It seems ironic, movie, that we would attract coaches to UCD and the Davis community and then not pay them enough to be able to afford to live there.

The assistants make less than $40K, and work 15 hour days during the season seven days a week. They work here so they can get the next job. We are very small time. It doesn't matter where they live, but they sure as hell can't afford a nice place in town or even most apartments. I can't speak to the ICA budget issues, but Blue is smart, he'll run a tight ship. The bottom line is we are a long way off...this process should have started when Biggs was still coach. We are years away from being a contender, so be patient with Hawk.

TCU head coach Gary Patterson made zero here (??), I knew married full time coaches who made $3,000 a year in our DII days. Same hours. We should strive to be competitive within the Big Sky, and if we can do better, great. Go Aggies!

Better than probably living in the middle of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, or Eastern Washington.

Gotta ask, if we are "years away from being a contender," then why were we all fast to get rid of Coach G if we are not expecting the same result? If the foundation has been laid, as has been said by several different people, including Coach Hawk, then why wouldn't Coach G or Coach Hawk be held to the same standard?

Foundation? I don't think it has been laid. Hawk has to say the right things to create a positive hype for fundraising and recruiting. If he was totally honest, he'd say, we are way behind in lots of places, but I'm going to change all that with Dr. Blue. The problem is they can't do it alone. Firing Gould was a tough one for me. I think he cost us a few games with coaching mistakes, and more sticking with Daft's impotent offense for so long. Despite the handicaps Gould faced in recruiting, I thought they did a pretty good job bringing in a few really good players (Luuga, Petit, Spencer, and more), but they need more studs. In the end, if Blue is going to go out and raise the millions we need to be great, he has to sell the program's success being on the horizon. Frankly, it was his only political move. He can go get money on Hawk's potential versus Gould's past record. Gould's promises of growth really just got stale, and left a bitter taste for a lot of us alumni. If Hawk can't win after 4 more years, who is going to even want football anymore besides purists like me? This is a huge time for Aggie Sports...no pressure Dr. Blue.

FWIW, I looked up MSU assistant coaches salaries, and the vast majority of their assistant football coaches make between $30 - 50,000 per year. All the newer assistants make in the low $30,000s.

OldAggie, you seem to mix being competitive, with winning championships. Two different animals. I think Hawk should make us respectable / competitive within 1-2 years. No more blown timeouts, no more predictable running between the tackles on 1st and 2nd down, and throwing long on 3rd. Fewer 3 and outs, fewer FGs over TDs, all of which help the defense. A 2-Minute offense. And not the critical mistake of the team coming out asleep at our first home, winnable Big Sky game ... only to wake up in the 4th Quarter and come up short.

More nuanced but still critical is Hawk hopefully will land players who truly fit. Gould / Watts landed 3-4 stud defensive players who left within a year or two. Whether they left because they were homesick (2 from Arizona), oversold, or didn't see Gould's vision, those were HUGE losses. THREE STUDS - a linebacker, lineman, and DB - would have added depth this year.

Academics, violations of team rules, etc...I don't know why those players transferred. Players transfer all the time from the Oregon to Alabama.

I wonder this the alumni is good with being a respectable/competitive .500? If it happens next year, I'll be elated...in two years happy...but I think it will take 3 or more depending on our schedule and what we get done. I think Hawk can get us close to .500, maybe as soon as next year, with an offensive scheme change, but lots of people are working under the assumption we will be competing for championships in a few years. I don't see it absent massive and quick changes to the program, but I sure hope I'm wrong.

I'm ok with 4 wins next season.

I'm okay with 4-5 wins and being competitive in the remainder.

I'm hoping for 5 wins... being competitive. If he can solve the injury riddle, that will be a significant help. That means we go from 1.5 D1 wins a year, to 4, which will help attendance, recruiting, and is a foundation. Then we break ground on new facilities.

Baptism of Excellence.

This was posted over on the Hornets Football Forum by Green Cookie Monster:

"Heard that a $5M donation was made the day the new HC was hired at UCFE, to better football facilities. Yet our AD claims success when a new tarp is put up in the vacant upper bleachers.

