"This marks a new day for the university," then-University of Colorado president Hank Brown said when CU introduced Dan Hawkins as head football coach on Dec. 16, 2005.
Brown was right; it was a new day for the university. But it wasn't a good new.
Dan Hawkins went 53-11 in five seasons as head coach at Boise State (2001-05), transforming the Broncos from a promising young FBS member into an unbeatable — literally — force in the WAC. He had three-straight one-loss seasons (2002-04), during which his teams didn't lose a single conference game.
Colorado snatched the in-demand 45-year-old after dismissing Gary Barnett, who went a 22-17 in the final three years of his seven-year tenure. Hawkins made one bowl game, only once won more than two Big 12 games in a season and never won more than six games in a season. He was fired nine games into the 2010 season and left Boulder with a 19-39 record in four-plus years.
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After a brief hiatus from coaching, Hawkins returned to the sidelines with the Montreal Alouettes (2013), U.S. national team (2015) and Vienna Vikings (2016) before going back to his roots. Last November, he accepted the head coaching position at UC Davis, his alma mater.
Here are five other coaches who are still coaching college football after failing to live up their up-and-coming hype years ago.
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Turner Gill
Current Position: Head Coach, Liberty
Buffalo was miserable when Turner Gill arrived in 2006. Since returning to the FBS in 1999, the Bulls were 10-59 in seven seasons. Gill won five games in 2007 and eight in 2008, pushing the then-46-year-old into the Power Five coaching conversation. Despite a five-win 2009 season, he was hired by Kansas to replace Mark Mangino.
“I’m not coming here to use it as a stepping stone to a football dynasty, but rather to create a football dynasty here at KU," Gill declared at his introductory press conference. "I hope to be here 15 or 20 years because if I’m here 15 or 20 years, that will mean we have done well.”
He barely made it 20 games, let alone 20 years. He 5-19 overall and 1-16 in the Big 12. Gill immediately took over at Liberty and is 35-25 in six seasons.
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Paul Rhoads
Current Position: Defensive Coordinator, Arkansas
Auburn and Iowa State pulled off an unusual swap in December 2008. Cyclones head coach Paul Rhoads — who may have been on the hot seat following a two-win season (5-19 in two seasons) — took the Tigers' head coaching job, which prompted Iowa State to hire Auburn's defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads.
Rhoads was a 41-year-old Iowa native who previously coached linebackers (1995) and defensive backs (1996-97) at Iowa State but really boosted his coaching stock as defensive coordinator at Pittsburgh (2000-07) and Auburn (2008).
He went a respectable 24-27 in his first four seasons before an 8-28 mark (4-23 in the Big 12) over the next three years led to his dismissal.
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Chuck Amato
Current Position: Defensive Coordinator, Akron
Longtime Florida State assistant Chuck Amato was supposed to get North Carolina State over the hump and make them a consistent contender in the ACC. He kind of did that in 2002 — his third season — with a 11-3 mark. However, the revered Bobby Bowden disciple never delivered consistency.
Amato — a former Wolfpack player (1965-67) and assistant coach (1971-79) — was a part of eight conference titles and two national championships in Tallahassee. But he never finished above fourth in the conference in seven seasons at North Carolina State and was fired after a three-win 2006 season.
He went back to Florida State for three seasons (2007-09) and, after a couple years off, took an assistant job at Akron in 2012. The Zips are coached by Terry Bowden, Bobby's son who was a graduate assistant at FSU in 1982, Amato's first year as Seminoles' defensive line coach.
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Joker Phillips
Current Position: Wide Receivers Coach, Cincinnati
Joker Phillips wasn't as hyped as an up-and-coming Power Five coach like others on this list but he was a respected coordinator who too his dream job.
The Kentucky native and former UK receiver (1981-84) spent 16 of his first 22 years in coaching with the Wildcats, including as offensive coordinator and receivers coach under Rich Brooks from 2005-09. He was named head coach-in-waiting in 2009 and took over the following year, which made headlines partly because he was one of very few African-American head coaches in the FBS and in SEC history.
"I am an African-American hire, but I'll be a quick African-American fire too if we don't win," Phillips said.
He was right; a 13-24 mark (4-20) in three seasons led to his dismissal. Phillips has since held positions with Florida, the Cleveland Brown, Ohio State and now Cincinnati, where he's entering his first season on Luke Fickell's staff.
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Randy Shannon
Current Position: Defensive Coordinator, Florida
Randy Shannon was born and raised in Miami, played linebacker for the Hurricanes (and former head coach Jimmy Johnson with the Dallas Cowboys) and spent the first 16 years of his coaching career in Miami — 13 with the Canes and three with the Dolphins.
He became Miami's defensive coordinator at 35 years old in 2001 — their national championship season — and remained in the position until replacing longtime boss Larry Coker in December 2006 after a 6-6 regular season.
"He's going to get back to what the formula was," said former Miami defensive end Dan Stubbs, who played with Shannon on the 1987 national championship team. "He played here. He knows what kind of people you need."
Nope. Shannon missed a bowl game in 2007, finished above third in the ACC Coastal just once and went 28-22 (16-16 in the ACC) in four seasons.
He then coached linebackers at TCU (2012) and Arkansas (2013-14) before returning to his home state as Gators' co-defensive coordinator in 2015. He was promoted to defensive coordinator in January.