Hawkins airs it out on lost season

Dan Hawkins rubs some people the wrong way simply because he doesn't cry in his beer over a 2-10 failure. Personally, that kind of attitude would alarm me more than his upbeat approach.

Is the man really living a lie, as one Lou Holtz allegedly said of Colorado years ago or does Hawkins have a grip on reality while at the same time choosing to keep things in perspective and work towards better days in the future.

You know my answer and you know how you feel.

As Rodney King once said, "can't we all just get along?"

In Hawkins Monday press conference, his final one of the season, the boss let it all out again, devoid of ordinary coach speak that puts us to sleep like so many worthless classes from yesteryear.

Here's a taste...

What grade would Hawkins give the 2006 season?

Hawkins: F-minus. I think the critical thing is to know why you're 2-10 and how not to be 2-10 and I think that is important.

The Breakdown: Now how many coaches are going to shoot it to you like that, really? Shall I play the theme music from Jeopardy while we all come up with an answer like, say, zero. The man just flunked himself, flunked his team and then followed it up with the solution to making things better. Self examination, getting honest with yourself, getting naked emotionally and then building this program into a big dog in the neighborhood again.

On why the team went 2-10?

Hawkins: That's a long and complicated formula and to some degree a lot of it is not stuff you want necessarily in the front page of the paper.

The Breakdown: O.K., can you read between the lines there? There is much being said in few words. No, I can't say for sure what that is, but part of the fun is speculating. It's a dirty little thing we all do. So, Hawkins is inferring that is trying to protect his men, not call out names or troublesome areas. He knows what the problems are but during the season he couldn't change them. He had to play out the season and worry about becoming the team mechanic once the nightmare was over. There is a reason he's been a dogged recruiter and look for some more changes in the way the Buffs conduct business as coaches in the spring and fall.

On what he learned this season?

Hawkins: The reality, sometimes, in these situations is that you have to go through a little bit of a fire; you have to go through a little bit of a baptism to maybe really find out what everybody is about.

The Breakdown: Brilliant. You could argue Boss Hawkins is speaking nonsense or in code but it says here that there is something heavy in that comment. Building a program, a business, a relationship is learning about people, establishing an understanding of how things should be and will be done and finding out who you can trust in that foxhole with you. Hawkins learned much about his underclassmen, his coaches, his administration and the fan's expectations. The season wasn't a total loss. It only felt that way.