Boise, Idaho – Outside the Allen Noble Athletic Hall of Fame on Wednesday, where moments earlier Dan Hawkins had his final news conference as Boise State’s football coach, he took a few minutes to compose himself.
He hugged his wife.
He wiped his eyes.
He wiped them again.
The blue field of Bronco Stadium was in the background. A steady rain fell.
Embarking on a new challenge doesn’t always soften the hurt of leaving a place you love. The scoreboard mattered to Hawkins, and in his last game at Boise State he went out the way he arrived: with a loss. No. 19 Boston College held on 27-21 to win the nail-biting MPC Computers Bowl.
But Wednesday was about more than the final score. It was about relationships, memories. It was about looking ahead.
“I would have loved to have a win for the seniors,” Hawkins said. “But I told them they can hold their heads up high. I was proud of them.”
Broncos quarterback Jared Zabransky choked out the words when talking about Hawkins. He loved playing for him. Ask most any player on the Boise State roster and he will you Colorado players will, too.
“Hawk, he’s a floating bag of tricks and floating bag of stories and quotes,” offensive tackle Daryn Colledge said. “It’s been a great five years for him. And for me, it was an awesome experience.”
Ask those players what stands out about Hawkins’ philosophy on the field and you’ll hear a refrain.
His vision.
Hawkins, to them, is a visionary.
“He’s got lots of different looks that kind of confuse guys, lots of different schemes and things of that sort,” offensive lineman Jeff Cavender said. “What makes it hard for teams to prepare for us is there’s so many looks. You can’t prepare for all of them, unless you have five or six weeks to prepare for them.”
Boston College had about four weeks to prepare, and the Eagles solved Boise State before holding on at the end.
Colorado fans were less concerned with the final score. They tuned in to get a glimpse of what the Buffs might look like in 2006. The defense surely drew raised eyebrows early.
Offensively, the first clues came Tuesday from Arizona State, whose passing game coordinator, Mark Helfrich, will coordinate CU’s offense next season.
With Wednesday came a clearer view, through Hawkins’ unconventional lens. There were four-wide receiver sets, shotgun formations, plenty of vertical passing and a few gadget plays sprinkled in. There was even a little running.
Anything to move the ball.
In the end, the two who will have the most say in the new CU offense coached teams that combined for 66 points and 1,039 yards.
Players smiled every time they were asked about Hawkins’ schemes.
“It’s really fun to play in,” Cavender said. “Lots of points, lots of offensive yardage. That was also a draw here for me. We’ve been successful, scoring a lot of points here in the last four or five years. So hopefully CU will start seeing that trend.”
Seven players caught 10 or more passes in Hawkins’ offense, and all 10 averaged at least 10.7 yards per catch. CU? Only four players with at least 10 catches averaged 10 yards per catch. Nineteen of Boise State’s touchdowns were scored through the air, compared with 14 for the Buffs.
“What we do is we kind of utilize what we’ve got,” wide receiver Legedu Naanee said. “I don’t know what he’s going to do at Colorado, but I know he’s going to go there and use everything that he has. The only ground element that we have is we know we want to go into every game establishing the run.”
That didn’t work as well as anyone in a Broncos uniform would have hoped against the Eagles.
“We all know the bottom line in this profession is winning,” Hawkins said. “But it doesn’t mean you can’t take something away from it, which I think they do.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
