He was trying to build something from nothing at OSU. At CU the program was already built. I think we would not have Hawkins as our coach, but I'm not saying Simmons would still be around, either. It would just be different. And most likely better.
Buffarino is right. Simmons WAS a good coach. But after he got snubbed at CU, what options did he have? OSU came calling and it was a Big Eight gig and he took it. You gotta remember, this was pre-Boone in terms of his huge contributions, so taking the OSU job in 1994-95 was like taking the CSU job now. It was a small school with a backward, broke athletic department with NO facilities and he still managed to recruit some of the best defenders the school ever had (RW McQuarters, Dwayne Levels, Kenyatta Wright; not to mention Rashaun Woods and Alonzo Mayes on the other side of the ball). He did something with nothing there. While it didn't work out, OSU had two straight 5-6 seasons that they probably should have won 7 games in, in 1998 and 1999. The bottom dropped out in 2000 and he got the axe, but he was VERY close to making OSU a solid competitor. Games like homecoming against KSU in 1999, where OSU got up 23-0 or so at halftime on a top 10 (I think) KSU squad, only to lose 44-23 was typical at times -- getting up and staying close, only to get overmatched at the end.
If Simmons had been hired here, I think you would have seen Miles join him as offensive coordinator (like he did at OSU) and with what talent was already at CU, Simmons would have been able to build off that in a way that Neu never could. Those first two years post-Mac were stacked and Simmons would have done more with them.
Basically, if that had happened, I think Simmons might have coached a successful decade or 15 years even. In short, we might have not had the Neu junk, Barnett and the scandal OR Hawkins. In hindsight, not listening to Mac is why we're in the situation we're in today. Simmons would have kept CU from becoming a joke.
And, at the least, if he didn't work out, Miles might have succeeded him at CU like he did at OSU. (Miles left after 1997 to be a TE coach with the Dallas Cowboys and was Simmons' replacement in 2000.)