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I was fed up with this a year ago

TheRoyale90

Member
It's been almost a year since I last posted here. I stopped because last season was such an utter disappointment and because I was fixing to get in a long term flame war with ralph malph or whatever his name was. I was getting flack from malph (hawk defender, loyalist, lover,) because I was too negative and spent too much time demanding excellence or at the least competence. Well. Here we are a year later and it looks like about 90% of you are feeling the same thing. I'm not back here to gloat or to pick a fight with anyone (even you malph). I'm back because I love this school and program and I want to add my voice to those calling for change.

I don't need to give a history lesson here about the late 80's and 90's... we all know the story by heart. We need to accept that those days are long gone and that Hawkins is not the man to bring them back. First things first, we all know that the school's facilities are sub-par and that the administration is just short of openly hostile to the football program. These are just facts and I think it's absurd not to realize that the foundation is not in place to be an elite contender in the Big XII. That being said I think we as fans, alumni, students have every right to expect a team that is competitive. Hawkins was not brought in to raise GPA's, or create men (there's a Marine Corps for that), or to change the "culture" that Barnett left behind. He was hired to win.

I was pilloried last year for stating repeatedly that college football is a business and like any business if the product you are selling is garbage the public will wise up to it and you will end up in bankruptcy. College football as a product is as simple as the game itself. Wins versus losses. If you win the fans are happy and the recruits become interested, lose and well... Hawkins has won only 13 of 38 possible games. What else can you say? Clearly the players play the game but he's been such a gameday handicap for them that is it any wonder they appear listless and lethargic out there? I submit for your consideration that they have no more confidence in him than we do. Oh they'll say all the right things for public consumption but what do you think they're saying to eachother privately? It's over and Hawk knows it. That's why he's grunting 'yep', 'nope' and such in interviews. He's past caring. He said yesterday that he never considered putting in Hansen. Just take a moment and consider that. He NEVER considered it. He's just running out the clock now and his boy is the beneficiary. I don't blame him exactly. I love my son more than anything and that skews my perception of his athletic ability, musical talent, wit, etc... but I'm not running a division 1 program that was once a national powerhouse. So there it is. Where do we go from here? I've heard a lot of talk about how there's no money to buy Hawk out and find a top flight coach. Fine. Forget top flight. Just get a guy who wants to win more than anything else. Maybe there's a highschool coach, maybe a former player, maybe Calhoun from Air Force, for that matter Brian Cabral is a pretty damn good coach and he could hardly do any worse than has Dan Hawkins.
 
Last year was too soon, although the seeds of disaster were sprouting then. You were over the top, but it looks like you were also absolutely right. Welcome back man!
 
It's been almost a year since I last posted here. I stopped because last season was such an utter disappointment and because I was fixing to get in a long term flame war with ralph malph or whatever his name was. I was getting flack from malph (hawk defender, loyalist, lover,) because I was too negative and spent too much time demanding excellence or at the least competence. Well. Here we are a year later and it looks like about 90% of you are feeling the same thing. I'm not back here to gloat or to pick a fight with anyone (even you malph). I'm back because I love this school and program and I want to add my voice to those calling for change.

I don't need to give a history lesson here about the late 80's and 90's... we all know the story by heart. We need to accept that those days are long gone and that Hawkins is not the man to bring them back. First things first, we all know that the school's facilities are sub-par and that the administration is just short of openly hostile to the football program. These are just facts and I think it's absurd not to realize that the foundation is not in place to be an elite contender in the Big XII. That being said I think we as fans, alumni, students have every right to expect a team that is competitive. Hawkins was not brought in to raise GPA's, or create men (there's a Marine Corps for that), or to change the "culture" that Barnett left behind. He was hired to win.

