“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
Like the traveler in Robert Frost’s poem, CU stands at a crossroads. Soon after this email hits your inbox, the University of Colorado will be announcing the hiring of its next football head coach. It is an understatement to say CU has struggled over the past two decades (rounding up), and that this past season has been the worst in the program’s 133-year storied history. CU has been outscored an average of 28 points / game. 2022 saw CU’s program deteriorate at an accelerated rate and currently ranked 122nd out of 131 division 1 programs. Get this hiring decision wrong, and AD Rick George will have effectively signed his own expulsion papers.
Later today CU plays #14 Utah for its final game of the season. College football loves its rivalries, and the Pac-12 looked to manufacture a rivalry between Utah and CU (which is why CU plays Utah each year as the last regular season game), when both schools joined the Pac-12 in 2011. Yet, over the years, these two schools have traveled significantly different paths to arrive at today’s game (point spread is Utah by 29.5).
For Utah, their success can be traced back to 2005, and the hiring of their current head coach Kyle Whittingham. Utah has posted a .640 winning percentage since joining the Pac-12 and is always considered a worthy opponent. For Colorado, their woes can be traced back to 2005 (ironically) with the erroneous (IMHO) firing of Coach Barnett, and the now infamous series of five unfortunate head coach hires (Hawkins, Embree, McIntyre, Tucker, Dorrel). Add in Barnett, current Interim coach Sanford and the soon to be head coach, and that is eight HC coaches during the same span Utah (our so to speak rival) has had one. No wonder these programs are viewed so differently by recruits and peers.
There is talk of potentially hiring Deon “Prime Time” Sanders as the next coach. Another top candidate is Illinois DC Ryan Walters (former Buff player). Both have their pros and cons. Time will tell who is hired, and time will tell whether it was the right decision. What we do know is today, the Buffs stand at a crossroads and are able to only choose one path. Years from now, may Buff Nation look back on this time in our program’s history and see that this (future) coaching hire has indeed made all the difference.
In a Colorado High School football game, if a team is winning by 40 or more points at any point in the game, the “mercy rule” goes into effect, and the “continuous game clock” begins to run, and it doesn’t stop until there is no time left. This expedites the end of the game for the safety and mental health of all involved. In college football there isn’t a mercy rule for a game or for a season. There are nine days left for Buff Nation to endure what has been the hardest season in decades. Nine days. This season was over the day CU came out without a clue against TCU seventy-eight days ago.
So, as CU prepares to take on #15 Washington on the road tomorrow, and then finish out the season against # 10 Utah (if feels like everyone in the pac-12 ranked except CU), the Saturday after thanksgiving, here are the good, the bad and the ugly for Buff Nation to ponder:
The Good: Interim Coach Mike Sanford. While CU continues to get crushed by their peers on the scoreboard, this is not due to lack of heart of effort. Coach Sanford has a contagious high-level of energy, and CU players are now playing with passion. If CU decides to hire Mike as the next permanent Head Coach, I will be 100% on board. I had the chance to attend a meeting with Mike (hope he doesn’t mind calling him Mike) a mere 90 minutes before CU took on the (then) #8 Oregon Ducks. He was over the top enthusiastic and positive about what CU can become. I instantly had a man-crush on him (which is why I call him Mike). I even took a picture.
The Bad: We don’t have Division 1 talent on this roster. It all left through the portal. No disrespect meant to all the hard-working Buffaloes who are on the team, but we can catch, throw, block or tackle. These are all important parts of football.
The Ugly: We are boxed in. Competing in College football is all about competing in the Transfer Portal and NIL (money). We don’t fare well in either. CU literally doesn’t offer the general and physical education degrees which are popular with college athletes, which makes it virtually impossible for CU to be competitive getting players who can help us win on the field. Every other Pac-12 school except Stanford (who is also free falling) has these programs in place. A house divided cannot stand. 2022 has proven that, and without some changes, 2023 will echo the same message.
