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Dan Hawkins (American football)

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Dan Hawkins
Hawkins in April 2007
Current position
TitleDirector of player and staff development
TeamIdaho State
ConferenceBig Sky
Biographical details
Born (1960-11-10) November 10, 1960 (age 64)
Fall River Mills, California, U.S.
Playing career
1978–1980Siskiyous
1981–1982UC Davis
Position(s)Fullback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1983–1985UC Davis (assistant)
1986–1987Christian Bros. HS (CA)
1988–1991Siskiyous (OC)
1992Sonoma State (DC)
1993–1997Willamette
1998–2000Boise State (OC/TE/ST/RC)
2001–2005Boise State
2006–2010Colorado
2013Montreal Alouettes
2015United States national team
2015Carlstad Crusaders (OC)
2016Vienna Vikings (OC)
2017–2023UC Davis
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2024–presentIdaho State (director of player and staff development)
Head coaching record
Overall156–92–1 (college)
Bowls2–3
Tournaments4–2 (NAIA playoffs)
1–2 (NCAA D-I playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 NWC (1996–1997)
4 WAC (2002–2005)
1 Big Sky (2018)
1 CFA Mount Hood Division (1995)
Awards
Eddie Robinson Award (2018)
Big Sky Coach of the Year (2018)
2× WAC Coach of the Year
Medal record
Men's American football
Representing  United States
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2015 USA Team Competition

Danny Clarence Hawkins[1] (born November 10, 1960) is an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Willamette University from 1993 to 1997, Boise State University from 2001 to 2005, University of Colorado Boulder from 2006 to 2010, and the University of California, Davis from 2017 to 2023, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 156–92–1. Hawkins was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for five games in 2013 before he was fired mid-season. Between 2011 and 2016, he worked as a college football analyst for ESPN.

Education and early positions

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Danny Clarence Hawkins grew up in Bieber, California, in the northeast corner of the state. [2] He attended junior college at College of the Siskiyous in Weed and transferred to UC Davis, where he played fullback,[3] and earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1984. He later completed a master's degree in educational administration from St. Mary's College in 1993.

He began his coaching career at UC Davis under coach Jim Sochor the fall before he graduated, spending three years there (1983–1985). He then served as head coach at Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento for the 1986 and 1987 seasons. He spent four seasons (1988–1991) as the offensive coordinator at the College of the Siskiyous, then served as defensive coordinator at Sonoma State in 1992.

Head coaching career

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Willamette

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In 1993, Hawkins became the head coach at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and led the Bearcats to a 40–11–1 overall record (.779) in five seasons. In his final season Willamette was 13–1, falling 14–7 in the 1997 NAIA Division II National Championship Game.

Boise State

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Hawkins moved up to NCAA Division I-A football at Boise State in 1998 as an assistant under first-year head coach Dirk Koetter. After three seasons, Koetter accepted the head coaching job at Arizona State, and Hawkins was promoted from assistant head coach to head coach on December 2, 2000. In 2004, Hawkins was honored with his second Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year title in three years. Through the 2005 season, he compiled a 53–11 record (.828) in five seasons as Boise State's head coach, including a 37–3 record (.925) in WAC competition with four straight WAC titles. Only Walter Camp, George Washington Woodruff and Bob Pruett had more total wins in their first five years of head coaching. He holds a 31–game WAC winning streak, the longest in conference history.[4] One of his first hires at Boise State was Chris Petersen as his offensive coordinator; Petersen was a quarterback at UC Davis while Hawkins was an assistant coach, and was the wide receivers coach at Oregon under head coach Mike Bellotti. Petersen succeeded Hawkins as head coach following the 2005 season, when Hawkins departed for Colorado.

Colorado

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Hawkins was introduced as head football coach at the University of Colorado on December 16, 2005.[5] Hawkins was signed to a five-year contract paying him $900,000 annually with incentives totaling to $1.5 million.[6] Hawkins took over the Colorado football program from Gary Barnett, who had spent some of his tenure mired in controversy.

