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Hawk's biggest problem.

sackman

Hates the Counting Crows.
Club Member
When Hawk was at Boise, he didn't have to worry about winning. He had to worry about keeping his players in the right frame of mind. When he came to CU, he thought that if he could get his players in the right frame of mind, they would automatically start to win. That's flawed. The winning comes first. Hawk will continue to fail here until he realizes that his first job is to win, not to get the attitude right. The attitude will come once they start winning.
 
Thinking about this I agree 100%. He took over a winner at Boise and was the right man to maintain and grow on that, but he didn't have to build up the roster like he has here. Now the question does he know how to teach losers how to win... In all fairness these are his players and have not had a winning record so they have that losing stigma to them. Can he change that with them is the question?
 
I just think he is not ready for the level of competition at the Big 12 Level. I think he was successful at Boise because he took over a good program and Peterson is a much better coach than anyone realized.
 
I just think he is not ready for the level of competition at the Big 12 Level. I think he was successful at Boise because he took over a good program and Peterson is a much better coach than anyone realized.
He got handed the keys to Ferrari in a league where everybody else had Yugos. That is why he won at Boise. Now he's up against competition of equal or better resources and he's getting used like the neighbor's rented mule.
 
I just think that Hawk doesn't understand how these things work. He honestly believes that if he gets the players attitudes in the right place, that they'll automatically start winning as the result. Unfortunately, he's putting the cart before the horse. His primary focus should be on winning games. It's obvious that winning games is not his primary focus.
 
I just think that Hawk doesn't understand how these things work. He honestly believes that if he gets the players attitudes in the right place, that they'll automatically start winning as the result. Unfortunately, he's putting the cart before the horse. His primary focus should be on winning games. It's obvious that winning games is not his primary focus.

I agree. He is a PMA kind of guy. I've said it before, and it's sort of the same thing you suggest here. I think you are right. He believes, in some Macchu Picchu mystical way, the right thoughts and attitudes will magically overpower UT and OU. I'd prefer hard nosed mistake free FB, but that's just me....
 
Thinking about this I agree 100%. He took over a winner at Boise and was the right man to maintain and grow on that, but he didn't have to build up the roster like he has here. Now the question does he know how to teach losers how to win... In all fairness these are his players and have not had a winning record so they have that losing stigma to them. Can he change that with them is the question?

What he tried to do is convince them to not worry about winning, but worry about being winners. Well, that's just a load of garbage. Winners win. If you're losing, you're not a winner. The focus needed to be on doing what's necessary to win football games. That includes blocking, tackling, running, throwing, catching kicking and punting - all of the stuff we seem to be having difficulty with. His focus on "little things" betrays his inability to deal with the big things.
 
I just think he is not ready for the level of competition at the Big 12 Level. I think he was successful at Boise because he took over a good program and Peterson is a much better coach than anyone realized.

I am with you he is in over his head and isnt a game day coach, this is compounded exponentially by the fact his assistants are either mediocre or green.
 
****ing THIS. I've said for 2 years now that we got the wrong damn coach from BSU.

Quite possibly true. But with Peterson, we'd have the same issue. We don't need somebody to keep the ship going. We need somebody to raise the Titanic. Some coaches are great at turning around programs. Others are great at keeping programs great. A few are good at doing both. We got a coach who was good at keeping a team great, but who doesn't have the first freaking idea of how to turn a program around.
 
We got a coach who was good at keeping a team great, but who doesn't have the first freaking idea of how to turn a program around.

I guess my overall point with it is that Hawkins DIDN'T keep BSU great. He had Petersen (and probably a few other assistants) to do the real work to keep the program great, and he (Hawkins) got to claim all the glory for it. Hawkins didn't do **** to make/keep BSU a great team, he was just a clueless figurehead.
 
Quite possibly true. But with Peterson, we'd have the same issue. We don't need somebody to keep the ship going. We need somebody to raise the Titanic. Some coaches are great at turning around programs. Others are great at keeping programs great. A few are good at doing both. We got a coach who was good at keeping a team great, but who doesn't have the first freaking idea of how to turn a program around.

