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They've officially got the bricks up

This brings up a good question.

Where were the locker rooms BEFORE Dal Ward?? I assume both teams still went out the north (i.e. open) end zone?
 
Still. . . .nothing. After reading the article thought, it does seem very MAC-like and I think it is a great tradition to continue. I just wish I could remember it. Wow. I must be losing it!!!

Safe to say that the next time you come back you'll be looking for which of your games are on the wall?
 
This brings up a good question.

Where were the locker rooms BEFORE Dal Ward?? I assume both teams still went out the north (i.e. open) end zone?

There was a much much smaller building where Dal Ward Center now stands. I'll try to find a pic.
 
There was a much much smaller building where Dal Ward Center now stands. I'll try to find a pic.

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For those who don't fully appreciate the impact of facilities, the Dal Ward improvement coincided with the rise of our program back to national prominence. It was Mac. It was also a commitment to excellence on the facilities side. Dal Ward was one of the best in the country at the time it was built.
 
I have to be completely honest here and this may just be a part of early on-set, post-concussion dimensia . . . . but I have NO recollection of these bricks during my time in Boulder. Of course, the Dal Ward was only one-year post-opening when I arrived but this "tradition" wasn't around when I was. Either that or I did not notice. That said, I am about the biggest history-nerd around and given my interest in the program, I would think I would have noticed.

I definitely remember the bricks from when I went to CU football camp in the late 90's and early 2000's
 
here is a blurb about Dal Ward. It cost $14 million in 1990 that is over 2000 pounds of gold back then.

The 1990-91 athletic season was a landmark one for the University of Colorado in two areas. The year produced national championships in football (its first) and skiing (its 14th at the time), and the men’s basketball team reached the NIT Final Four.
That was also the year that the magnificent Dal Ward Athletic Center became a reality. The entire construction process was completed in less than nine months, from ground-breaking in December 1990, to completion the following August.

The $14 million building was completely funded through private donations. This multi-functional, state-of-the-art structure is one of the top facilities anywhere in college athletics.

The Dal Ward Center boasts 92,000 square feet that includes academic and computer centers, sports medicine and weight training centers, a full-service kitchen and dining area, an auditorium, men’s and women’s lockerrooms, a player’s lounge and offices for athletic administration and coaches.

Construction on the project actually began in November, 1990, with the demolition of the old team house building, which had stood in the north end of Folsom Field since its erection in 1967. The foundation was dug and concrete poured over the next *couple of months, with construction of the actual building starting in February, 1991. The structure was available for the football team’s use by mid-August, with the remainder of the building completed later that fall.

The building is named for Dallas Ward, the football coach who led CU into the Big Seven Conference in 1948. Ward was the head coach for the Buffaloes for 11 seasons (1948-1958), compiling a 63-41-6 record, with his teams noted for the single wing offense.

The facility has several outstanding attributes, which benefit both the athletic department and the entire CU-Boulder campus. The tile roof, native stone walls and traditional Italinate architecture were selected to compliment the style of the Boulder campus. The Center also establishes a new sense of entry to the campus coming from the north. The building features a dramatic two-story entry and lobby space with a grand staircase.
 
“How many guys have seen the bricks on the wall? Raise your hands,” Embree asked his players and staff on that night in Hawai’i.

Not more than a handful of hands were raised. It wasn’t surprising; the wall was painted over during the former coaching regime. Tradition was obliterated by a stiff bristled brush and a head coach who appeared blind to it.

****ing Dan Hawkins
exactly the same thing i said when i saw that quote. burned to the ground is what he did.
 
i'd say the Dal was a consequence of the rise less than at the same time. it's still a nice piece of campus architecture 20 years later. no way to know what arms race and Xbox in every locker future was to be....
 
IMHO, I don't think ANY Hawkins games should be "brick games". If the bricks are meant to symbolize "program-defining" moments, I don't think any game from 2006-2010 would count...unless you want to count Montana State as a defining moment. Yeah, we beat some good teams, but what did we do with that (OK, WVU, KU, UGA, etc.) - NOTHING. F*** any Hawkins games.

As for the CSU game and Ohio State games - I think those are absolutely defining games. CSU = hopefully the first win of the Embree era when CU marches back toward prominence. OSU = could drop our horrendous losing streak that hanging over our heads and creating a mental block to the point we give 45 points in less that ONE quarter.
 
IMHO, I don't think ANY Hawkins games should be "brick games". If the bricks are meant to symbolize "program-defining" moments, I don't think any game from 2006-2010 would count...unless you want to count Montana State as a defining moment. Yeah, we beat some good teams, but what did we do with that (OK, WVU, KU, UGA, etc.) - NOTHING. F*** any Hawkins games.

As for the CSU game and Ohio State games - I think those are absolutely defining games. CSU = hopefully the first win of the Embree era when CU marches back toward prominence. OSU = could drop our horrendous losing streak that hanging over our heads and creating a mental block to the point we give 45 points in less that ONE quarter.

I think the bricks honor the team in addition to the program. There were a few games during Hawk that those guys should be honored for and they should be able to take pride in. They shouldn't be ignored simply because we had a disaster for a head coach.
 
The only "brick worthy games" I can think of in the last ten years is 62-36, and Big 12 CCG win over UT. Other than that, maybe the win over OU just because they were so highly ranked but it wasn't any where close to being "a big game". Unless it is an obvious turning point/big game, first win for new regime, breaking the road loss streak at OSU, I don't think it qualifies.

For the rest of this season unless we win a bowl game or CCG, the only other possible brick games are USC and Oregon and we need to pretty much win out and have the opponents be highly ranked to get a brick type atmosphere.
 
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