Football is still the Hawkins family business.

Now, it’s the son, Cody, in the big chair, while dad, Dan, is the most overqualified college special teams coach and Boise-area junior high football coach in America.

That’s right. The first father-son, coach-quarterback duo at Colorado (before Deion and Shedeur Sanders made it cool again a few years ago) still shares the same sideline. Cody is in year four as the head coach at FCS Idaho State after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant to Dan at UC Davis.

Hawkins and the Bengals last week delivered one of the biggest upsets in the country, getting paid $400,000 to knock off Utah State by a score of 29-17 in the latter’s first game as a member of the Pac-12. Idaho State was a two-touchdown underdog and hadn’t beaten an FBS team in nearly a decade.

“To be honest, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Hawkins told The Denver Gazette. “I mean, it was nice to finish the job, but we had the lead against UNLV and New Mexico in both fourth quarters last year when we played them and they both tied for first in the Mountain West. So, honestly, for us, it was more of like a, ‘Well, finally.’ 

“We’ve been knocking at the doorstep for a while now, so it was nice to break through and do that. Anytime you can do something locally of significance, which I would say there’re probably just as many Utah State bumper stickers in Pocatello as there are Idaho State bumper stickers, it was nice to put that feather in the cap, for sure.”

Hawkins, who says he still loves the Buffs and misses his time in Boulder despite his dad being fired near the end of his senior season, is being humble. But that win was a big deal. So is the steady climb the Bengals have taken since he was hired in 2023, which followed back-to-back one-win seasons in Pocatello.

After winning three games in year one, including a 50-point loss at Utah State, Idaho State has improved its win total each season, going 6-6 in 2025 to snap a six-year run of losing seasons. It was just the third time in over 20 years the program didn’t have a losing record.

The struggles aren’t only in the 21st century, either. The last coach to leave with a winning record was Dave Kragthorpe, who delivered the program’s only FCS national championship in 1981. The Bengals have just one Big Sky title since, and that was shared with Montana and Montana State.

That didn’t stop Hawkins from believing things could change. He had no real connection to the program other than growing up 4 hours away in Boise, where his decorated high school career ended with back-to-back state championships in Pocatello.

“I just think I’m kind of at the forefront of a lot of awesome other things happening both with the community and the administration,” Hawkins said. “Post-COVID, Idaho has really blown up and I tell everybody Idaho hasn’t been the fastest-growing state in America because it sucks. Like there’s a lot of other cool stuff going on here.”

At the university, specifically, Hawkins is quick to point out athletic director Pauline Thiros and former president Kevin Satterlee as helping deliver necessary improvements. One is a full-time strength and conditioning coach for the football team, who happens to be Hawkins’ strength coach from his days at CU, Jeff Pitman.

That, plus a multiyear contract for a defensive coordinator and finally using the full allotment of scholarships at the FCS level, has shown Hawkins that Idaho State is, maybe for the first time, ready to do what it takes to win on the gridiron.

“It is an administrative choice to have a bad football team because it ain’t that hard,” Hawkins said. “Now it is a little bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. You can choose to wait for the team to win to support them, but there’s no team that supports the heck out of their team that absolutely is terrible.

“I’m not saying being successful is easy, but it’s not complicated. You have to support it. You have to put the right people in the place and help them out.”

Hawkins looks like the right person to lead the way. He has the Bengals at 2-0 against Division I opponents for the first time since 1995. They have a chance to challenge the historic powers at the top of the Big Sky. But winning games at all costs and quickly climbing the coaching ladder is not what Hawkins is all about — maybe the biggest lesson he learned from his dad.

“I feel like my dad was the greatest role model ever because he sacrificed a lot to climb and climb the ladder,” Hawkins said. “He was a guy who was a first-generation college student. He knew nobody in the coaching business. He coached offense, defense, special teams, kind of climbing to make the ladder, and he busted his ass. But he never, ever sacrificed family and I’ve told people that the two greatest blessings in my life are the family I was born into and the family I’m creating with my wife and my three kids. 

“I’m not an idiot. I love football, but no game I ever win is gonna be as cool as getting carried off the field after beating Oklahoma (with the Buffs). I coached at Ohio State and while I learned a lot, I was miserable. All I was doing was trying to win and obviously Urban (Meyer) is super successful and he’s a great guy, but there are a lot of ways to be a salesman, there are a lot of ways to be a coach, there are a lot of ways to be a police officer and I think how you do everything is more important than what you’re doing.”

