Dan Hawkins Wouldn't Recruit Son if Given Another Chance

Colorado coach Dan Hawkins has been adamant the past few seasons that having his son, Cody Hawkins, play quarterback for the Buffaloes was no different than other recruit.

Hawkins did a complete turnaround during Monday's weekly press conference, saying if he had to do it all over again he would not have recruited his own son.

"Not for him, no. Nope. Not at all," Hawkins said. "It's not fair to him. Here is a guy who is trying to do his best to win games and to help his team and does everything right, he's a good student and he's getting killed on Facebook and getting killed on his cell phone.

"The great thing about this job is you meet some unbelievable people. But then you also see another side of humanity that's not real fun."

It's funny how losing and facing scrutiny has opened Hawkins' eyes to something that should have been apparent from the start. The risk and the potential reward of coaching your son at the highest profile position in the highest level of college football just doesn't balance out.

It's hard enough on coaches' kids dealing with the pressures in school when their dad isn't being successful at this level. Just ask Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis. Imagine the angst Cody Hawkins has endured the past couple seasons being the focal point of why his dad had not been successful.

Hawkins claims he considered all of this when he recruited his son in the 2006 class.

"I'm looking around the country and I've got a lot of these quarterback gurus saying 'Hawk, why [do] you keep looking? Why don't you look down the hallway and knock on your kid's door and beg him to come to school there,"' Hawkins said. "I thought twice about it, I did. Cody was well aware of it. But again, it's me being glass half-full. I'm Iooking at what's the best possible scenario. I'm looking at hey, here is a kid that is a good player, that other people have offered, that other people want and he's going to come to our place and I know what kind of kid he is, what kind of player he is and how bad we need a quarterback in this class. So it was probably selfish on my part, it really was.
"Like I said, he's been great with it. I think it's been harder on him than it is on me."

This could have could have gone over much better at Boise State, where Dan Hawkins was instrumental in transforming the Broncos into a non-BCS power. Father and son going to battle together might have made a great national story if it worked out. Cody could have quietly been shifted to safety if it didn't.

But at Colorado, where the Buffalo faithful have been clamoring for a turnaround, the scrutiny and expectations were always going to be great. Cody, a fourth-year junior, showed real promise two years ago as a redshirt freshman as he led the Colorado Buffaloes to wins over Oklahoma and Nebraska in the same season.

Last year, however, things began to unravel and Hawkins had to bench his son in favor of freshman Tyler Hansen. Things again went awry this season and Hawkins had to pull Hansen out of another presumed redshirt year when the heat became too intense on his son.

The 3-7, 2-4 Big 12 Buffaloes are limping toward their third bowl-less season in Hawkins' four years as they close out the year hosting North division champ Nebraska on Friday. Hawkins could very well be out of a job shortly thereafter.

Much of the blame will be attributed to how he has mishandled his quarterback situation the past two years. So it's easy to see how Hawkins is having second thoughts about recruiting his son in the 2006 class." If I had it to do over again [recruiting son Cody] , I wouldn't, ... it's not fair to him. It's not. "
-- Dan Hawkins

"If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't do it because I tell you what, it's not fair to him. It's not," Hawkins said. "It's like this around the country, when you lose everything is good, when you lose everything is wrong. That just becomes an even bigger lightning bolt, a bigger lightning rod. He's handled it great, and he's been awesome with the thing. That guy has been great for our team and great for us.

"I'm a glass half-full guy. When I came to Colorado there were a lot of guys telling me 'Don't go there, man. Are you kidding me? Don't go there.' But you know what I believed in this place, I still believe in this place and I believe in me."

Cody declined to discuss the subject when asked by reporters about his father's comments.