A year ago in this space, we introduced you to Coach Dan Hawkins and his expectations for his first full season at CU. “I’ll be very disappointed if we’re not in the thick of things,” he said then. “Because I’m used to it. If I have to see someone else playing the championship game, I’ll be broken. I can put it back together, but I’m just not used to that.”

When the Buffaloes finished with a 2-10 record, their worst in 22 seasons, Hawkins was asked what grade he would give himself on his first year. He stated emphatically, “An F.” Hawkins was “broken,” but he has put it back together.

Hawkins is quite willing to elaborate on that “F” grade. “One of the reasons I came to Colorado is to reinvent myself, and to have to push it, scramble around and figure things out,” he says. “I figured it wasn’t going to be easy, it was going to be a whole new set of adventures, and sure enough it turned out that way.”

That 2-10 record deserves a closer look. First of all, the two wins over Texas Tech (30-6) and Iowa State (33-16) were decisive. The Buffaloes were in every other game. Four of the losses were by a combined 13 points, including one (Baylor) in triple overtime.

After a rough inaugural season at CU, Coach Dan Hawkins (above) is ready to reinvent things. A major focus: the quarterback.

Where the Wheels Came Off

One spot where the wheels came off was at quarterback. Hawkins looked forward to keen competition between veterans James Cox and Brian White and the wild card, Bernard Jackson. When Cox was named the starter for the Montana State game, White left the program. Cox was ineffective against Montana State and Hawkins didn’t hesitate to get the hook. The inexperienced but hustling Jackson started every other game.

Quarterback was only one problem area, but Hawkins wasn’t entirely surprised at the team he inherited. He says, “I don’t think there was anything that we really discovered, because we already had a pretty good handle on what we need to do to get better and why things didn’t work out last year.”

Hawkins has not changed his basic coaching philosophy, which produced a sparkling 36-3 record and three Western Athletic Conference championships in his three years at Boise State. While Hawkins’ Buffs team was struggling in 2006, the Boise State Broncos went undefeated again and then beat the Big 12 champion, Oklahoma, in the Fiesta Bowl, in what was the most stirring and exciting football game of the season. Even though Hawkins had recruited and coached most of the players, he refused to take any credit.

Hawkins expresses few personal reflections from last year. “Across the board, in the Big 12, you are generally seeing a bigger, faster athlete, and it was fun going to towns and playing programs that are steeped in tradition,” he says. “It’s a great experience to watch how they embrace college football and all that surrounds it. The Big 12 had a few more pure college towns, most of which I had never experienced.”

Beyond that, though, Hawk is reluctant to look back. His staff worked tirelessly to fill the holes with a very good recruiting class and worked in the spring to establish more consistency on offense.

Again, the quarterback position has received a lot of attention. Even though Jackson started 11 games last year, he will be used in several different positions in 2007, taking advantage of his considerable athletic skills. Junior-college transfer Nick Nelson is on the scene, and then there is Cody Hawkins, the coach’s son. Both father and son say the relationship is a nonissue.

“I have to go out and compete just like the rest of my teammates,” Cody says. “My relationship with my father is reserved for times away from the team. Besides, it’s Coach Helfrich [Mark Helfrich, the offensive coordinator] who I have to impress.”

Junior-college transfer Nick Nelson is a strong backup to recently-named starter Cody Hawkins.