Alouettes Hire Hawkins To Be HC

- Montreal Alouettes owner Bob Wetenhall and team General Manager Jim Popp announced on Tuesday that Dan Hawkins will become the club’s 20th head coach.

Hawkins arrives in Montreal following a long and successful career in the U.S. college ranks, including an impressive 112-61-1 combined record as a head coach at the college level, including stints with both Boise State and the University of Colorado.

“I am delighted to welcome Dan Hawkins to the Alouettes family as our new head coach,” said Wetenhall. “Dan comes to us with a distinguished coaching career in major US college football. Dan is especially well known in his profession for the contributions he made to the personal lives of his players as beyond just the science of football, he's by nature a teacher and an unusually fine human being.”

“During our selection process we have had extensive interviews with many fine candidates with an emphasis on candidates from Quebec, the rest of Canada and both the professional and college coaching ranks in the US,” continued the Alouettes owner. At the end of this process, it became clear to us that Dan was the best candidate at this time in the Alouettes history. We are looking ahead to his continuing the tradition of the Alouettes' success. Dan very well understands my three goals for the franchise, to institutionalize the Alouettes in Montreal, to make meaningful contributions to the community we serve and to win football games.

The 52-year-old got his first taste of the CFL last winter as a guest coach with the Alouettes, working with the team’s coaching staff during the offseason meetings while also getting familiarized with the Alouettes roster. He signed a three-year deal.

“We welcome Dan, his wife Misti, and their family to the Montreal Alouettes family,” said Popp. “Dan Hawkins is a successful, passionate football coach with a great ability to communicate and motivate the players, coaches, and all who are surrounding him. We welcome his talents to lead our football team in the class room, on the field, and in the community.”

Hawkins burst onto the coaching scene with Boise State where he compiled a 53-11 record (.828) over his five seasons, leading the Broncos to victories in the Humanitarian Bowl (2002) and the Fort Worth Bowl (2003).

In the process of leading Boise State to four-straight Western Athletic Conference titles from 2002 to 2005, Hawkins also guided the Broncos to an incredible 31-consecutive wins over conference opponents, while his 53 wins to start his NCAA Division 1 coaching career rank him fourth all-time in the modern era for wins by a rookie coach over their first five seasons. Known for his explosive offences, Hawkins led Boise State to three 500-plus point seasons, including one 602-point campaign.

Prior to coaching at Boise State, Hawkins led the Williamette University Bearcats to 40-11-1 record in four seasons as their head coach, bringing the team to the NCAA Division II National Championship game in 1997. Prior to that, he was defensive coordinator at Sonoma State University for one season after three years as offensive coordinator at the College of the Siskiyous. The last two seasons he served as an analyst on ESPN following five years as head coach at the University of Colorado.