Horrible video feed! I had to watch the sidebar commentary to even have a clue what the score was. Tough loss for the Aggies. Water polo is consistently one of our most competitive sports at the national level.

Congrats Ags for another great year!

Come on Zander, once an Aggie always an Aggie! (Y)

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.

I would assume so. Look at the wide net Coach Les has cast in the past few years.

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

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

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

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.

It's going to be an uphill battle on a steep slope for sure given the history of our comparative lack of financial support for UCD athletics to have the resources necessary to be competitive on equal footing with our competition at this level. Blue and his staff have got their work cut out for them when it comes to fundraising and finding major donors.

When it comes to student support the truth is that it has been fickle best and practically nonexistent at worst. That rings true for fan support in general as well. Sure we have packed the Pavilion on a few occasions when ESPN came to town, and there have been a few football games during the Biggs D1 era that had Aggie Stadium rocking but, for the most part, the students have been largely missing. Even on those occasions when they do show up, many of them leave at halftime and, by the 4th quarter, only a smattering are left.

Of course, we haven't done much in football or basketball to get fans terribly excited lately. Year after year of losing in football has drained the enthusiasm out of all but the most dedicated Aggies fans. Basketball has had one season to truly get excited about since moving to D1 also. So you really can't blame the fans for becoming complacent; we really haven't given them a whole lot to get energized about.

We have a couple of inherent problems that I think helps foster apathy towards our D1 athletics also. First of all, we are a huge, world class, major UC school and our athletics program pales in comparison to the schools that I think the students believe we are equal to in all ways except athletics: Cal, UCLA, Stanford etc. So, we're handicapped from the get go by being the "little brother" in athletics that struggles to win against teams in the Big Sky and the Big West. There isn't much we can do about that now but failing to be a consistent winner at the FCS football and mid-major basketball levels is crippling our fan support. Gotta win, get to the FCS playoffs and basketball post-season tournaments if this is going the change.

Secondly, regarding football only, as we all know Aggie Stadium is a solar oven in the early season, and the student sections on the east side get the worst of it. Heaven knows that it's uncomfortable for all of us fans when the temperature is 90 degrees and above at game time, but it is absolutely unbearable on the easr side in those conditions. It's broiling and the sun is directly in their eyes! It's brutal and, once the new students experience that combined with a likely loss, it's no wonder they are reluctant to return.

Not much we can do about the stadium. It is what it is, but who can blame the anyone for not wanting to be fried in Aggie Stadium. Fans do avoid those games when the conditions are like that and it's just unfortunate.

Winning can go a long way to chipping away at some of the apathy that exists. I hope it happens!

Just show them Hawk's twitter page. There's enough Zen sayings and inspirational quotes over there to keep the prim and proper folks engaged until the yelling has died down.

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!

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

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.

More from the Aggie Athletics website: "DAVIS, Calif. - He's taken his family on vacation to Machu Picchu in Peru, he's been a science teacher, he's jumped out of airplanes and he's coached football in 11 different countries. For Dan Hawkins, who was introduced on Tuesday as the 17th head coach in the 101-year history of the UC Davis football program, those haven't just been items to cross off a bucket list, they've been opportunities to learn."

Read more here: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112916aae.html

There are several other nice photos of Hawk mingling with the students and imploring them to attend at least one game next year. The man certainly does hit the ground running!

https://twitter.com/UCDfootball

More from Bob Dunning: “We need ‘Hawk’ here,” said Frank Scalercio, a center on the 1981 team that included Hawkins in the backfield.
“He will bring all the old players and alums back. With ‘Hawk,’ what you see is what you get. He was inspirational when he was playing here. He would pick you up, always looking for the best way to make you better. I’m so proud to have him as our head coach. People won’t believe how hard this guy works.”

Read more here: http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/who-is-dan-hawkins/

Dunning writes about Hawkins coming back home: "… it might be a bit early to buy your tickets to a future FCS championship game in Frisco, Texas, but that day is coming … trust me on this …"

Read more here: http://www.davisenterprise.com/update/bob-dunning-aggies-welcome-back-one-of-their-own/

Enterprise article on the Hawkins presser with great photos also:

http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd-introduces-new-football-coach/

Just out of curiosity, I checked around the Big Sky Football forums to see if there was any conversation by other Big Sky fans about the Hawkins hire. Nothing happening over on the Hornets forum except one post complaining that how their AD is doing nothing while Blue got the job done in one week. A thread on the EWU forum had the most comments and most were saying they thought that Hawkins was an impressive hire for the Aggies.

There were a couple of posts that were pretty funny too: From an EWU fan - "A ZEN master should be a good fit in cuckoo land," and from a Poly fan - "Zen-nut meets cows and such and smart kids/This is D1 football!"

If you look a at Hawk's twitter page you'll see that he muses philosophical quite often and I actually think that's a good thing. We're in for an interesting ride!

https://twitter.com/coachhawk?lang=en

You're right about that agalum. There are quite a few Aggie alums that have deep pockets and I hope this will motivate them to danate and help turn this program around and take it to great heights. There are also quite a few former players and coaches that have gone on to make big bucks. It's time for them to revisit their roots and remember the value that Aggie sports has had their lives and then reach for their wallets and financially help the program that launched their careers.