T1B

The rumblings are growing louder for Mac's return to the sidelines after 16 years away from the game. It would seem like a desperate move on CU's part, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If they do bring Mac back, I think it should happen this season. Let him coach the final four or five games as interim HC and then decide from there if he's really up for returning full time.

The other option is to bring in Mac as AD (a la Dr. Tom at NU) and hire someone else as HC. I don't think CU is in a position right now to hire an elite candidate, so the guys I have listed are probably the most likely choices.

Bienemy: No head coaching experience, but seems to be a good motivator and would certainly pacify the fans who want someone with ties to CU's glory days. He also has a reputation of being somewhat of a head case, so a rise in thuggish behavior off the field would seem inevitable.

Leach: He won a lot of games at TT, but never made it to a CCG or a BCS bowl. There are certainly a few players at CU who would benefit from spending a few hours locked in an equipment shed. He's certainly shown that he can win, but is he capable of building a true MNC contender?

Logan: I know Cuda is really high on Logan, but I think this would be the riskiest pick of the four candidates I listed. He's a former CU great with NFL experience, and he's won state championships at three different Colorado high schools, but he's never coached at the college level. I think KC makes a good point when he points out that Logan would never be considered for any other FBS job, with the possible exception of CSU. This would be a very risky pick, especially with the current state of the program and the pending move to the Pac 12.

I think any one of these guys would be an improvement over Hawkins, but I think Leach would probably be the safest choice.

Thoughts?

Logan may be the next Tom Landry or Bud Wilkinson, but you can't hire him. no way, no how.

I'm not a fan of "back to the past" with McCartney.....i take Calhoun over every one else not named Mac.

Hadn't really considered Calhoun. He's done a commendable job at AF, but I'm not sure if that would translate to success in BCS conference. It would be similar to GT hiring Paul Johnson, and the verdict is still out on that move.

I would think that a much-humbled Mike Leach would win you a whole pile of games and put a buncha butts in the seats at Folsum. I could also see his version of the Spread seriously fucking with the rest of the Pac. Leach's biggest challenge at Tech was that he couldn't draw player talent to Lubbock on par with that of Texas and Oklahoma, but then again - who does? Boulder, on the other hand, might just be a different story....

You mother fucker, Mike........

Not cool, dude......stealing my shit.....

Fuck yo Brownie!

King Crimson has convinced me of the error of my ways when it comes to Logan. He's content coaching high school kids anyway; he clearly doesn't want to run a college program

Bienemy? You might as well hire a TSA Screener- hell, you would be hiring a TSA Screener.

Back to Mac for the remainder of the season is actually kind of intriguing. And there's absolutely NOTHING to be gained by letting Hawkins finish out the string.

TheJON wrote:You mother fucker, Mike........

Not cool, dude......stealing my shit.....

Fuck yo Brownie!

Heh. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

2st for "Other"

I think they should consider Norv Turner.

You would have to be a complete fucking retard to hire Les Miles. He is a BAD football coach. Save me the "look at his record" crap. He's got insane talent and had a shit ton of luck. It's IMPOSSIBLE not to win with that mix. Even Zook couldn't fuck that up.

Hiring a high school coach, no matter how successful, is not the way to go.

Sin,
ND fan

I think Glen Mason should be a candidate for a job like CU. Dude did a great job at Minnesota (it was fucking Minnesota) and churned out NFL ready lineman and RB's.

Al Golden at Temple would be a good choice as well.

Killian wrote:Hiring a high school coach, no matter how successful, is not the way to go.

Sin,
ND fan

I think Glen Mason should be a candidate for a job like CU. Dude did a great job at Minnesota (it was fucking Minnesota) and churned out NFL ready lineman and RB's.

Al Golden at Temple would be a good choice as well.

I think Mason would be a horrible fit there. He's not young anymore, I don't know of any west coast ties, and I think he would have a hard time recruiting QB's (which is quite important in the Pac-10) given his system. Hasn't Mason always been a midwest guy? He's gotta be pushing 60 years old, isn't he?

Mason recruits offensive lineman and RB's very, very well. He always had very good ground games at Minnesota. Having a good QB is great, but look what Harbaugh has accomplished in the Pac-10 with solid lines. Colorado isn't going to go toe-to-toe with USC very often and come out on top. The way to get back to a solid football team is through building the lines and playing defense.

Another guy I thought just thought of, if they want to be a little risky, is Gus Mahlzen. That depends on your risk tolerance.

