Buff Nation –
“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.
Go Buffs!
Doug