Tweet
And you thought Ralphie the Buffalo running onto Folsom Field was intimidating.
At a news conference earlier this month, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins, trying to turn around a Buffaloes team that went 2-10 overall and 2-6 in the Big 12, had a loud and clear message for players who think his training regime is too tough: Go play intramurals.
And the way he delivered that message, it might still be echoing through the Front Range.
Hawkins let fly with the loud rant when discussing the kind of toughness that he wanted to bring to the Buffaloes -- and acknowledging that it might not be for everyone. For example, he said, an anonymous parent sent him a letter protesting the players getting only a two-week break in their offseason conditioning program when they normally had three weeks off.
"Well we gave them a week at the start of the semester rather than at the end but here's my point, OK," Hawkins said in a calm, quiet voice.
Then he let fly.
"It's Division I football! It's the Big 12! It ain't intramurals!" he roared.
"You've got two weeks after finals, you've got a week of July Fourth and you get a week before camp starts," Hawkins continued, still shouting at the top of his voice. "That's a month that's probably more vacation then you [reporters] get. And we're a little bummed out that we don't get three weeks?"
"Go play intramurals, brother ... go play intramurals," he said, calming down.
Hawkins came to Colorado from Boise State, where he went 53-10, to turn around a program embroiled in controversy over recruiting practices and rape allegations by former female placekicker Katie Hnida. He succeeded Gary Barnett, who ignited a firestorm in 2004 when he reacted to Hnida's claims with criticism of her kicking ability.
Barnett stepped down in 2005 after reaching a financial settlement with the university.
You can hear it right here.