Must say, things dont look good for Hornet football longterm with Macriss at the helm. The slow agonizing death to oblivion by an uncaring AD is painful to be part of.

Obviously UCFE has made a commitment to football in an already nice facility. What has Nelson done? Chirp, chirp."

I have no idea what his acronym, UCFE, stands for but I'm pretty sure it refers to the Aggies and is not flattering. I seem to recall that Bruce Galluadet recently wrote that Blue would be "announcing a major contribution" from a donor in the near future. Does anyone know if there is even a slight of possibility that the Hornet post has sliver of credence to it?

http://www.bigskyfans.com/hornets/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2588&start=100

I'm ok with a National Championship! :-}

UCFE = UC Farm Extension I'm pretty sure... also 5 million, sweeeeet!

Nice to know it isn't any the vulgar things I was trying to guess it meant!

All I'm saying is give Hawk time to fix this mess...instant success is great, but I think patience will be needed. $5M goes a long way. Hope that's true and it goes directly to football!

If the rumor is true... maybe we can throw some of that money into a fund for a new video board. Not critical to the success of the program or anything, but damn our current board is baaaaaaaaaaad.

If we add it to the $2 Million (plus interest) that Mr. Edwards previously donated, the Train is rolling!

Davis Enterprise, October 5: "To that end, Blue and DeLuca already have reached accord with “a substantial funding source” of which an announcement is imminent."

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/ucds-deluca-hits-ground-running-as-new-athletics-development-chief/

Batting cages, Schall, and this new ramp up. Go Ags!

I'll take 1.5M for the baseball team though!. Install the lights too! Attendance would skyrocket!

I used a few online cost of living comparison tools. Moving from Bozeman to Davis is on the order of a 65% increase in cost of living. Move to Dixon and it is around 28%. And as many of you know, UCD across the board is not known for paying big salaries compared to other institutions. But people still come here.

this is kind of a cool video from his first day on the job:

Meet Dan Hawkins

I read the $5M comment on the Idaho board:

'Re: New Big SKY coach
8:19 AM

The local Davis shopper newspaper had an article on the new U C Davis AD - brought up in the Stanford athletic department, full of energy, energizing alums, new plans for improved facilities good fundraiser ($5 mil in the Hawkins hire) , makes good decisions, not a bean counter . . . all this in a school that has had turbulence in the President's office and has a losing seasons for years . . . makes you think about could be !'

But it wasn't in the Enterprise when I looked earlier today.

movielover, you wrote this: '↪BlueGoldAg
Better than probably living in the middle of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, or Eastern Washington. '

I disagree. I moved to 'the middle of Idaho' in '94. I love Davis, but I'm not moving back until I win the lottery. I can't afford it, and I love it out here. Don't dismiss those other places so easily. I live in a great community with affordable housing and outdoor opportunities ten minutes away. There are great places to live in Montana, Idaho, and Eastern Washington. I don't think it's a huge plus for assistant coaches to work 15 hour days and then have to drive to Woodland or Dixon because they can't afford to live in Davis. Just because we paid them peanuts when we were in school doesn't mean we should do that today.

That's a very well produced video that the Aggie athletics media put together in a short period of time. Nice job!

I noticed a banner at the end of the video that's says new episodes each week. Cool if that happens.

Speaking of assistants, I'll leave this here.

http://www.modbee.com/sports/college/article118339898.html

good find. Interesting.

Good man, he sent his versatile QB to College of Idaho which really helped Moroski.

I wonder what kind of coaches that Hawk is planning on surrounding himself with? Gould had a pretty young staff all the way through. Is Hawk going to going to go for older more experienced guys?

I wouldn't mind that. All Davis guys, with a chip on their shoulder.

Whoever can help us win!

Hopefully the coaching staff will understand FCS level of play and talent. Let's face it, FCS talent is different from FBS. Typically the main difference is speed and athleticism. When you're used to coaching a guy that runs a 4.3 40, your expectations have to change when that same position runs a 4.7 40. Creativity and utilizing player potential is key. The fact that Hawk was able to take Boise to the next level speaks volumes of his vision.