BOULDER — Parallels between Colorado coach Dan Hawkins and Iowa State’s Gene Chizik seem almost eerie.
Hawkins followed a once revered coach (Gary Barnett) who fell on hard times, went 7-6 in his final year and didn’t recruit very well during his last few seasons.
Chizik, a first-year head coach, followed well-regarded Dan McCarney, who had 7-5 seasons in 2004 and 2005 before recruiting slipped and the Cyclones fell to 4-8 last season.
Inheriting little depth and team speed last season, Hawkins struggled to a 2-10 record. Working with a roster lacking star power, Chizik is headed to a 2-10 record unless his team pulls an upset in one of its final two games. The Cyclones (2-8, 1-5 Big 12) host Colorado (5-5, 3-3) on Saturday and finish with a road trip to Kansas.
Colorado won two Big 12 games in Hawkins’ first season, including a victory over Iowa State. Chizik’s first team seeks its second conference win against Colorado.
Those similarities haven’t gone unnoticed by Chizik, who hopes his team next season shows the same progress that Hawkins’ team has this year.
“(Colorado) is a good situation for me to look at and understand there is a progression there, just like there will have to be a progression here,” Chizik said during this week’s Big 12 teleconference. “Dan has done a tremendous job at Colorado. You take your lumps, so to speak, in your first year. … They are a team that’s night and day better.”
The Cyclones are showing progress, coming off a 31-20 home win over 15-point favorite Kansas State that snapped a six-game losing streak. But Iowa State has played better for three weeks – making Oklahoma struggle for a 17-7 win and outgaining Missouri (389 yards to 366) in a 42-28 loss.
Iowa State is averaging 29.5 points in its past two games. In eight games before that, the Cyclones averaged 15.1 points, a big reason they lost to teams such as UNI, Kent State and Toledo.
“It’s been a steady climb for them,” CU defensive backs coach Greg Brown said. “The way they’re playing right now, I’m sure they would look at film of their first game and not recognize themselves.”
Like Hawkins, Chizik discovered that rebuilding a program requires as much psychology as it does hard work.
“You’ve got to be positive. And at the same time you have to get mistakes corrected,” Chizik explained. “You have to encourage players to know that they are good enough (to win) if they play well.”
Footnote. If Ryan Walters (concussion) can’t play Saturday, backup strong safety Lionel Harris likely would slide over to take Walters’ spot at free safety, Hawkins said earlier this week. Harris, a 6-foot, 195-pound senior, was a starter last season at strong safety but lost the job in August to Daniel Dykes. “We’ve got guys who can step up and fill in if they have to,” Dykes said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
