Boulder – If a connection can predict future success, Colorado faithful should take heart. Darian Hagan has the ultimate compliment on deck about new coach Dan Hawkins.
“He’s just like Mac,” said Hagan, referring to former CU coach Bill McCartney, under whom Hagan starred from 1988-1991. “Everything Mac is, he has. His leadership ability, his drive, his passion for football, his love for people, especially young men. Just the way he gets into them, it’s just like how Mac used to talk to us and make you want to go out there and play your butt off. This is the same way.”
For those who have long starved for CU to return to national prominence, the most pressing Mac-to-Hawk connection is whether the new coach can bring a national title back to Boulder.
But this is a start.
The CU media guide features former coaches Eddie Crowder and McCartney standing with Hawkins over the caption: “Four decades of trailblazers and CU football tradition.”
Hawkins aims to continue to build on that tradition. For him, that starts with no catchy slogan.
“To me, those things kind of come naturally,” Hawkins said. “It’s not something you force.”
He has asked McCartney and Crowder for advice, and both have addressed the team. Hawkins has been pleased to know that much of what they teach, he believes and teaches.
He will have something to prove, though. Always has, he says. From the time he was a 16-year-old senior playing high school football with peers two years his elder, to his climb up the coaching ladder, it has been assumed on more than one occasion that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
“I’ve always been one of those dragon-slayer mentalities,” Hawkins said. “Like, I have to prove something, I have to work harder, I have work smarter, I’m not good enough and I’ve got to find the edge, so to speak. Every place I’ve been, no matter who we’ve played, no matter what the situation has been, I’ve always been that way.”
He paused.
“I sort of expect to play with the big boys and compete with the big boys and beat the big boys,” he continued. “And so, to me I’m looking at it as, ‘OK, let’s get going and let’s get playing.’ And then chip away at making this team better. So I’m not looking at it as ‘Holy smokes, I’m here.”‘
And so he is ready for his first foray into BCS-level college coaching. In fact, he can’t wait for Saturday’s season opener against Montana State (1:30 p.m. at Folsom Field).
“He’s almost like a player, like he’s ready to get on the field like he’s going to play,” quarterback James Cox said. “It’s great to have that around, his motivation and inspiration.”
And a sense of no fear.
“Is it fun going to all these (new) stadiums and all these places? Yeah,” Hawkins said. “But it’s not like I’m going to Norman to get Bob Stoops’ autograph. We’re going there trying to win.
“And if you’re at this level you better expect to win, and you better expect to be there and be comfortable with all that. And I am.”
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
