BOULDER — It was a stupid decision. Even if it had worked.
Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins probably realizes that about the Buffaloes’ failed fourth-down gamble when leading 21-0 early in the second half at Iowa State on Saturday.
But in his office Monday in the Dal Ward Center, Hawkins wouldn’t allow himself to unequivocally say it.
That’s because he considers it part of a bigger picture, of an attempt to put swagger back into the Colorado program. If the pedal-to-the-metal approach in that area leads to a misstep — or even an ill-advised decision that helped Iowa State ultimately take a bizarre 31-28 victory over the Buffaloes — that’s an unfortunate and painful byproduct, but one that has to be chalked up as part of the process.
That’s his view, and he’s sticking to it.
“Part of it is, as in anything you do, trying to get a certain assertiveness back in the program,” Hawkins said as the 5-6 Buffaloes began the wait for the Nov. 23 home game against Nebraska that will determine if they become bowl-eligible. “We went for it against Oklahoma, we went for it against Colorado State. It’s interesting, you get (Illinois coach) Ron Zook, who’s not going to go for it against Ohio State, but his quarterback convinces him to. Florida does go for it and doesn’t get it, and South Carolina comes down and scores and goes ahead.”
Yet is he second-guessing himself?
“Yeah, but you do that with everything,” Hawkins said. “You understand that when the games are over and the results are in, it’s always easy to go back and say we shouldn’t have blitzed or we shouldn’t have run it left or we shouldn’t have used that protection. That’s the nature of every game and every situation.”
I’ll go along with all that, to a point. Those skewering him have to subject themselves to the hindsight test. Whenever I’m in a press box (or in the sports bar) and hear us erupt about the stupidity of a decision about whether to go for the first down, or punt or take the field goal, it’s always funny to note that the derision usually only comes AFTER it all plays out.
If you’re NOT saying, “Whoa, I wouldn’t do that,” before it plays out, the after-the-fact second-guessing isn’t very credible.
But in this case, it made so little sense, even those prone to embrace swashbuckling, throw-caution-to- the-wind approaches (at least until they don’t work), were saying: “PUNT!” If that decision ends up being the most crucial element in the Buffs — and up-and-down redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins, the coach’s son — missing a bowl bid, the extra practices that come with it, and the tangible sign of progress for recruits, it will go down as a horrendous blunder.
“At the end of the day, whether it’s Missouri or Iowa State, I’m totally good to say, ‘Hey, it’s my fault,’ “ Dan Hawkins said. He added, “Maybe I’ll just sit there and say it over and over at my press conference. What happens is there’s so much dialogue and examination — which is fine — that at the end of the day, it can be just ‘Coach Hawk did a bad job’ and I’m good with that.
“But the other side of it is that when your son comes home and he’s flunked his science test, you don’t go, ‘You’re stupid in science!’ You go, ‘OK, there’s a reason he flunked his science test.’ And then you start looking at that. I totally know that within our program, we’re doing things, building and growing.”
The program had been in turmoil when he took over, for so many reasons that trying to apportion all the blame is a waste of time — as long as the Colorado media acknowledges its excesses played a role. Recruiting had slipped badly, inertia on the facilities front had taken its toll, and even a substandard academic support program for athletes was a factor.
Hawkins is coaching a thin, green and in many cases not-ready-for- prime-time roster. As impressive as Cody Hawkins has been at times — impressive enough to make anyone raising the nepotism issue out of line — his development might have been aided by a season as a freshman backup. But there wasn’t anyone else, and his father had no choice — except to write off another season, which is essentially what he did in 2006.
Even in a weird college football season, the mercurial nature of the Buffs’ performance is frustrating their fans. Hawkins still has to prove that he is a capable game-day coach, capable of making the astute — and snap — judgments that can tip the balance and not the wrong way. The bizarre final seconds of the game Saturday, though not well- handled by the officials, either, contributed to the image of chaos on the CU sideline.
Yet the record — 5-6 — is about right as a measure of the state of the program. The issue, though, now is whether in a Big 12 undergoing a drastic reshuffling of power, the Buffaloes can do more than catch up with Texas and Oklahoma in the long run, but with Missouri and Kansas — the latter of which have spent mega-millions to upgrade their football facilities in recent years.
That’s Hawkins’ test.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
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