Dan Hawkins Sounding Like Mike Gundy When It Comes to Sportswriters

BOULDER, Colo. -- For a minute, it looked as if Dan Hawkins was going to make like Mike Gundy did two years ago, and declare, "I'm a man. I'm 40."

It was Gundy, Oklahoma State's coach, who directed that at a female sports writer who had been critical of the team's quarterback. He made a point of mentioning the reporter didn't have any children.

What is it about whether sports writers have children and Big 12 football.

There was Hawkins, the embattled Colorado coach, following his team's 24-0 whitewash Saturday over Wyoming, going the children route.

"Unfortunately, in this business (of sports media), there's not a lot of you that have children,'' Hawkins said in his rant. "I don't know why that is. But when you have kids you love them up and you give them unconditional love. And you hang in there.

"And sometimes they flunk science and sometimes they strike out. And sometimes they drop fly balls. And sometimes they miss last-second shots. But when you're a true parent and you're a true teacher and you hang in there, you keep believing in them and you keep working on things and eventually it turns.''

And sometimes the kid overthrows receivers. Hawkins should know about that since his son, Cody Hawkins, just happens to be the quarterback for the woeful Buffaloes.

Or should we say the once-woeful Buffaloes.

"This is the real Colorado,'' said Colorado wide receiver Markques Simas on the field after the game in a fit of glee.

Who knows what this team was in the first two weeks of the season. The real Tulane?

The Buffaloes lost to in-state rival Colorado State 23-17 in their opener and then were embarrassed on national television 54-38 by Toledo. In those two games, the defense gave up 1,000 yards.

It got so bad Colorado linebacker Marcus Burton, a co-captain, showed up for a geology class last Monday. Suddenly, his professor singled him out while ripping the team, saying the study of rocks was as exciting as watching the Buffaloes play.

"He was basically saying that we weren't playing well in comparison to how boring the class was,'' said Burton, who said his professor did apologize to him later in the week for calling out Burton and the team in class.

But the real heat entering the game was being thrown at coach Hawkins, whose record had dropped to 13-26 in his fourth season at Colorado. There was speculation by some that, if the Buffaloes lost to Wyoming, Hawkins might want to keep walking after his post-game handshake with Cowboys coach Dave Christensen.

All was much better after the Buffaloes beat a lackluster Wyoming team thanks to tailback Rodney Stewart running for 127 yards and two touchdowns and the defense stepping up, allowing just 230 yards. Players were smiling and celebrating afterward.

But Hawkins wasn't doing much of that.

"It's easy to stand outside of the arena and point fingers and say you're not good enough and criticize and be negative,'' he said in his opening remarks after the game. "But, when you're in the arena and you're scrapping, you're never that far away from victory and you're never that far away from defeat. And until you're in the arena, until you've gone through it a time or two, until you've done some things in your life, until you've strived and you've succeeded and you've failed... people don't get that.''

So, evidently, not only do not many sports writers have children, they haven't strapped on helmets and laced up cleats.

Hawkins couldn't resist taking dig after dig after the game at all the reporters last week who speculated he was on the hot seat. He lauded the 50,535 fans who showed up even though "you've got everybody flipping dirt on you.''

OK, so the Buffaloes aren't buried yet. But Saturday's win won't result in a lot of shovels being put back in the tool shed.

Colorado already has dropped two supposedly very winnable games. The schedule soon gets brutal with the next two games at West Virginia and at Texas in the Big 12 conference owner. Also showing up on the conference schedule are the likes of Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State.

Yes, those are the same Cowboys who are coached by the guy in Stillwater who has reminded us he is "a man'' and has children.

Speaking of children, Hawkins' son was just so-so Saturday. He did complete 17-of-31 passes for 175 yards but he overthrew receivers a number of times, including two balls that looked to be easy touchdowns had they been on line.

At least the younger Hawkins didn't get antagonistic after the game, like his old man.

"It's nice to know people care,'' he said when asked about all of the negativism entering the game from the media, including the speculation surrounding his father's future. "It's nice to know guys around you care so much. I thought there was a lot of confidence in the locker room.

"Just because we didn't perform the way we wanted (in the first two games), there was no reason to slap the panic button and start freaking out. College football is a long season, and that's going to be tough because we do play a lot of great teams too. But we're a great team too. We just have to go out and play like that.''

Sounds like the son is more level-headed about all of this than the father. Than again, what would a sports writer without any kids know?

Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com.