College Football | Colorado coach second-guesses bringing in his son to play quarterback for him

BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Dan Hawkins says in hindsight he would not have recruited his son, Cody, to play quarterback for him.

Dan Hawkins, speaking at his weekly news conference Monday, said bringing in his son in his first recruiting class in 2006 was not fair to Cody.

"Here's a guy who is trying to do his best to win games and help his team and does everything right and is a good student and he's getting killed on Facebook and getting killed on his cellphone," Hawkins said.

Hawkins said Cody has taken unfair criticism for the Buffaloes' 3-8 record heading into Friday's season finale against Nebraska, amid speculation the coach might be on his way out.

Cody Hawkins, a junior, started Colorado's first five games before being benched in favor of sophomore Tyler Hansen in the third quarter of the Buffaloes' 38-14 loss at Texas on Oct. 10.

"When we took him out of the Texas game, people were going, 'I bet that hurt because you had to bench your kid,' " Dan Hawkins said. "What it hurt to me was, you're basically telling the whole world it's one guy's fault. And it's not. It's not one guy's fault, but that's kind of the implication."

Cody has 1,277 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and has 11 passes that have been intercepted this season.

Hawkins was hired in December 2005 and signed his son in early 2006. Cody redshirted before taking over as starting quarterback in 2007. Hawkins said his own optimism and interest in Cody around the country were factors in the decision to offer him a scholarship.

"I'm looking around the country and I got a lot of these quarterback gurus going, 'Hawk, why not walk down the hallway and knock on your kid's door and beg him to come to school there?' " Hawkins recalled.

"I'm looking what's the best possible scenario, I'm looking at a kid that's a good player, that other people have offered [scholarships to], that other people want and he's going to come to our place. I know what kind of kid he is and what kind of player he is and how bad we need a quarterback in this class. So it was probably selfish on my part."

Dan Hawkins is 16-32 at Colorado.

Notes

• Coach Urban Meyer vowed to be at No. 1 Florida "as long as they'll have me."

With rumors swirling about coach Charlie Weis' future at Notre Dame, Meyer tried to squash potential speculation about leaving Gainesville to guide the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame is 6-5 this season.

"I'm going to be the coach at Florida as long as they'll have me," Meyer said. "So I want to make that clear."

• Notre Dame starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen was punched in the face during an altercation outside a South Bend, Ind., bar last weekend, sources told the Chicago Tribune. Clausen had at least one black eye as a result of the punch, a source said.

A South Bend police spokesman said Monday no reports were filed over the weekend that involved Clausen.

• Western Kentucky hired ex-Hilltoppers quarterback Willie Taggart, 33, as coach to replace the fired David Elson.

Taggart is the running-backs coach at Stanford. Western Kentucky has lost its last 18 games.

• Arizona coach Mike Stoops called Oregon athletic director Mike Bellotti to express concern for the health of a Ducks cheerleader who was hit in the head by a water bottle thrown from the grandstand Saturday in Tucson.

Stoops said he told Bellotti "how sorry and unfortunate that was."

Cheerleader Katelynn Johnson suffered a concussion as the Ducks celebrated a 44-41 double-overtime victory. She was carted off the field and taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released.