I recall one interview session with Colorado coach Dan Hawkins in 2006 in which he subtlely mocked the former coaching staff in Boulder for occasionally handing out T-shirts to the punt teams after solid performances.
I remember those shirts having catch phrases on them and being a part of some of those units was a source of pride for many of the players involved.
Based on the Buffs special teams performance this year, it might be time to start handing out T-Shirts again. In fact, I have an even better idea.
Why not have linebackers coach Brian Cabral take over coaching some of the CU special teams units.
Cabral knows a thing or two about special teams. He has extensive experience coaching them in the past and he was the special teams captain for the Chicago Bears during his playing career. This seems like a no-brainer to me.
Cabral used to coach the punt return team under former coach Gary Barnett and the Buffs were generally pretty good under Cabral’s direction. In fact, the 2001 Buffs led the nation in punt return. His experience coaching punt return leads me to believe, Cabral could also do a solid job coaching the punt team.
This would free up special teams and tight ends coach Kent Riddle to focus more of his energy on kickoff return and coverage and coaching up tight ends. The Buffs are going to be young at tight end for the next few years and those players will need all the attention they can get.
The linebackers will be younger, too, but I think Cabral has proven over two decades that he can handle lots of responsibility.
Just a thought. Take it or leave it.
If Riddle is actually around next season it will be a huge disgrace. Of course there have been quite a few "huge disgraces" lately with this program so nothing would surprise me.
Speaking of t-shirts, we could ask Cabral if he still has any left from his playing days that are stuffed in a box somewhere. Living next to Bracket (the football dorm) in '76, we saw players wearing shirts that pointed to the loss at OU the previous year. The team came ready to play and beat OU.
Maybe we should print a few shirts for Hawk, like "15 plays from 6-6"; "You can't turn the corner without a signal"; and a personal favorite "My old team went to a BCS bowl and all I got was a t-shirt".
riddle needs to follow jfly…………..outta here
Kyle, your suggestions on your blog posts make perfect sense, which is why I'm perfectly confident they will not be adopted. Besides, everyone knows the special teams were horrible last season because the locker room isn't as nice as Texas or OU… until CU fans start donating more we're doomed to a sub par kicking game.
Yeah great suggestion. Too bad Coach Hawkins is too stupid to implement the change. It is an absolute embarrassment having Hawkins continue as the Head Coach of the University of Colorado. My 4 season tickets will not be renewed next year.
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