Hawkins earned national attention in February 2007 during the National Signing Day press conference. He passionately expressed his disappointment in the attitude of a player's parent who had anonymously complained about the reduction in the players' time off before the summer conditioning program started, famously saying "It's Division I football! It's the Big 12! It ain't intramurals! You've got two weeks after finals. You've got a week at July 4th. You've got a week before camp starts. That's a month! That's probably more vacation than you guys (reporters) get. And we're a little bummed out that we don't get three weeks? Go play intramurals, brother. Go play intramurals."[7]

Prior to the 2009 season, Hawkins, under fire for his performance at Colorado thus far, publicly pledged "ten wins no excuses". The team ended that year with a 3–9 record. On November 26, 2009, Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn announced that Hawkins would return as head football coach for the 2010 season, despite an overall record at Colorado of 16–33.

On November 6, 2010, Colorado blew a 28-point fourth quarter lead over the Kansas Jayhawks and lost, 52–45, the biggest collapse in the 121-year history of Colorado football.[8] While still nursing that large lead in the fourth quarter, Hawkins continued to have his team throw the ball on offense instead of running it, allowing Kansas time to mount its comeback. There has been widespread suspicion Hawkins made that choice because he was more concerned about his quarterback, son Cody Hawkins, breaking the school's all-time passing record than winning the game.[9]

After the Kansas loss, Hawkins was criticized for cutting his contractually-obligated post-game interview with radio station KOA short after just two questions and 27 seconds. After the interviewer asked him why Colorado didn't run the ball more to protect their shrinking lead, he dismissively replied, "We were playing football moving it both ways. A tough day. Thanks, guys."[10]

As it turned out, it would be the last game Hawkins would coach at Colorado. He was fired on November 9, 2010.[11] He was making approximately $1.5 million a year including incentives and base salary; his buyout was approximately $2 million.[8] Longtime assistant Brian Cabral finished out the season.

Broadcasting

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Between 2011 and 2016, Hawkins served as a college football analyst for ESPN.[12]

Montreal Alouettes

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On February 19, 2013, Hawkins was named the new head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. On June 27, 2013, Hawkins won his first game as Alouettes head coach, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Winnipeg. On August 1, 2013, he was fired by the team after starting the season 2–3. He was replaced by the general manager Jim Popp.[13]

US national team and Europe

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Hawkins coached the 2015 United States national American football team at the 2015 IFAF World Championship to a gold medal.[14] In 2015, Hawkins served as offensive coordinator for Carlstad Crusaders in the Swedish Superserien winning the national title and European Champions League. In 2016 Hawkins served as offensive coordinator for Vikings Vienna in the Austrian Football League.[15]

UC Davis

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On November 18, 2016, Hawkins accepted an offer to become head coach of the UC Davis Aggies. He had been slated to serve as offensive coordinator at Florida International under Butch Davis when he was offered the position with the Aggies. On November 28, 2023, he announced he was stepping down to "pursue other interests and also to spend more time with [his] family."[16][17]

Personal life

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Hawkins is married to Misti Rae Ann Hokanson, a registered nurse. They are the parents of four grown children, daughters Ashley and Brittany, and sons Cody[18] and Drew, former Boise state quarterback.[19]

