Nice article ... Dunning refers to Aggie alums as "Old Blues"... I've never heard Aggies referred to as such. Did I miss something?

He already challenged them (players) ... asked them if they wanted to get to the playoffs / championship... they all replied Yes... then he asked them who had watched the FCS playoff games last weekend? ... Silence.

Gould Sucked as a Coach. Maybe fine as a person but sucked as a coach. Sorry. The truth. Religion is not a platform for wins. He had no sense of organization. Field Gould I believe says it best. Covered the Hawaii spread Down by 20+. Good Person. But F'ed our kids. Not good at Davis or anywhere else. He is a Recruiter and can coach the RBs at best. But I say he sucks overall. Does not understand reality. I know you think I voted for Trump but I did not. He just sucked. Sorry. I have had t o live with Gould. He is bad.

Now Hawkins. A football guy. But fiery. Really local. He is Davis FB!. Can the Davis community handle him? He is the Harbaugh of 1AA. Go Hawk.

Sacto Bee: New UC Davis football coach Dan Hawkins a welcome blast from past

"...His more immediate challenge is to heavily recruit the region (which he did at Colorado),put a jolt into the offense, kick-start the program’s marketing and fundraising, and in the near future lead the Aggies back to relevance. That’s the plan, anyway, and whether Davis is ready or not, he’s back."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/ailene-voisin/article117858818.html#storylink=cpy

CoachingSearch.com loved him.

Dan Hawkins introduced at UC Davis: 'Quit trying to win and just be a winner'

http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=Dan-Hawkins-introduced-at-UC-Davis-Quit-trying-to-win-and-just-be-a-winner

Sorry your son had to play under this last staff. I agree with you, Gould is a good guy just unprepared to be a head coach. Even though the records may not have been great, there is still a lot to be proud about what our scholar athletes do accomplish. Hopefully both you and your son move forward with Aggie Pride in your hearts.

Most people seem to think that we have landed a steal with Coach Hawkins. The only people bad talking this hiring are Colorado fans. I look forward to what the Hawk can do with this program.

I love what Biggs had to say in the Bee's Voisin column:

(Quote) “Some people would look at Dan and say, ‘Is it bluster? Is it animated?’ ” said former Aggies coach Bob Biggs, a member of the search committee. “No, it’s not. Some people are laid-back. Other people wear their emotions on their sleeves. I think Dan just happens to be one of those folks, and you have to accept that. Those of us who know him know that he’s honest, straightforward, transparent. He is everything you want in a leader.”

I'm sure that there are going to be times when Hawkins passion and emotions will cause a stir among some of the more staid and proper members of the campus and Davis community, but underneath it will be a transparent honesty motivated by a drive for excellence. Football is a game of courage under fire and Hawk will have his players emotionally and strategically ready to play with the passion necessary to be their best.

Great hire and couldn't agree more with everyone.

But....if he's ultra successful and proves the Colorado experience was a fluke, does he resist a promotion back to FBS and an at least 7-10x pay raise in 3-5 years? Looks like TOP pay at FCS level is around $400,000 total pay (salary + bonuses + other fees). Curious to see Hawks full contract.

If so, is the program left in a place where "next" can continue the progress?

Does anyone know if he has to teach basket weaving? I know some time ago there was talk of the coaches being full time coaches and not splitting time as faux academic educators.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I do not think that the coaches are required to teach in the classroom anymore.

So glad Dr. Blue took care of this early so that we didn't have to lose half a recruiting season like we did under Tumey (late Gould hire). Give it to Coach Gould that he landed some solid recruits, so Hawk has a base to work from ... Hawk can probably watch every game tape, evaluate every player, and probably already has had awesome feedback from Coach Foster.

I don't know why fans continue to focus on if an AD, or if a HC might leave, what will we do ... if anyone leaves for doing a fantastic job, we will be the beneficiary ... new facilities, or FCS playoffs ... and I think that's a good place to be.

I think they are ... though I've heard that assistants may sub in on occasion. I thought in-season classes were the challenge (possibly PE1?).

Hopefully he can lecture on "student section tactics during football games"

I doubt he'll leave.

He has the opportunity to build something at his alma mater. This could potentially be very big. We could be FBS in the future and he'll play a key role in doing so.

I'm more concerned with the hire of our next Chancellor. If it goes to Hexter, I'll be happy with that. If it doesn't, we need to get someone who is friendly with athletics.

I was so glad to see that Hexter gave Blue the green light, and showed his support today and during this process. Thank you Dr. Hexter!

Also Thank you to Bruce Edwards and the alumni who help facilitate this process. Go Aggies!

Davis Enterprise: Hawkins Hiring is a Statement about AD Blue

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/hawkins-hiring-is-statement-about-ad-blue/

Bruce once again praises former interim AD Teresa Gould while reminding us (again) of his love and admiration of Coach Gould.

Did I read right? One of the Communications guys is leaving?

This is good right? Our communications Department really needs to get revamped.

I think Hawk and his staff will focus a lot of their recruiting efforts on the Bay Area and Northern California whereas if you look at the roster a large majority are from SoCal. There is a large amount of untapped talent in the north. Also, there might be a return to underachievers...this is what made Boise very successful under Hawkins and continued under Peterson. Players with chips on their shoulders make some of the best players!

