Meeting Dan Hawkins

Many of you associate CU Boulder with any number of things. Sex, drugs, football and rock and roll are just a few of the things we’ve become well known for (not the nationally recognized physics professor, the volunteerism nor the Nobel Laureate). In any case, football has been a cornerstone in the school’s culture. That’s why I’m excited to see Dan Hawkins coaching. He understands the culture and wants to help re-establish CU as a classy school.

Hawkins came in and spoke to a large group of us the other night and I enjoyed hearing what he had to say. He’s full of wisdom that will (hopefully) rub off onto the players and the school. He was actually very candid and openly talked a lot about himself and where he’s coming from. Hawkins has come a long way. He pointed out the fact that his salary was less than $20,000 at one point. He’d even been on welfare. But, he said, he’s one of those people who “takes care of the details.” Life is full of the little things, the details, and he’s gone through life focusing on those.. not the money. Now he’s coaching and making $900,00 (with potential to earn double that).

He put up a nice acronym (for life and success) on the board. It was ‘GAMES’. I vividly remember him talking about ‘G’ becuase it stood for ‘Goals’… something I’ve started thinking about more and more, lately.
Anyway, I’ve been embarassed for my school. I entered CU as the sex scandals emerged. I was there for the student section ejection. The students don’t care, though. Nobody does anything about this.