Mikey wrote:2st for "Other"

I think they should consider Norv Turner.

Made me laugh! :D

Take Jim Fucking Tressel and his merry band of asshat assistants on the friends and family program not named Darell Hazell, Luke Fickell and the secondary coaches...

I am seriously done with this fucking idiot...

Reporter apparently asked him a question about the 3rd and 3 play where JB Shugarts got worked by Watt...Tressel's response we probably should have called a quicker play...no shit coach...3rd and 3 with a 6 foot fucking 5 QB line his sorry ass under center and have him push forward...if he doesn't make it you save yourself the 7 or 8 yard loss that cost you your precious field goal you fucking moron

Any chance this familiar face gets a look?

Killian wrote:Having a good QB is great, but look what Harbaugh has accomplished in the Pac-10 with solid lines.

WTF?

And here I was thinking that I was the one drinking too much.

Yeah, look what he's accomplished in the PAC10 with solid lines... and a top-5 QB.

Hiring McCartney has John Robinson written all over it. The first time -- great. The second time -- not so much. Ask USCFan how that one turned out.

Of the names listed, Leach would be the best bet, and it wouldn't be terribly close.

Dinsdale wrote:

Killian wrote:Having a good QB is great, but look what Harbaugh has accomplished in the Pac-10 with solid lines.

WTF?

And here I was thinking that I was the one drinking too much.

Yeah, look what he's accomplished in the PAC10 with solid lines... and a top-5 QB.

Is Stanford where they are now because of Andrew Luck, or because of a running attack that keeps coming at defenses and punishes them into the 4th quarter? Harbaugh's M.O. since he's been on The Farm has been a pound it out ground game. Luck has a lot of tools, but he's never been asked to win games for Stanford.

Sorry Killian, but the Mason idea doesn't excite me one bit. I really wouldn't feel very confident hitching the wagon to a 60something washout who couldn't cut it at Kansas or Minnesota. Believe it or not, our O-line is actually on of our strengths this year (Solder was a Playboy All-American and is projected as a 1st rounder), and it hasn't made much of a difference. A great line is certainly a big key to success, but only if it's blocking for a great QB or opening holes for an elite RB. Honestly, I'd probably rather give Hawk another year than hire Mason.

It will be interesting who CU can get if they fire Hawkins. I think they're in a really bad spot. Colorado has really fallen off the map in the last decade and they're not stacked with a lot of talent right now. This means they're going to have to really overpay to get any kind of big name.

I would not go the Mike Leach route. He's a guy that will improve CU from what Hawkins is doing but his program will always have minimal upside. If you're content with going 7-5 every year and maybe once in a decade actually do better, then Leach is your guy. But if you want conference titles and BCS bowls, this won't be happening with that guy.

I would get an experienced and proven offensive coordinator that has west coast ties and a personality to recruit. It doesn't have to be a big name.
I just can't think of any big name coach that I could see taking the CU job right now.

One step closer. You've gotta figure that a lubeless grudge-fucking at the hands of a pissed off OU team should be the final nail in the coffin, right? I'm not sure if I can stomach Hawk for the remainder of the season. All I want is one last win against Nebraska before we ride off into the western sun. Hell, if McCartney's not up for it, just give the reins to Cabral the rest of the way. The guy's loyalty is unquestioned. He probably deserves a look as HC, even if it's just as a placeholder for whoever takes over permanently next year...

Latest rumblings are that it could be McCartney AND Logan, with Mac as HC and Logan as assistant HC. Other names being bandied about are Bama OC Jim McElwain, Malzahn and (god help us) Les Miles. I guess Jsc wasn't joking in his earlier post. I wish he was...

Are you serious on McCartney?? Wouldn't he be about 70 by now?

Has he even coached in the last decade???

Not about. He's exactly 70.

I'm not opposed to it. He did win CU's only MNC. He can't do worse than Hawkins, that's for sure. Hell, at this point, I'd take SoCalTrjn over Hawkins.

word around here is that McCartney wants the job...and is lobbying pretty hard. when the agent/payola article ran in SI with Kanavis McGee being mentioned, McCartney published a letter on the CU AD site which you don't do unless you are trying to rehabilitate your image for a purpose. for me, i'd be impressed if CU AD Mike Bohn hires someone who isn't a short drive north or south on I-25. seems a little parochial.