He did fix that scratch on the HC's office door though....so he has that going for him.
 
I guess my overall point with it is that Hawkins DIDN'T keep BSU great. He had Petersen (and probably a few other assistants) to do the real work to keep the program great, and he (Hawkins) got to claim all the glory for it. Hawkins didn't do **** to make/keep BSU a great team, he was just a clueless figurehead.

I think you may be overstating his importance....
 
Quite possibly true. But with Peterson, we'd have the same issue. We don't need somebody to keep the ship going. We need somebody to raise the Titanic. Some coaches are great at turning around programs. Others are great at keeping programs great. A few are good at doing both. We got a coach who was good at keeping a team great, but who doesn't have the first freaking idea of how to turn a program around.

Couldn't agree with you more.

I don't think Hawk is a bad guy and in fact I don't think he is a bad coach. He is a guy who took the wrong approach to the wrong situation for his personality and is paying the price on the field. Winning attitudes are easy when you are winning, winning attitudes are at best fragile when you are losing and tend to fall apart when they are not backed by success. Peterson has not done anything increadable that Hawk didn't do at Boise, he did win a BCS game against a team that had already mailed it in when their shot at the MNC was gone but he won it using Hawk's recruits and Hawk's system. Eventually Peterson will leave Boise just like Hawk did and just like Koetter did and we will see how he does in a less protected environment.

I would not even be surprised if someday Hawk comes back to a head coaching position at a BCS level program and wins big after having a chance to evaluate the mistakes he made at CU and change his approach.

Winning teams have a winning identity, they believe that every time they go out onto the field, if they do what they are supposed to do as individuals and as a team they will win. They have a mentality that says "We will do X and nobody can stop us from doing X except ourselves." Hawk has failed miserably at establishing an identity with this team. They change offenses every year (often more than once.) They change defenses every year. One year they are all about accountablility, the next that is forgotten and they are up at the crack of dawn for morning practices. Before these ideas they were all about the lunchbuckets, etc. etc. etc..

I am not saying that Hawk should try to be another Mac but if you look at what Mac did to turn around a program that was dead in the water, he established an indentity. The I-bone that he installed was less about talent and more about a state of mind. He convinced his kids that as a team we were going to run the ball down peoples throats and they couldn't do anything about it. The kids came to believe that, the coaches believed it, the fans believed it, and eventually the opponents came to believe it and as a result the game was often won before the ball was ever kicked off. Under Hawk I see confusion, I see a team that is unsure of what it is doing and who it is, I see a team that is waiting for bad things to happen to it rather than good.

Bottom line is that Hawk has never put this team into a place where they believed they are going to win on the field. They may be a great bunch of guys, I believe they are, they may have tremendous success in their lives after CU football, I hope that they do. On the field they do not think like winners or act like winners and as a result they don't win. That is Hawk's fault and that is what he is paid to do. As a result he is in this job a failure.
 
Couldn't agree with you more.

I don't think Hawk is a bad guy and in fact I don't think he is a bad coach. He is a guy who took the wrong approach to the wrong situation for his personality and is paying the price on the field. Winning attitudes are easy when you are winning, winning attitudes are at best fragile when you are losing and tend to fall apart when they are not backed by success. Peterson has not done anything increadable that Hawk didn't do at Boise, he did win a BCS game against a team that had already mailed it in when their shot at the MNC was gone but he won it using Hawk's recruits and Hawk's system. Eventually Peterson will leave Boise just like Hawk did and just like Koetter did and we will see how he does in a less protected environment.

I would not even be surprised if someday Hawk comes back to a head coaching position at a BCS level program and wins big after having a chance to evaluate the mistakes he made at CU and change his approach.

