Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Cabral Steps Up, Into The Buffs Breach
November 09, 2010 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - The coaching move that many expected last November required another 111/2 months and the jolt of one shamefully historic quarter of football before it was made.
Colorado Athletic Director Mike Bohn announced early Monday morning that Coach Dan Hawkins immediately was being relieved of his duties and Associate Head Coach Brian Cabral would direct the Buffaloes in the season's final three games.
Cabral has held the interim position once before - in 2004 when former coach Gary Barnett was on paid administrative leave. During those spring drills, Cabral continued to coach his position, but this time around he has asked Bohn to allow defensive technical intern Bert Watts to coach the linebackers in the last three weeks of the regular season while he oversees the entire team and attends to off-field duties.
The move to remove Hawkins wasn't made three or more weeks ago because the situation hadn't reached critical mass, although some will argue with that. After losing the second of consecutive home games to Texas Tech (Baylor was the first), CU slipped below .500 (3-4) for the first time this season with a trip to Oklahoma awaiting.
Few expected the Buffs to win in Norman - and they didn't come close (40-13). Even so, reaching bowl eligibility hadn't become the no-margin-for-error scenario it is now. Still having the tiniest bit of postseason wiggle room, CU's administration was willing to wait.
But few expected the Buffs to lose in Lawrence - and certainly not in the mind-numbing way it happened, with CU blowing a 28-point fourth-quarter lead and allowing Kansas 35 unanswered points in a 52-45 loss.
It was a dark quarter of CU football, maybe the darkest ever, and the reaction it produced over the next 48 hours was impossible for the administration to ignore. Until last weekend and its aftermath, Bohn hadn't been sold on making an in-season change. But as he would say later, with the "negativity" aimed at the program growing exponentially, waiting to move disappeared as an option.
Bohn and Hawkins met Monday, but an official announcement was delayed until Tuesday morning, when the team - which routinely has Monday off - reassembled for its weekly meeting at 6:30 a.m. Bohn and Hawkins were adamant in making sure that the news came to the players from inside, rather than outside.
But the news began leaking late Monday night, and by Tuesday morning maybe the only item left unreported was who would be hired as Hawkins' permanent successor. A search committee is being formed, but early legwork has been underway.
Shortly after 6:30 a.m. in auditorium of the Dal Ward Athletics Center, the players and staff received the official word that the Hawkins Era had ended and Cabral, 54, would serve as their interim leader. Hawkins said a group good-bye to the players, urging them to stay aboard in the program, stay eligible, play for Cabral and each other, and stay focused on the next three games.
He promised he would be at Folsom Field this Saturday and next, but "probably in disguise."
Told Monday night of the change, Cabral's first team address in his new role was shorter and reflected his personality. Of Hawkins, he said, "There's no question he gave you everything he had - his heart and soul." He also told the players they would be facing an emotional week, with massive media coverage. His advice: "We don't talk about it, we show it on Saturday . . . we'll talk after the game."
Hawkins' staff knew this day was coming, the only unanswered question was when. Only a few believed it would be in-season, but when the Buffs' losing streak reached four, several assistant coaches were sure their resumes would need to be updated. And following the KU debacle, one dismayed staffer shook his head and told me, "After that, we all should be fired."
Among outsiders, that sentiment was expressed much earlier. Following the 52-7 Game 2 loss at California, there were whispers that Hawkins' fate already had been decided. Many believed the blowout at Cal was a clear indication that the football program's direction and leadership were not what it should be with CU beginning competition next season in the Pac-12 Conference.
Some hope for Hawkins resurfaced when the Buffs went 3-1 in non-conference play, but that hope receded after their four consecutive Big 12 Conference losses. Included in that streak were close home losses to Baylor and Texas Tech, games the Buffs and their fans had counted on winning in a season that Hawkins knew was critical for him. And in August, his hopes were sky-high; he believed his fifth CU team was his most talented and experienced.
While the KU trip produced disastrous Loss No. 5, it didn't eliminate CU from reaching the postseason for only the second time in five years. But it placed the scenario into the Highly Improbable file. The requirement for Cabral: finishing with three straight wins, with victory No. 6 earned in the season's final game in the school's final Big 12 appearance.
Oh, yes, that game will be In Lincoln, Neb., where the Cornhuskers also will be making their final regular-season Big 12 appearance, possibly with a spot in the league championship game in the balance.
If the Buffs reach the postseason under those circumstances, Cabral would warrant a raise and a serious look as the new head coach. His team would recapture some of the national goodwill lost in Lawrence. As much as anything, the Buffs' unspeakable loss underscored their irrelevance on college football Saturdays.
Ah, there's your challenge, Coach Cabral. Spend the next three weeks trying to make CU football relevant again - if only for the remainder of November. Tall order, short time. Cabral is accustomed to challenges, but maybe not under these conditions. There's no question the Buffs will rally around him, with the community expected to follow. He's a living Buffs legacy, having played at CU (1978 graduate) and is in his 22nd season on the staff (21 full-time).
But he knows there are no guarantees that he will remain after the next three weeks. He has worked under four head coaches and survived three coaching changes. Staying under a fourth new coach might be unprecedented in a business that turns over and turns assistants out with such frequency.
That's not his focus now. He's got three games ahead of him, a team to pull together and a recovery to oversee.
Just before 7 a.m., CU's team meeting was finished. Cabral asked the seniors to remain briefly in the auditorium, then they joined their underclass teammates in respective position meetings.
At 8 a.m. the Buffs were on the field - without Dan Hawkins for the first time in five years. Another new era in CU football begins.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
