I'm hoping for 5 wins... being competitive. If he can solve the injury riddle, that will be a significant help. That means we go from 1.5 D1 wins a year, to 4, which will help attendance, recruiting, and is a foundation. Then we break ground on new facilities.

Baptism of Excellence.

FWIW, I looked up MSU assistant coaches salaries, and the vast majority of their assistant football coaches make between $30 - 50,000 per year. All the newer assistants make in the low $30,000s.

OldAggie, you seem to mix being competitive, with winning championships. Two different animals. I think Hawk should make us respectable / competitive within 1-2 years. No more blown timeouts, no more predictable running between the tackles on 1st and 2nd down, and throwing long on 3rd. Fewer 3 and outs, fewer FGs over TDs, all of which help the defense. A 2-Minute offense. And not the critical mistake of the team coming out asleep at our first home, winnable Big Sky game ... only to wake up in the 4th Quarter and come up short.

More nuanced but still critical is Hawk hopefully will land players who truly fit. Gould / Watts landed 3-4 stud defensive players who left within a year or two. Whether they left because they were homesick (2 from Arizona), oversold, or didn't see Gould's vision, those were HUGE losses. THREE STUDS - a linebacker, lineman, and DB - would have added depth this year.

TCU head coach Gary Patterson made zero here (??), I knew married full time coaches who made $3,000 a year in our DII days. Same hours. We should strive to be competitive within the Big Sky, and if we can do better, great. Go Aggies!

Better than probably living in the middle of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, or Eastern Washington.

But is the cost of living here significantly higher if coaches live in Dixon or Woodland?

There have to be creative ways to make Aggie Stadium more comfortable for early season games.

1. Aggie landscape design Hillary Harkins put together a wonderful portfolio of modest improvements in 2008 ... benches, a few mature trees, an overhead shade for fans. The last is most tricky. (Some of this may have been part of "Phase III" of the build-out of Aggie Stadium.) Suggested modifications start on Page 11.

http://lda.ucdavis.edu/people/2008/HHarkins.pdf

2. Starting games later in the day, and even adding some strategic misters around the stadium can't hurt and are low-cost solutions. Can't we play the first few games at night, we played mostly night games at Toomey.

OldAggie, by staffing costs I was talking about all of ICA, not football. ... We have a full time director for Aggie Stadium & Schall, and a FT assistant... associate and assistant ADs... 8 full time staff in development ... We had a student intern post last year and complain that our ICA was understaffed compared to SLO ... but when we looked at the actual numbers, it turned out that we appeared to have a much bigger staff.

I understand we have more sports, and much of this may be needed, but Dr. Blue has the ability to reorg where needed. I'm all for assistant coaches being fairly compensated, but we also have to live within our budget. Coaches often live in Woodland or Dixon. If we can sweeten the pot, great.

You have to walk before you can run. Hopefully Hawk can at least get us back to the Biggs level - 4 to 5 wins - right away. He has 72 Division I Wins under his belt, 112 college Wins overall, so he shouldn't have major issues with calling timeouts, a 2-minute offense, or clock management.

We have an amazingly supportive student base, time for the alums to step up for facilities upgrades. A Training Facility / rehab would benefit all sports. A beefed up Training Table might help. Winning helps everything, so does excitement. It sounds like Misti Hawkins - an Aggie - also has creative ideas. Heck, we would pack Toomey for Chico State!! SF State!! Why? I think it usually meant we were winning, and it wasn't a holiday. The playoffs were when it became bananas... I don't think we'll ever see streakers at Aggie Stadium, but who knows.

I was chatting with some Aggie Band members a few years back, and even they feel like they are handcuffed and not supported.

Most FBS schools cost lot's of money and lose big money. I'd be thrilled with becoming the next EWU (with academics), or even NDSU. Playoffs every other year, and picking off bigger schools. Nothing like an overflowing House, which also drives up season ticket purchases. Moroski wanted a second tier on the student side to add seats, but I'm not sure at this point.

Software upgrade ($5,000)? I don't have the numbers, but staffing seems to have risen quite a bit over the past 10 years. Every slot probably costs us at least $100,000 with bennies. That's a management / priority issue. That's the problem when you hire staff with Pac-12 expectations.

Hawk needs some organic granola, time at the Co-op, and a Prius.

No 'see ball. get ball'...I'm fine with Hawk and the press keeping our offense a secret till Game 1.

Did Hexter have any idea how passionate his HC could get?

Even if I accept everything you write, it still doesn't explain that with added resources and expanded recruiting, there was a large retraction in win D1 wins from Biggs to Gould. (I'm looking at Gould's year 2, 3, and 4.)

There is also a large difference between being a championship level program (i.e., North Dakota State), and simply being competitive (4-6 wins per year).

So why did the football program leave Hickey Gym?

UCSB 0-5?

But FB had a budget increase, expanded recruiting area, and we dropped to 1 FCS win a year. WTF?

Expanded resources and a 65 percent drop in D1 victories? I gave him 1 bad year due to injuries, but 3?

We were complacent in a cream puff league for years. I believe we have a real shot with Hawk, but winning requires more than energy. Peterson is considered an offensive whiz, hopefully Hawk can get our offense moving. Failure is not an option.I

With all due respect, how was his son a great college QB? I don't think Colorado ever got much over .500, and the perception of favoritism was partly responsible for Hawks downfall.

That said, I'm fired up.

Davis Enterprise: Hawkins Hiring is a Statement about AD Blue

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/hawkins-hiring-is-statement-about-ad-blue/

Bruce once again praises former interim AD Teresa Gould while reminding us (again) of his love and admiration of Coach Gould.

I was so glad to see that Hexter gave Blue the green light, and showed his support today and during this process. Thank you Dr. Hexter!

Also Thank you to Bruce Edwards and the alumni who help facilitate this process. Go Aggies!

I know that, just wondered if he was an expert more on the O or D side of the ball.

When Hawkins spoke at the end about misdirection, as opposed to "see ball, get ball"... I thought that last bit kind of applied to our recent past.

I'm still unclear as to how much of the Boise offensive success lay with Hawk, and how much with Peterson.

I think they are ... though I've heard that assistants may sub in on occasion. I thought in-season classes were the challenge (possibly PE1?).

So glad Dr. Blue took care of this early so that we didn't have to lose half a recruiting season like we did under Tumey (late Gould hire). Give it to Coach Gould that he landed some solid recruits, so Hawk has a base to work from ... Hawk can probably watch every game tape, evaluate every player, and probably already has had awesome feedback from Coach Foster.

I don't know why fans continue to focus on if an AD, or if a HC might leave, what will we do ... if anyone leaves for doing a fantastic job, we will be the beneficiary ... new facilities, or FCS playoffs ... and I think that's a good place to be.

CoachingSearch.com loved him.

Dan Hawkins introduced at UC Davis: 'Quit trying to win and just be a winner'

http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=Dan-Hawkins-introduced-at-UC-Davis-Quit-trying-to-win-and-just-be-a-winner