Jeff Bzdelik (AFA)
Tad Boyle (Northern Colorado)
Linda Lappe (Women's hoops, former Buff player: HC at Metro State-Denver)

a McCartney/Logan/Bienemy combo or AFA's Troy Calhoun would complete the pattern of local hires. Though, i think some of the luster is off Calhoun vs. a few weeks ago.

also, as of today there are a new spat of bbs Les Miles to CU rumors. FWIW.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote:Not about. He's exactly 70.

I'm not opposed to it. He did win CU's only MNC. He can't do worse than Hawkins, that's for sure. Hell, at this point, I'd take SoCalTrjn over Hawkins.

He CAN do worse than Hawkins. Why? Because he's WAY too old and could absolutely destroy the program. The program is down right now but not at a point where you can't fix it. Hire an old coach and there's no way he will be able to recruit. So he'll spend 3-4 years of not winning AND not recruiting anyone worth a damn. That's 3-4 years in the new conference that your program will be considered a laughingstock and then you can add another 3-4 years of rebuilding it at the minimum for the next coach- if ANYONE decent even wants it at that point.

This is the most important hire in your football programs history because you've gone through some tough times over the last 5 years and you're heading into a new conference and need to gain instant credibility with recruits now that you'll be going up against specifically west coast teams as opposed to recruiting the Big-12 area as well.

McCartney would destroy the program given the timing of it. After Barnett got booted, I think he could have been a decent hire while grooming a young coach (a la Musschamp or Jimbo Fisher). Hire him now and you're talking about program suicide.

What about Bronco Mendenhall?

Does McCartney still have those LA inner-city "contacts" to help him with recruiting?

Jon,
I don't think recruiting would be a problem for McCartney. If anything, that would probably be his biggest upside. I just worry about whether he's still capable of hanging with other BTPCFB coaches/programs in the Xs and Os department. The game has evolved a lot since Mac was running the I-bone in the early 90s. If he puts together a decent (and relatively young) staff, I could see it working. It's not gonna be a quick fix, no matter who takes over, so if it's Mac, I just hope his heart's still in it.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan wrote:Jon,
I don't think recruiting would be a problem for McCartney. If anything, that would probably be his biggest upside. I just worry about whether he's still capable of hanging with other BTPCFB coaches/programs in the Xs and Os department. The game has evolved a lot since Mac was running the I-bone in the early 90s. If he puts together a decent (and relatively young) staff, I could see it working. It's not gonna be a quick fix, no matter who takes over, so if it's Mac, I just hope his heart's still in it.

I dunno about that. A 70 year old recruiting to a program that's been struggling as bad as Colorado has moving to a new conference seems highly unlikely to me. This is a big difference between JoePa and McCartney because JoePa is in a better recruiting area and his program hasn't fallen to this level. It's hard for a guy that age to convince a recruit to come play for him because you never know if the guy will actually be there all 4 years. He was a good recruiter back in the day, but this is a different time and he's much older.

You guys need a much younger coach that can rebuild the program. How well financially is CU right now? What do you think you could realistically pay for a coach? If it's under $2 million, you better go get a proven offensive/defensive coordinator that is young, but not too inexperienced (age 40+ with at least 3-4 years of success as an OC/DC at a BCS or NFL level). There's no way, given the current state of your program, a proven head coach is coming for under $2 million. Realistically, you will have to pay $2.5 million+ for a proven head coach.

I would go out and make a hire similar to what Iowa did with Kirk Ferentz. Won't be the sexy pick with the fans, but it will turn out the best. Get a guy with west coast (possibly even CU) ties who was either a successful BCS offensive coordinator or NFL assistant and pay him $1.5 million per year. Get someone that you know will be able to attract experienced coordinators and pay them ABOVE market value so you're not worried about them leaving (unless it is for a head coaching job). Get a defensive coordinator that is old (not too old though, I'm talking in his mid-upper 50's) and is PROVEN. The reason I suggest this age is because you won't have to worry about him leaving for a head coaching gig. Program stability is CRUCIAL. This has been a big part of CU's problem. In the last decade you have had 3 coaches- going on your 4th. Colorado has tradition, but not like Texas, USC, Florida, etc. Programs like Iowa, Colorado, etc. need stability in their program to have any type of consistent success. Not only with the head coach, but also the assistants. There is a reason Iowa and Wisconsin have had the most consistent success in the Big-10 outside of Ohio State and Michigan over the last 20-30 years and it is because they've kept their coaches around. Stability is key. Find your guy, keep your guy. This is one of the main reasons I would suggest staying away from McCartney. Get a head coach that will be there for the long haul- instead of until he dies 4 years later- and ditto for the assistants.