Winning teams have a winning identity, they believe that every time they go out onto the field, if they do what they are supposed to do as individuals and as a team they will win. They have a mentality that says "We will do X and nobody can stop us from doing X except ourselves." Hawk has failed miserably at establishing an identity with this team. They change offenses every year (often more than once.) They change defenses every year. One year they are all about accountablility, the next that is forgotten and they are up at the crack of dawn for morning practices. Before these ideas they were all about the lunchbuckets, etc. etc. etc..

I am not saying that Hawk should try to be another Mac but if you look at what Mac did to turn around a program that was dead in the water, he established an indentity. The I-bone that he installed was less about talent and more about a state of mind. He convinced his kids that as a team we were going to run the ball down peoples throats and they couldn't do anything about it. The kids came to believe that, the coaches believed it, the fans believed it, and eventually the opponents came to believe it and as a result the game was often won before the ball was ever kicked off. Under Hawk I see confusion, I see a team that is unsure of what it is doing and who it is, I see a team that is waiting for bad things to happen to it rather than good.

Bottom line is that Hawk has never put this team into a place where they believed they are going to win on the field. They may be a great bunch of guys, I believe they are, they may have tremendous success in their lives after CU football, I hope that they do. On the field they do not think like winners or act like winners and as a result they don't win. That is Hawk's fault and that is what he is paid to do. As a result he is in this job a failure.

I'd be willing to bet that you've written more words on AllBuffs than I have, despite the huge difference in number of posts. This post serves as my basis for that assumption.
 
For me, Hawk's biggest problem is that I don't believe a word he or his coaching staff say anymore. EVERY single year during the summer, we've heard that this is the fastest, strongest, most capable and deep team ever. And we're continually disappointed with the end results. Because of this, my excitement for the upcoming season is at an all-time low. There is literally nothing he can do to make me get up for this season, except for winning that first game against CSU and taking it from there...sigh...what a great time to be a CU football fan.
 
For me, Hawk's biggest problem is that I don't believe a word he or his coaching staff say anymore. EVERY single year during the summer, we've heard that this is the fastest, strongest, most capable and deep team ever. And we're continually disappointed with the end results. Because of this, my excitement for the upcoming season is at an all-time low. There is literally nothing he can do to make me get up for this season, except for winning that first game against CSU and taking it from there...sigh...what a great time to be a CU football fan.

I don't believe anything he says, either. But I honestly think he doesn't realize the difference between building a winner and maintaining a winner. At Boise, his players already had the attitude that was borne out of several years of kicking their opponents asses. In Boulder, he inherited a team that was embarassed by Iowa State, Nebraska, Texas, and Clemson in consecutive games. Their psyches were as fragile as could be. Instead of saying 'Boys, we're going to kick ass and here's how we're going to do it', he said "don't worry about winning, worry about being a winner". WTF is that supposed to mean to a 19-year old kid? It's pure crap, and he's been trying to sell it for four years now. He needs to address his team's shortcomings, acknowledge them, and put together a plan that is easy for these kids to grasp, and implement it. He has no plan, though. He's all about "working on the little things", and "getting your horns out". There's a complete disconnect between what he needs to do and what he is doing. He'll be a failure at CU until he figures that out, and he's never going to figure it out.
 
I'd be willing to bet that you've written more words on AllBuffs than I have, despite the huge difference in number of posts. This post serves as my basis for that assumption.
:lol: btw, I like Mtns. posts...
 
I'd be willing to bet that you've written more words on AllBuffs than I have, despite the huge difference in number of posts. This post serves as my basis for that assumption.

Solid point. the scary thing is that he probably STILL has more worth per word in his posts than you do. :wow:
 
On the field they do not think like winners or act like winners and as a result they don't win.

I am hoping for better attitude this year, maybe Coach Prince will come in and fire them up. Maybe the players will annoint their own leadership. Someone, anyone.
But some of the quotes I read from the bus tour were deflating, not encouraging. The "think like winners" part is huge.
 