BlueGoldAg

Personally, I'm excited to see some excitement added to the program. The home stands for games has been so somber and depressing. I was at one game where the most animated person was a 10 year old kid. We definitely need to bring some fire and enthusiasm to the crowd. I'm hoping Coach Hawkins can help bring this. I know the players appreciate the support when the fans are rooting them on.


I love what Biggs had to say in the Bee's Voisin column:

(Quote) “Some people would look at Dan and say, ‘Is it bluster? Is it animated?’ ” said former Aggies coach Bob Biggs, a member of the search committee. “No, it’s not. Some people are laid-back. Other people wear their emotions on their sleeves. I think Dan just happens to be one of those folks, and you have to accept that. Those of us who know him know that he’s honest, straightforward, transparent. He is everything you want in a leader.”

I'm sure that there are going to be times when Hawkins passion and emotions will cause a stir among some of the more staid and proper members of the campus and Davis community, but underneath it will be a transparent honesty motivated by a drive for excellence. Football is a game of courage under fire and Hawk will have his players emotionally and strategically ready to play with the passion necessary to be their best.

We all want Aggie Stadium to be packed to brim and bursting with excitement. We need to start winning consistently for that to happen. Most importantly we need to get the students motivated and involved in the Aggie Pack in order to generate the enthusiasm of a great collegiate atmosphere. The majority of the fans who are not students have become so complacent that you would be hard pressed to find a pulse in many of them. I hope a good dose of winning will get their juices flowing again.

Hawk will most certainly generate energy and optimism. We got an early indication of that at his presser yesterday. He's already got people excited and hopeful about the future of Aggie football. If Hawk is unable to turn this program around to the point that students and fans are reinvigorated and supportive, it won't be because of his lack of leadership and energy, it will be because the program was so far gone to begin with that no amount of life support could save it.

That said, I think the program will come back to greatness under his guidance. There's just too much rich history and Aggie Pride for that not to happen under the right leadership. Like Hawk said, "it's the right place, the right time and the right fit." Now it's time to get'er done!

BlueGoldAg Well said. There's been more energy pumped into the program in the last few days than the past few years. Great things to come. Like the coach was saying "it's gonna be AWESOME!!"

There were some real deficiencies in his coaching game, but this all can't be blamed on Gould. I'm excited about Hawkins,he has my 100% support, but until we have a few back to back winning seasons, I'll reserve judgment. If we make the right changes in our entire sports program, we will see success. If not, we will have many years of these discussions.

Completely agree on this. Gould was not a good coach, but it wasn't totally his fault. This athletic department needs major improvement. I think Blue has things headed in the right direction. Keeping the momentum is key. We had more momentum than we knew what to do with 11 years ago after beating Stanford in Football and Basketball, but did nothing with it.

We were complacent in a cream puff league for years. I believe we have a real shot with Hawk, but winning requires more than energy. Peterson is considered an offensive whiz, hopefully Hawk can get our offense moving. Failure is not an option.I

There is definitely great talent in Northern CA. This is reflected in the last three (3) recruiting classes' virtual 50/50 distribution of players from Northern and Southern CA, with a few from Arizona, Oregon and Washington. The current staff is still actively recruiting new players while re-recruiting/affirming prior commits. Coach Hawkins will benefit from these efforts while he tunes his own recruiting focus; hopefully he can secure commitments from some under-the-radar talent - especially OL and DL. Go Ags!

But FB had a budget increase, expanded recruiting area, and we dropped to 1 FCS win a year. WTF?

Expanded resources and a 65 percent drop in D1 victories? I gave him 1 bad year due to injuries, but 3?

I've pointed out our many issues that were not addressed at all the past 10 years. I received a call from a coach a few summers ago asking me to raise/donate $5,000 to cover the cost of a software update for football's video software. They are not swimming in cash. Admissions, academic infrastructure, player and coaches facilities are far behind the rest of the league let alone most D-1's we are competing against (Reno, San Jose St., etc.). As I've said, a few wins may/should come from the change in our offense, maybe one more from the energy from a new staff and Hawk's better coaching skills, but a consistent championship level team will require a total remodel of what we do from who we get in to where they watch film. I was just there, and the Health Center offices are embarrassing, and make us look so small time to high school kids.

Even if I accept everything you write, it still doesn't explain that with added resources and expanded recruiting, there was a large retraction in win D1 wins from Biggs to Gould. (I'm looking at Gould's year 2, 3, and 4.)

There is also a large difference between being a championship level program (i.e., North Dakota State), and simply being competitive (4-6 wins per year).

So why did the football program leave Hickey Gym?

Man, just watched the whole PC. This is a shot in the arm. Can Hawk bridge the gap between this student body and Aggie Stadium? I sure hope so, Gould has shown them NOTHING but losing, consistently. Really want to see the engagement, the energy and the celebration of being an Aggie truly blossom in the seasons ahead. Season tickets just got hot!

Agreed, I watched the presser last night and was ready to run through a wall. Now the administration has to provide the resources. It's time to truly become DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL. We want awesome.

No 'see ball. get ball'...I'm fine with Hawk and the press keeping our offense a secret till Game 1.

Did Hexter have any idea how passionate his HC could get?