Head coaching record

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College

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Willamette Bearcats (Columbia Football Association) (1993–1995)
1993 Willamette 5–4 3–2 T–2nd (Mount Hood)
1994 Willamette 7–2 4–1 2nd (Mount Hood)
1995 Willamette 6–2–1 4–0–1 T–1st (Mount Hood)
Willamette Bearcats (Northwest Conference) (1996–1997)
1996 Willamette 9–2 5–0 1st L NAIA Division II Quarterfinal
1997 Willamette 13–1 5–0 1st L NAIA Division Championship
Willamette: 40–11–1 21–3–1
Boise State Broncos (Western Athletic Conference) (2001–2005)
2001 Boise State 8–4 6–2 2nd
2002 Boise State 12–1 8–0 1st W Humanitarian 12 15
2003 Boise State 13–1 8–0 1st W Fort Worth 15 16
2004 Boise State 11–1 8–0 1st L Liberty 13 12
2005 Boise State 9–4 7–1 T–1st L MPC Computers
Boise State: 53–11 37–3
Colorado Buffaloes (Big 12 Conference) (2006–2010)
2006 Colorado 2–10 2–6 5th (North)
2007 Colorado 6–7 4–4 3rd (North) L Independence
2008 Colorado 5–7 2–6 T–4th (North)
2009 Colorado 3–9 2–6 5th (North)
2010 Colorado 3–6[n 1] 0–5[n 1] 5th (North)
Colorado: 19–39 10–27
UC Davis Aggies (Big Sky Conference) (2017–2023)
2017 UC Davis 5–6 3–5 8th
2018 UC Davis 10–3 7–1 T–1st L NCAA Division I Quarterfinal 8 7
2019 UC Davis 5–7 3–5 T–6th
2020–21 UC Davis 3–2 3–2 T–3rd 12 13
2021 UC Davis 8–4 5–3 T–5th L NCAA Division I First Round 16 17
2022 UC Davis 6–5 5–3 5th 25
2023 UC Davis 7–4 5–3 5th 24
UC Davis: 44–31 31–22
Total: 156–92–1
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

CFL

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Team Year Regular season Post season
Won Lost Ties Win % Finish Won Lost Result
MTL 2013 2 3 0 0.400 fired mid-season – – fired mid-season
Total 2 3 0 0.400 0 0

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Hawkins was fired after nine games. Brian Cabral coached the final three games of the season.

References

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  1. ^ Gaullaudet, Bruce (August 4, 2017). "Let the good times roll! Hawkins football era starts in earnest". Davis Enterprise. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  2. ^ 5280.com Archived March 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine – Dan Hawkins and the power of positive thinking – September 2008 – accessed June 6, 2012
  3. ^ ESPN Media Zone3.com[permanent dead link‍] – profile – Dan Hawkins – September 12, 2011 – accessed October 16, 2011
  4. ^ "2006 Colorado football season". CUBuffs.com. 2006. Archived from the original on March 6, 2011. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  5. ^ "Colorado introduces Hawkins as head coach". ESPN.go.com. December 19, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  6. ^ "Employment Agreement Between Dan Hawkins and The Regents of the University of Colorado" (PDF). USA Today. June 30, 2006. Retrieved March 5, 2007.
  7. ^ "Hawkins' rant getting plenty of air time". The Denver Post. February 16, 2007. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  8. ^ a b "Colorado fires Hawkins; McCartney is candidate". November 10, 2010.
  9. ^ Krieger, Dave (November 8, 2010). "Krieger: Suspicion infects CU football program". Denver Post.
  10. ^ Saunders, Dusty (November 8, 2010). "Dusty Saunders: Dungy's quiet style cuts through noise". Denver Post.
  11. ^ "Reports: Dan Hawkins out at Colorado". ESPN.go.com. November 9, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
  12. ^ "ESPN analyst Dan Hawkins is the new head coach at UC Davis". November 29, 2016.
  13. ^ Florio, Mike (August 1, 2013). "Popp fires Trestman's replacement, hires himself". NBCSports.com. ProFootballTalk.com.
  14. ^ "Mount Union QB Kevin Burke among players selected to play for U.S. National Team in summer World Championships". Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Plain Dealer. June 2, 2015. Archived from the original on June 3, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  15. ^ Andrew Doughty, "Dan Hawkins is new Offensive Coordinator for Vienna Vikings of Austrian Football League", Sports Illustrated Campus Rush, March 3, 2016, [1]
  16. ^ Brett McMurphy and Adam Rittenberg, "UC Davis hires alumnus Dan Hawkins as head coach", ESPN, November 28, 2016 [2])
  17. ^ https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2023/11/28/dan-hawkins-stepping-down-as-aggie-head-football-coach.aspx
  18. ^ "Cody Hawkins – 2009 Football Roster – CUBuffs.com – University of Colorado Buffaloes Athletics".
  19. ^ "Bishop Kelly Football Article". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
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