Hi Guys,

First time poster. I'm a 2003 Alum living in Austin and have to listen to Rod Babers and Ahmad Brooks clown on the buffs during their am sports show. -- I think they are just bitter because they were on the 2001 Longhorn team that we whooped up on in the Big XII championship game. I was on the 5yr plan at CU and during my stint I saw 1 season with Slick Rick and the rest with Barnett. I miss the fire and passion that those teams had. I remember seeing linemen pucking their guts out in Bach Fieldhouse during the offseason when we would work out in the mornings for ROTC and how everybody was rowdy and really into it. I wish we had 5 or 6 Tyler Braytons on the team right now! I'm not a Hawkins fan and hope we can get a new coach at the end of this season. With that said, who do you guys think we could get for the 900k-1.2mil price range that CU will probably offer that can turn around CU? I don't think our cheap admin is going to shell out much more dough than this unfortunately. Who is currently available/will be for that price range that could turn the program around? I agree with posters on this thread who think that some coaches are better at turning around a program than others. - Sorry if this post comes up twice, I tried it the first time and it didn't work.
 
Hi Guys,

First time poster. I'm a 2003 Alum living in Austin and have to listen to Rod Babers and Ahmad Brooks clown on the buffs during their am sports show. -- I think they are just bitter because they were on the 2001 Longhorn team that we whooped up on in the Big XII championship game. I was on the 5yr plan at CU and during my stint I saw 1 season with Slick Rick and the rest with Barnett. I miss the fire and passion that those teams had. I remember seeing linemen pucking their guts out in Bach Fieldhouse during the offseason when we would work out in the mornings for ROTC and how everybody was rowdy and really into it. I wish we had 5 or 6 Tyler Braytons on the team right now! I'm not a Hawkins fan and hope we can get a new coach at the end of this season. With that said, who do you guys think we could get for the 900k-1.2mil price range that CU will probably offer that can turn around CU? I don't think our cheap admin is going to shell out much more dough than this unfortunately. Who is currently available/will be for that price range that could turn the program around? I agree with posters on this thread who think that some coaches are better at turning around a program than others. - Sorry if this post comes up twice, I tried it the first time and it didn't work.

Welcome aboard. IMO, the guy who fits the description you just gave is Al Golden, current HC at Temple. He just signed an extension, but that would be my vote. After that, it's kind of hard to say, you've got Venables, DC at OU, and probbly a slew of other DC's and OC's you could look at. CU is still a plum job in a lot of ways IMO. CU isn't a factory and it's not a top 15 job, but it's still pretty appealing. IF CU goes to the Pac 10, you'd be well served to look at guys who have Pac 10 experience. As a long shot, and just for the hell of it, I'll throw out another name: Matt Lubick, Sonny's kid, coached under Erickson at ASU and a decent recruiter. Is he ready for a HC gig? I don't know. How about Greg Brown coming back from AZ? I'd almost say promote Cabral immediately. Virtually any qualified coordinator and some position coaches would do better....
 
I want a guy who has been a coordinator at a big time BCS school - no more "up and coming" HC at small schools.
 
Golden was DC at UVA before taking over at Temple, FWIW.

My comment wasn't directed at Golden, I actually like him I just don't want us going after another coach with a resume similar to Hawk - I want big time football experience even if not as a HC.
 
I think we're in a tough spot, frankly. If we go to the Pac 10, I don't see a whole lot of qualified assistants with long time ties to the left coast. Ideally, I'd love to get somebody like the DC at Florida or Alabama, but those guys won't have any recruiting connections in Texas and California.
 
My comment wasn't directed at Golden, I actually like him I just don't want us going after another coach with a resume similar to Hawk - I want big time football experience even if not as a HC.

Gotcha. I agree.

I think we're in a tough spot, frankly. If we go to the Pac 10, I don't see a whole lot of qualified assistants with long time ties to the left coast. Ideally, I'd love to get somebody like the DC at Florida or Alabama, but those guys won't have any recruiting connections in Texas and California.

If CU goes Pac 10 I agree, I'd like to see somebody who was at least a coordinator at the BCS level with significant time in the Pac 10. Belotti? May be too long in the tooth, but that's the first name that popped into my head.
 
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