I was pilloried last year for stating repeatedly that college football is a business and like any business if the product you are selling is garbage the public will wise up to it and you will end up in bankruptcy. College football as a product is as simple as the game itself. Wins versus losses. If you win the fans are happy and the recruits become interested, lose and well... Hawkins has won only 13 of 38 possible games. What else can you say? Clearly the players play the game but he's been such a gameday handicap for them that is it any wonder they appear listless and lethargic out there? I submit for your consideration that they have no more confidence in him than we do. Oh they'll say all the right things for public consumption but what do you think they're saying to eachother privately? It's over and Hawk knows it. That's why he's grunting 'yep', 'nope' and such in interviews. He's past caring. He said yesterday that he never considered putting in Hansen. Just take a moment and consider that. He NEVER considered it. He's just running out the clock now and his boy is the beneficiary. I don't blame him exactly. I love my son more than anything and that skews my perception of his athletic ability, musical talent, wit, etc... but I'm not running a division 1 program that was once a national powerhouse. So there it is. Where do we go from here? I've heard a lot of talk about how there's no money to buy Hawk out and find a top flight coach. Fine. Forget top flight. Just get a guy who wants to win more than anything else. Maybe there's a highschool coach, maybe a former player, maybe Calhoun from Air Force, for that matter Brian Cabral is a pretty damn good coach and he could hardly do any worse than has Dan Hawkins.

I agree with a lot of your business analysis. You are correct that football is a business and wins are important. I, however, absolutely disagree with the portion of your post in bold. This is college football not the pros. You better believe the coaches are here to raise GPAs, to create men out of boys, and to get rid of any culture that leads to results otherwise. In addition to trying to win football games, these coaches are here to act as a second family to these young men. They are here to help shepherd their players through some of the most important and influential years in any person's life. Years in which these players will face a **** ton more pressure than their average peer.

I want to see my University put out a good product. But, if that requires an attitude that it's win at all cost and nothing else matters, you can count me out. Finding a coach that can fulfill all of the difficult and perhaps contradictory requirements of a D1A coach is the trick. Maybe Hawk isn't the guy to take care of the business side of things, but don't tell me it's okay to accept someone who can take care of the business side without being equally successful on the other aspects. It's not.
 
I agree with a lot of your business analysis. You are correct that football is a business and wins are important. I, however, absolutely disagree with the portion of your post in bold. This is college football not the pros. You better believe the coaches are here to raise GPAs, to create men out of boys, and to get rid of any culture that leads to results otherwise. In addition to trying to win football games, these coaches are here to act as a second family to these young men. They are here to help shepherd their players through some of the most important and influential years in any person's life. Years in which these players will face a **** ton more pressure than their average peer.

I want to see my University put out a good product. But, if that requires an attitude that it's win at all cost and nothing else matters, you can count me out. Finding a coach that can fulfill all of the difficult and perhaps contradictory requirements of a D1A coach is the trick. Maybe Hawk isn't the guy to take care of the business side of things, but don't tell me it's okay to accept someone who can take care of the business side without being equally successful on the other aspects. It's not.

Your points are well taken. My only counterpoint is this: you've described the ideal college athletics enviroment... during the 1950's. It would be wonderful if there truly was a way to balance the 'contradictory requirements' as you put it. There isn't. Let us not deceive ourselves, all of the winning programs are professional organizations (with unpaid players) dedicated to profit. They pay lip service to the student/athlete concept while doing everything possible to circumvent the NCAA's restrictions. This thing that's happening at Michigan, please tell me you realize that this is not an outlier, this is not an exception. Programs that win bend the rules to their extreme boundaries. Is this a good thing? Probably not but it all comes back to the essential hypocrisy of institutions of higher learning making huge profits off of the work and talent of 'amateur' athletes. Do we want to win or don't we? You say this is not the pros... to me that's a distinction without a difference. Give me a coach that wants to win and an administration willing to support him (see CU, football, 1989-96). Maybe it's taboo to say it but I think the focus on human interest stuff has stacked the deck against CU ever being a powerhouse again. At this point I'd be happy to see them win a game.
 
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I agree with a lot of your business analysis. You are correct that football is a business and wins are important. I, however, absolutely disagree with the portion of your post in bold. This is college football not the pros. You better believe the coaches are here to raise GPAs, to create men out of boys, and to get rid of any culture that leads to results otherwise. In addition to trying to win football games, these coaches are here to act as a second family to these young men. They are here to help shepherd their players through some of the most important and influential years in any person's life. Years in which these players will face a **** ton more pressure than their average peer.

I want to see my University put out a good product. But, if that requires an attitude that it's win at all cost and nothing else matters, you can count me out. Finding a coach that can fulfill all of the difficult and perhaps contradictory requirements of a D1A coach is the trick. Maybe Hawk isn't the guy to take care of the business side of things, but don't tell me it's okay to accept someone who can take care of the business side without being equally successful on the other aspects. It's not.
Sure, a coach should help those young men as you suggest but a coach is hired for one reason and ONLY one reason which is to win football games.
 
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