Hawk says he is the best coach he has ever been, now. He has contacts, and his Aggie connections go back 3 decades. Two were in the Sacramento playoffs this weekend. He also coached with Aggies who head up jc programs all over the state.

Foster will be valuable. Maybe he'll keep on an assistant or two for transition. If we have 7 or 8 commits, he only needs half a class. Congrats to Dr. Blue on the quick moves. Can Hawk land some studs or just as importantn, some overlooked players? Don't forget Parenteau as an example went from hot commodity and 7 offers, to ignored, to causing turnovers as a true Frosh for our D.

The team sounds very competitive in a pre-season tougher than Les' contract year (Hawkins senior year). League will be interesting.

Fugawe, excellent feedback on our secret athletics project.

FWIW, UCLA is now building the football specific Wasserman Center at approx. $65 Million, with 75,000 "gross square feet". This is UCLA (Pac-12 biggie) ... I just completed a little wine tasting, so my math could be wrong, but that's $866 per square... it sounds a bit like what we have planned with some kind of "corridor" to honor student-athlete graduates.

http://www.uclabruins.com/news/2015/7/14/210210191.aspx

I recall a brief tour I had of some Stanford training facilities that had large glass walls with lots of natural light and wood, and I was like "woooaaa"... if we built something multi-level where the Bob Foster end zone locker rooms are it could have that "wow" factor. I don't know how a generic square building in front of Aggie Stadium - where they have some long-term buildings planned - gets that impact and functionality. (I think they had new ICA headquarters planned n front of the stadium.) ... to be honest, I don't have a lot of trust with our architect-related decisions.

Does anyone know if this secret performance facility will be for all sports, or only for football? I really, really hope it is for all teams.

Don't underestimate the ability to blow money on red tape. One of many reasons why mega-donor Arrigilla ran the Stanford Stadium project, he said he could cut the construction cost in half.

Can I suggest cost per square foot? .. is that a decent gauge?

Don't forget all of the bloat that comes with the UC, California, and prevailing wage union costs... environmental costs / regs...

My understanding of FR is that you have to have one third of the funds raised before announcement, two thirds before construction starts.

Regarding any potential performance facility.

1. I hope all teams can use it.

2. I'm hoping for something with a little sizzle, not just a square building. I've heard alums mention a multi-story facility over one end zone so that the facility overlooks the field. It could even include an area for alumni events, and a rooftop deck to overlook the field and campus.

6th, should I be surprised that you're surprised? Maybe the culture still needs a lot of work.

Sounds great, he communicates very effectively...but Development probably wants to make the announcement. ... I hope he doesn't unnecessarily spill our gameplan before we play, we need the element of surprise.

Dr. Blue benefits from Tumey trying someone from outside, and things not working out. Bringing in Hawk helps mend some fences.

I sure hope we still have Mr. Edwards seed money.

Marketing? In Davis?

Big improvements already made. Pragmatic issues.

1. An audio system which works
2. Short game highlight clips for social media. Again we are woefully slow. Also helps recruiting. Ridiculous?

Game times. Maybe the earlier starts facilitate our competition getting back to the Midwest easier. Later start times also solve the heat issue, and mixes well w student nightlife.

Whoever can help us win!

FRom CoachingSearch.com.

"Fresno State: UNLV cornerbacks coach J.D. Williams andrunning backs coach Jamie Christian will join the Fresno State staff, according to Scout.com . Both spent two years at UNLV and are former Fresno State players"

Christian is a former Bulldog fullback and a top recruiter. (UNLV bio.)

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

True, but you know how large administrative structures work.. or don't... I don't know if the AS or Mrak put any geographic limits in place as part of the move to DI.

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!

We certainly seem to land good WRs and TEs... but did they drop a lot of balls this year?

Recruiting more heavily, locally, has advantages.

Question: if a scholar-baller contacts us from Minnesota or Texas, can football pursue them?

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.

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.

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.

But is the cost of living here significantly higher if coaches live in Dixon or Woodland?

There have to be creative ways to make Aggie Stadium more comfortable for early season games.

1. Aggie landscape design Hillary Harkins put together a wonderful portfolio of modest improvements in 2008 ... benches, a few mature trees, an overhead shade for fans. The last is most tricky. (Some of this may have been part of "Phase III" of the build-out of Aggie Stadium.) Suggested modifications start on Page 11.

http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/2008/HHarkins.pdf

2. Starting games later in the day, and even adding some strategic misters around the stadium can't hurt and are low-cost solutions. Can't we play the first few games at night, we played mostly night games at Toomey.