Final Thought: Yes, CU was caught sleeping at the wheel as these changes occurred (IMHO), but at the end of the day (in nine days to be precise), what matters most is what CU does next. Are they willing to reinvent themselves to stay relevant (e.g., start up an integrated degree) or are they going to dig in their heels, stick their head in the sand, close their eyes, twinkle their knows, click their heels and point to the days of old when we were once somebody. Our new CU President Todd Saliman has come out strong in support of the CU Football program and his understanding of what football means to a university. My guess is CU is going to do the right thing and level the playing field in order to give CU coaches, players and fans a chance to be competitive and proud to call themselves Buff Nation. They better hustle. The (continuous) clock is running.
One doesn’t have to be a theologian to be familiar with the Ten Commandments, and unless you are a sociopath, most of the commandments are quite reasonable. “Thou shall not kill” (Duh). “Thou shall honor thy parents “(For sure). “Thou shall not steal” (Fine. Wait, does office paper count?).
Yet, given our Colorado Buffaloes are taking on the #8 Oregon Ducks tomorrow at Folsom Field, and the fact that Oregon has been the golden child of the Pac-12 for years, I feel the last of the commandments, “Thou Shall Not Covet…” should be an exception. Buff Nation needs the space and grace to covet the Oregon football program (even for a day). Buff Nation should desire, demand, want, covet a top ten ranked football program, and educate themselves on what that looks like, what that means, and what that takes. Tomorrow, the Ducks will show all of us what one looks like, and we should take notes.
So tomorrow, let’s look to keep most of the commandants (low bar), and covet to our hearts desire, unless of course the Buffs beat the Ducks. In that case, I’ll see you on the field.
Two thirds of the way through this 2022 CU Football season, all our questions have been answered. Perhaps not the answers we want, but we indeed know who we are and who we are not. A poor coaching hire and the loss of over twenty players to the transfer portal have left its mark. Coming into the season we all had our suspicions, but we gave the benefit of the doubt to the words our coaching staff were saying. The idea of seeing “seeing a different product” from what we were used to, was a welcomed and easy message to accept. We now know that was wishful thinking at best and vaporware at worst.
While the bloom of the fantastic OT win over Cal a couple of weeks ago has been washed away with yet another blow-out loss last week to drop CU to a lowly 1-6 on the season, there is STILL hope. This Saturday evening our (still) beloved CU Buffs will take on the Arizona State Sun Devils under the lights of Folsom field.
With the hardest part of the schedule still to come, ASU represents the best chance for one more victory. Tomorrow night at Folsom field, the Buffs will make a stand against all that has gone wrong this season, and will fight for four quarters (and OT if necessary) to come away with their second victory in three weeks. I like our interim Coach Sanford. He brings energy, hope and enthusiasm which I believe the players will parlay with the aid of a (near) sold out frenzied homecoming crowd, into a high energy, low scoring, down to the wire Buffs victory.
“There was once a dream that was Rome, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish.”
Marcus Aurelius, ‘The Gladiator.’
As thousands of white clad CU fans poured onto Folsom this past Saturday to celebrate the Buffs 20-13 OT victory over the Cal Bears, there was indeed a hint of what was possible, a faint whisper of good things to come. Akin to getting “a hold” of a monster golf shot keeps one coming back for more, last week’s victory lent some much-needed oxygen to a Buff Nation on life support. With a victory in hand, a new coach at the helm, and an inspired defense, a new hope emerged for Buff Nation.
One victory, even against a below average team like Cal, gets the Buffs out of the penalty box. A second victory, this time on the road against a legit Oregon State squad won’t be as easy. If our upstart OC turned interim HC Mike Sanford can somehow pull another victory out of his hat this Saturday, the Buffs will return to Folsom for a sold-out homecoming Saturday (10/29) evening nationally televised game against a very beatable Arizona State squad. Win that game and there will be talk about dropping the “interim” from the coach’s title. Coach Sanford at that point would be 3-0 and have earned the right to stand at mid-field asking Buff Nation one simple question.
