Shatel: Hawkins fits Buffalo ethos

If it’s the day after Thanksgiving, then I’m driving down Highway 36 to Boulder, where condos and shopping malls have replaced real, live Buffalo, and wondering:

• Should Colorado just get it over with and join the Mountain West?

It’s a thought. When it comes to football, CU has more in common philosophically with Utah, BYU and Colorado State than it does with Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Or Missouri and Kansas, for that matter.

But no, you don’t walk away from the pay stubs the Big 12 sends in the mail. And CU has been competitive in the Big 12, even won the league one time. But even for these rock climbers, the Big 12 hill is getting steeper and steeper.

Colorado announced on Thursday that it’s sticking with Dan Hawkins. Colorado needs to find a fit and stay with it. Give him more than four years. Hawkins is that fit. He comes off as quirky, laid back and in tune with himself, the sort of chap who would hang out at a ski lift or a coffee house or whatever the smart people of Boulder do that’s smarter than everyone else.

Hawkins is the perfect coach for Colorado — except for that little detail they call winning. Even at CU, where giants like Eddie Crowder and Bill McCartney once roamed the rugged Big Eight, they’ve been to Orange Bowls, won league titles, even a split national championship.

What they haven’t done is sustain, which tells you that this isn’t the piece of cake job that it appears on the surface. Or, as former Buffs coach Bill Mallory once said about it being easy to recruit to scenic Boulder: “I never did find any players up in those mountains.’’

Here’s the thing: College football is not a religion, or even an option some years, in Colorado. In Denver, the primary color is orange and every day is Sunday, unless the Nuggets, Avs or Rockies are winning, too. Denver is a great pro sports town. As a college sports town, it’s a great pro sports town.

That’s fine if San Diego State is your competition, not so good in the Big 12. This isn’t 1990, and we’re not in the Big Eight. Once upon a time, nobody but Oklahoma and Nebraska believed they could win, played on TV or spent money on football. Now, Missouri and Kansas have better facilities, coaching and talent than Colorado, and Kansas State and Iowa State are right there, too.

Folks in Colorado don’t have the appetite to spend millions or change admissions requirements to win football games. Which puts you in a small minority in the Big 12.

That doesn’t mean CU can’t win. It just means it has to have a higher tolerance for not winning. CU would have made a big mistake hiring as head coach a fast-track coordinator from a football factory. The hurdles and lack of commitment at Colorado would drive someone from Nebraska, Alabama or Texas crazy. He wouldn’t last. Colorado needs Hawkins or someone else to go 8-4 most years and challenge for a trophy once every blue moon.

It worked 20 years ago with a guy named McCartney.

• Is the “22 power’’ formation, or big personnel offense, the future?

No. It’s a big tease. Watson has said, repeatedly the last two weeks, that he has plans to go back to the spread, or the Watson Coast offense, or whatever you want to call that offense with no identity. The fact that Watson said this week that his quarterback and receivers still haven’t grown into the offense should tell you everything you need to know about how this philosophy fits into college football — where the players don’t have eight-year careers.

It might drive some of us nuts, but ultimately only one opinion matters concerning the future of Nebraska’s offense. Speaking of Bo Pelini, he’s got some thinking to do in the off-season on this topic.

• How much does today’s game matter?

Nebraska is 8-3. Nine is closer to 10 and eight is closer to seven. A second straight nine-win season would be something to talk about. A loss and then another loss next week and suddenly the year is unraveling. Better to win and let Colorado keep unraveling.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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