Let's start from the premise that this thing was "burned to the ground" when he took over in 2006.
I think that is a justifiable statement when you consider the facts (even if the phrasing was insensitive and probably offensive):
We had finished 2005 on a 4 game losing streak that included the embarrassing 100-6 combined scores against Nebraska and Texas. We hadn't won against a ranked opponent since 2003. We had recruiting restrictions placed on the program from the 2003 scandal. We had terrible relations between the football program and the university, the football program and the local community. Most of our top prospects from the 2003 and 2004 recruiting classes had left, there wasn't much to speak of in our 2005 class, and the 2006 class was looking even worse.
From that starting point, can a case be made that Dan Hawkins has done a good job?
Maybe. Is it just possible that last season was a temporary disappointment, a bump in the road to sustained success... not a failure?
Starting at the time that Hawkins took over:
The first thing he did was salvage the 2006 recruiting class by bringing in unknown guys like Chap Brown, Jimmy Smith, Jalil Brown and Scotty McKnight, keeping Solder in the fold, and stealing Marquez Herrod from Oregon State at the 11th hour. Instead of going for a quick fix, he has done things the right way by cleaning up the mess and building a new foundation for the future. Restocking the talent, redshirting guys who could help now for the bigger payoff down the line, building a new culture that could be successful on the scoreboard and acceptable to the CU administration, academics, media and community... these things take time.
They especially take time when at CU it is impossible to restock talent with large JUCO classes. Further, we are located in a state that has only a handful of difference-makers to recruit each year. Making things even more difficult, our traditional out-of-state recruiting hotbeds (California and Texas) have had their flagship programs enjoying some of the greatest success in their histories.
And they especially take time when this must all be done within an athletic department that was virtually bankrupt at the time Hawkins was hired, had to make some difficult choices in order to get the budget balanced, hasn't been able to make the major facility upgrades for football that other Big 12 programs have been making, and hasn't been able to pay assistant coaches at the same level as most other BCS programs (or offer the security of long-term contracts).
Because of all this, the record should almost be ignored from 2006-2009. It's practically irrelevant. Only now, after 4 years of building the foundation, should we start judging the success of what he's done based on whether the team is winning a lot of games.
And we should be appreciative of just how hard the task has been to get us to this point.
Now we have a roster stocked with Dan Hawkins' guys. There is depth, talent and class-by-class balance in every position group. We have a new culture that includes new team GPA standards, annual APR scores that have been in the passing range every year, and no NCAA sanctions.
On the AD side, things like: the Pearl Street Stampede, the weekly radio show in Boulder, the Stampede of the state, the upcoming California Stampede, the balanced budget, the emphasis on improving academic support for athletes (and getting some large donations to make that happen), the budget-possible facility upgrades such as stadium lights, new scoreboards, new locker room, general enhancements to Dal Ward, the practice bubble, etc., investments in other sports so that football doesn't have to pay so much of everyone's budget... and, especially, the Pac-12 announcement.... these things have all set up CU football to be able to flourish into the future.
So can we go back to what Mac said last year when asked about Dan Hawkins' job performance? He said, paraphrasing: "to build a tall building you have to dig a deep foundation." Isn't that exactly what Dan Hawkins has been doing? Isn't that also what Mike Bohn's been doing?
Maybe, just maybe, we are doing things the right way and just need to be a little more patient. The new era of CU football starts on September 4th.
:gobuffs:
