Colorado football: Worst head coach hires in program history

Oct 30, 2010; Norman, OK, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Dan Hawkins walks the sideline during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 30, 2010; Norman, OK, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Dan Hawkins walks the sideline during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 11, 2012; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Jon Embree walks the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Folsom Field. The Sun Devils defeated the Buffaloes 51-17. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 11, 2012; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Jon Embree walks the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Folsom Field. The Sun Devils defeated the Buffaloes 51-17. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

If you think Hawkins was bad, just look at Jon Embree’s record. He was only given one chance as the head coach of a major program and that’s for good reason.

As a player, Embree was a member of Bill McCartney’s first recruiting class at Colorado but didn’t have the same success patrolling the sidelines as his former coach.

Embree took over in 2011 and Colorado went 3-10 that season. A tough first year is understandable, but there needs to be progress in Year 2. Well, that never came. Embree coached all 12 games of the 2012 season and the Buffaloes only managed one win.

It’s fair to wonder if all the losing was Embree’s fault. Hawkins was the one who tore down the program, but Embree did nothing to make it better. Embree even posed that question after his dismissal.

Embree told the Denver Post that then-athletic director Mike Bohn “said he didn’t feel the trajectory was going in the right direction. I said what direction was it going in when I got hired?”