THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Dan Hawkins on life after Boise State, and beyond

In these parts, Dan Hawkins is still most affiliated with Boise State.

Hawkins came to Boise in 1998 after a successful five-year run at Willamette University in Salem, Ore.

There, he led the Bearcats to a 40-11-1 record. In 1997, Willamette finished 13-1, losing in the NAIA Division II championship game.

Then it was on to Boise for three seasons as offensive coordinator. In 2001, he took over as head coach, leading the Broncos to a 53-11 record and four Western Athletic Conference titles.

In 2006, he was then lured away to Colorado where he went 19-39, including one bowl appearance (the Independence Bowl in 2007) before being fired nine games into his fifth season.

These days, Hawkins is in his sixth season as head coach at UC Davis (4-4, 3-2 Big Sky), which plays at Idaho (6-3, 5-1) on Saturday at the Kibbie Dome in a game with FCS playoff implications, especially for the Aggies.

DOES HAWKINS ever regret leaving Boise?

“No, not at all,” Hawkins said this past summer, at the Big Sky Football Kickoff in Spokane. “I was ready. It was my time: I was ready to go. I do not have any regrets about that at all.

“I’ve had so many adventures past there that I would have never had if I didn’t (leave). I love the place; still love the place. It was great to me, but it was my time. Everybody lives their life differently … it’s not about safety and comfort for me. It’s not. … I was there for eight years, and it was time.”

After Colorado, Hawkins spent some time as a college football analyst, for ESPN and Sirius XM Radio — where, as you might expect, he was an entertaining listen.

“What was great was, I got my PhD in football, talking to coaches, talked to a lot of players, watched a lot of practices, watched a lot of film, watched a lot of games,” Hawkins said. “And it was great. And I learned a lot from the people I worked for and with.”

After his Colorado stint, Hawkins was briefly coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and was offensive coordinator for a couple of teams in Europe, before taking over at UC Davis in 2017.

There, he’s led the Aggies to the FCS playoffs twice, including in 2021, where UC Davis lost 56-24 at South Dakota State in the first round.

South Dakota State’s offensive coordinator in that game, of course, was Jason Eck, now in his first season as coach of the Idaho Vandals, who will be looking to wrap up a likely postseason bid Saturday at the expense of Hawkins’ Aggies.

DID BEING an analyst help Hawkins when he returned to coaching?

“Well, I think what happens is, sometimes we can’t see the forest through the trees (as a coach), and I think sometimes stepping back and looking at the macro, you see things … that are hard sometimes, when you’re down in it,” he said. “You try to dig a trench, and you don’t know where that trench is going, and you’re just digging a trench.”

When his coaching days are over, would Hawkins ever consider getting back into TV and/or radio?

“We’ll see,” he said. “There’s a lot that I really, really enjoyed (working with good people). As you know, I’m an out-of-the-box guy. I always think of what can be done in media in a different way. … I always had a few projects — ‘Hey, let’s do this … let’s try that.’ Of course, I was just a rookie, so nobody was really listening to me.

“You can be outside the box a little bit, but you can’t be so far outside the box that it doesn’t fit,” Hawkins continued. “It’s got to fit in the 30 seconds, two pages. But you know that — I need 500 words.

“I was always throwing spaghetti against the wall. I wanted to do a thing where you talked to all the coaches’ wives. I think you’d get a lot of insight … I know Urban (Meyer; when he was doing TV work between coaching gigs) went around and did a little thing on leadership with some of the guys.

“I was always looking for the inspirational (stories) … I think sports can and should be inspirational … Urban can do it because he’s Urban Meyer.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.