BOULDER — As recently as three weeks ago, it was still a matter of if.
If Dan Hawkins’ team could build on a home win over Georgia, win out at Folsom Field, steal one on the road and finish 8-4, he might still save his job.
Three weeks later, it has become a matter of when. Three losses in a row, including two at home in eminently winnable games, and Hawkins is now a dead coach walking.
“You’re a college student, so you don’t quite have enough money to buy the newspaper, which is probably a good thing,” said the coach’s son, fifth-year senior quarterback Cody Hawkins, after another discouraging come-from-ahead loss, this one to Texas Tech.
“You obviously don’t like it when somebody near and dear to you is getting criticized, but bottom line is it’s college football, and you’ve got to win football games.”
His father’s five-year record of 19-37, including 14-14 at home, and no discernible signs of improvement make his imminent exit a foregone conclusion. The only questions that remain are when and who’s next.
Athletic director Mike Bohn has declined to fuel the speculation by speaking publicly about Hawkins’ status, but with the Buffs’ recent helplessness outside Colorado and two road games coming up, it’s easy to imagine the situation deteriorating over the next couple of weeks to a point where Bohn feels compelled to make a move before the season ends.
There is a natural tendency to focus on people we know, so you are likely to hear more lobbying for legendary former CU coach Bill McCartney, 70. But because an interim coach has no time to put in a new system, they tend to come from the existing staff. In the event of a midseason move, linebackers coach Brian Cabral, who has done it before, would seem the most likely candidate to finish out the season.
After that, with the Buffs poised to enter the Pac-12 next season, you can expect Bohn to consider a wide range of candidates. Two high-profile coaches with a history of success spring immediately to mind:
• Mike Bellotti, 59, who went 116-55 as head coach at Oregon before moving up to athletic director in July 2009, turning the football program over to his offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly. He quit as AD just nine months later, joining ESPN as an analyst. Kelly said at the time he believed Bellotti wanted to get back into football. It would be hard to find a candidate with a more impressive history of competing in the Pac-12.
• Mike Leach, 49, who developed one of the most explosive offenses in college football as head coach at Texas Tech, the team that beat the Buffs on Saturday under his replacement, Tommy Tuberville. Leach left Lubbock under a bit of a cloud over his treatment of Craig James’ son, but there is little doubt he will return to coaching at some point.
Whether CU is willing to pay a big-name coach the going rate remains to be seen. Eventually, the Pac-12 promises more lucrative payouts than the Big 12, but CU will have to pay off the remaining two years on Hawkins’ contract and manage its exit fee from the Big 12 in the meantime.
Still, the trepidation that exists about CU’s move to the Pac-12 rests almost entirely on the fear that the football team, as it is performing currently, would immediately become a doormat and an embarrassment.
To avoid that fate, Bohn must do two things. He must have his choice of a replacement ready to go as soon as the season ends, so the Buffs don’t lose a recruiting season, as they did in the transition from Gary Barnett to Hawkins.
Second, Bohn must name a coach who can make better use of the existing talent than Hawkins has. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but the younger Hawkins, who took over at quarterback for the injured Tyler Hansen on Saturday, insisted an inability to execute, not talent, is the Buffs’ primary problem.
He certainly didn’t mean it as a criticism of his dad, but that’s what it is. The Buffs could use talent upgrades at a lot of spots, but the maddening and continuing miscommunication between passers and receivers has to be laid at the feet of the coaching staff.
Dan Hawkins shrugs off questions about his fate these days. You get the feeling that on some level he knows. There is too much water under the bridge now, too many similar defeats, too many opportunities lost.
The CU coach is gone. All that remains is for somebody in charge to tell him.
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297, dkrieger@denverpost.com or
