How does the coach’s son playing first string quarterback affect a team?  The head coach for Colorado is playing his son, Cody, at starting quarterback.  Cody has had some limited success at the position this year.  How does a father evaluate his son’s talent against others competing for the same position without bias?  It would seem to be a near impossible task.  Is it worth all of the second-guessing to Coach Hawkins to have his son running the show on the field on Saturdays?

It seems a daunting task to be a head coach for a Division-1 football team.  It seems even more stressful if the team you are coaching is in a big conference like the SEC or Big 12.  Now take that amount of pressure and stress and add to the equation that you are coaching at a school that has had enjoyed the highest level of success for the last 20 years.  Only until recently has Colorado taken a turn for the worse.

Enter Dan Hawkins.  He is a young and energetic coach that can light a fire under his players.  Coach Hawkins is a great motivator and one heck of a head coach on game days.  He has assembled a team of assistants that has taken a talented, underachieving team and turned them into a giant killer in less than 2 years.  This Colorado team may not be the most consistently good team, but if they give you their best shot you are in serious trouble.  Just ask Oklahoma.  Coach Hawkins would seem to be on top of the world right now.

Enter Cody Hawkins.  Cody is a good quarterback.  Cody seems to have a decent enough grasp on the offense and at times has shown brilliance at the position.  He is a sophomore and is a team leader on offense.  Cody is mature beyond his years and can be capable of leading a “big –time” college team throughout a season.

As a sophomore, is Cody that good?  Does he give his team the best chance to win this year?  I understand that by the time he is a senior, he should be considered one of the nation’s elite quarterbacks, but as a sophomore does he deserve to start?  

Did Coach Hawkins want to start his son?  What kinds of problems would it start at home if he didn’t?  Would his wife think that Dan was choosing the game of football or the Colorado program over her boy? 

Wouldn’t starting your son at quarterback hurt your recruiting efforts?  Why would a stud quarterback want to play for a coach that is playing his son at quarterback for the next 3 years?  What about the other quarterbacks on the team?  Are they getting a fair shot at starting?  What about the friends of the other quarterbacks?  Do they have a loyalty to their friends who are getting shafted by the coach and his son?

The situation does not make any sense to me that Coach Hawkins wants his son to play for him at this level.  Even if Cody is the best quarterback on the team, there will always be these kinds of morale killing questions by the media and players. 

I really want to hear some opinions on this matter.  Please let me know what you think.