes on a amazing run through the B12 (which we would all enjoy) and Hawk saves his job another season.

By keeping the answer open-ended, Bohn allows himself the flexibility to can Hawkins after a possible bad OOC showing without people/media backlashing on him saying "but you said he needed 8 wins and you aren't giving him the chance!"

Say what we want about Bohn, but if the above is true, he is one shrewd MFer. And on a personal note, if true, I really like the way he collaborated with the big boosters out there to get them on board - after doing a logical analysis and pushing the numbers. (sorry, the nuke in me just sufaced again :wink2:)
 
I just think it's funny that people bring up recruiting in this discussion. Here are CU's numbers according to Rivals:
2006 #48 class
2007 #32
2008 #15 but after losing the top two plus two 3* guys, this falls to the 40s
2009 #48

Hawkins has not recruited well, and after this season, will be in the 40s again (if we're lucky). That puts us in or close to the bottom quartile of the 66 BCS teams. This is what we are settling for with Hawkins as coach.
 
What I was told by a friend last night was that there was buyout money in place.

However, Bohn sat down with the major boosters in Maui and basically came to an agreement to keep Hawkins for another season.

The #1 reason was they did not have any strong canidates for HC. To buy out Hawk, would have forced them to settle for a lesser known HC that would have been just as big a risk.

CU was not going to get any of the big time names that were mentioned on this board. The boosters & Bohn crunched the numbers and decided that the loss in donations/ticket sales was going to be about the same as it would to fire Hawkins.

Without a better replacement option available to them, they decided to stay with what they had, knowing the buyout would be much less in 2010 if he fails.

#2 was the recruiting that would be lost. Since it took until end of November to make a decision on Hawkins, many people felt that getting rid of him now would eliminate any chance at a decent recruiting class for 2010.

I was also told that many boosters expect Hawkins to be on a very short leash when the new season starts. If 2010 starts like 2009 did with three losses in the first four, don't expect Hawkins to be around for the start of Big 12 play.

That sounds downright reasonable. I wonder how one crunches a decline in donations/ticket sales, though.
 
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