Gary Barnett first burst on the coaching scene when he led Northwestern to the Rose Bowl after winning the Big Ten in 1995, and then left the program a few years later to take over at Colorado. While in Boulder, Barnett's Buffaloes won the Big 12 in 2001 and won the Big 12 North four times in his seven seasons, even though they only went 34-22 in conference play.So Barnett has a pretty good idea of what it takes to win in Boulder, and how hard of a task that is. He was on ESPN 1600 in Denver on Thursday to talk about coaching at Colorado, and he didn't really try to temper his feelings about the situation.
“There’s a disconnect between what it takes to compete at that level and what’s being done," Barnett said when asked about the difference between the expectations at Colorado, and the commitment the school puts into the football program. "I think what happens is nationally, on the outside, people perceive CU and Boulder to be like it is in Oklahoma, like it is in Nebraska, like it is in places where we have defeated programs and played for National Championships and played for league championships. And in reality, we’ve scratched along and found a way to be competitive on those levels without having that same sort of culture and environment that other people have. And as long as that culture and environment doesn’t change and remains the same, then it’s going to be a constant scratch and claw.
"Yeah, there’s a disconnect between those that want and what the university is willing to do. And as long as it stays that way, there’s going to be this constant set of expectations that are unrealistic for any coach that goes in there. And that’s what’s really hard – on the outside the expectations are one thing, on the inside the expectations are something else. But you only hear the ones on the outside, and those end up being negative when the job gets harder to do and more complicated to do than you can perform or accomplish.”
Barnett then went on to give an example of the school's commitment, particularly when it comes to putting a coaching staff together, and trying to keep it together.
“Well it’s not challenging getting those coaches here, but once they get here and realize the expectations that are put upon them and the resources that they actually have, and then they’re on a month-to-month contract…they’re not even on a year-to-year contract, they’re on a month-to-month…so they have absolutely no security.
"And then what happens is they get persuaded to go to other places with two and three year contracts. It just makes it difficult to maintain a staff. It’s not hard to get them there, it’s hard to maintain it once they’re there and realize the complications of the job there.”
In other words, you're expected to win at Colorado, and the school expects you to win, but the school doesn't do much to help you do it. These are words that any head coach who is considering taking over at Colorado should probably want to consider before making any commitment to the school.
I mean, seriously, month-to-month contracts? It's like they're hiring freelance coaches.
Obviously, if what Barnett said is true, then Colorado needs to make a lot of changes if it wants to contend in the newly formed Pac-12 next season.
