Dan Hawkins will have to do his spirit quests on someone else's dime. Because he's gone at Colorado.
Hawkins was 19-39 leading the Buffs in his tenure, despite a sterling 53-11 record at Boise State where he played a significant role in building the Boise State brand. Which gives pause and makes me wonder again if Boise State is as duplicable a situation in other places as Chris Petersen adherents believe. It's seductive to believe that the Boise culture can be built at your school, but with better athletes!
Except that no one has done it.
Before Chris Petersen, Hawkins was one of the home run hires in college football and before Hawkins it was Dirk Koetter (who flopped at Arizona State).
CU will have an interim coach for the rest of the year and will be looking for a rising star on the cheap to head their program in 2011 as they make their move to the Pac 10. Given that the CU athletic program is bankrupt and they will have to pay out Hawkins a while longer, that search will have a defined list of candidates.
We wish the Hawk well. The Legal Eagles flag football team may be requesting an interview soon.