That’s why you might not find a head coach in America having more fun than Hawkins. When they played at San Diego State three years ago, the whole team jumped in the ocean. A year later they went on a waterfall hike in Oregon. Each time they visit Southern Utah, the team takes a trip to Zion National Park.

“I want football to be more than football. If it’s just football, we’re screwing the young men on our team,” Hawkins said. “Now, that’s not the case everywhere because LSU just beat the brakes off of Clemson and they talked about how they’re all business. Well, that’s fine. That works at LSU. There’s a lot of stuff at Idaho State that hasn’t worked. There’s a lot of stuff that people have tried and people were miserable here.”

What Hawkins is doing now is working and he’s loving it, because he’s seeing progress. And that’s all he really cares about.

“My process is all about getting better as men, getting better as a team, getting better as a program, administratively,” Hawkins said. “That’s what gets me up… and that’s why I’m not the right fit (at) some places, but you know what? There are a lot of guys who’ve been all about winning who’ve gotten their ass kicked at Idaho State, and we’re not gonna get our ass kicked anymore.”

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5 Games to Watch

Oklahoma State vs. No. 6 Oregon (10 a.m. ESPN)

After getting beat badly on the road at Tulsa to open the Eric Morris era, the Cowboys now welcome the big, bad Ducks to Stillwater. All that talent Morris brought with him from North Texas, most notably QB Drew Mestemaker, didn’t amount to much last week. Oregon will be looking to make a statement after struggling in the first half before pulling away from Boise State in the first quarter. 

King’s pick: Oregon -23.5

No. 10 Texas A&M vs. Arizona State (10 a.m. ABC)

Kenny Dillingham and the Sun Devils lost on the road to an SEC team a year ago and will be looking to right that wrong in front of 100,000-plus at Kyle Field. The new-look ASU offense put up 70 points on Morgan State, but this is the program’s toughest game since the Peach Bowl loss to Texas in 2024. 

King’s pick: Arizona State +14.5

Michigan vs. No. 11 Oklahoma (10 a.m. FOX)

The Wolverines’ controversial win over Western Michigan is going to stand, as much as America wants that not to be true. But that won’t help Kyle Whittingham’s team as the Sooners come to Ann Arbor. If you think $12 million quarterback Bryce Underwood looked bad against the defending MAC champions, how do you think he’ll fare against Brent Venables and arguably the best defense in the country?

King’s pick: Oklahoma -5.5

No. 15 BYU vs. Arizona (1:30 p.m. FOX)

A sneaky-awesome game that might define the first weeks of the Big 12, and the Cougars feel destined to get over the hump and into the playoff this season. But they’ll have to beat a talented Wildcats team, led by veteran QB Noah Fifita, to do so. Arizona will be looking to prove the list of contenders in the conference is longer than just BYU and Texas Tech.

King’s pick: BYU -7.5

No. 4 Texas vs. No. 1 Ohio State (5:30 p.m. ABC)

They don’t get much bigger than this. As these two juggernauts meet for a second-straight season, once again the road team comes in as the No. 1 team in the AP top 25. Will that matter? But Arch Manning will be looking to avenge his clunker in Columbus last year and lead a star-studded Longhorns roster to victory on what will be a scorching-hot night in Austin.

King’s pick: Texas -1.5

King’s YTD record ATS: 5-0

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King’s Top 5 Heisman Candidates

1. Malachi Toney, WR, Miami

Toney was the only non-quarterback included on my preseason Heisman list for a reason, and it was hard to even find an apt comparison as he torched Stanford for 12 catches, 234 receiving yards and three touchdowns last Friday. Not even NFL draft eligible until 2028, Toney might be the best one-man show in college football, especially with talented QB Darian Mensah eager to get him the ball at every opportunity.

2. Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State

Hat tip to Max Olson on the ESPN “College GameDay” podcast for first mentioning this, but we could be in for a McGwire-Sosa style season between Toney and Smith (8 catches for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns vs. Ball State), with both putting up jaw-dropping numbers and highlight-reel touchdowns every Saturday. These two wideouts are electric and might put on a show in a way we’ve never seen before. 

3. Dante Moore, QB, Oregon

After a lackluster first half, Moore and the Ducks offense scored points on its first five possessions of the second half in a comeback win over Boise State in Eugene. In that second half, Moore looked like the player who many thought could’ve been the No. 1 pick in this past year’s NFL draft, had he declared, finishing the game with nearly 400 passing yards and three touchdowns while completing over 75% of his throws. 

4. Kevin Jennings, QB, SMU

A power outage inside Doak Walker Stadium couldn’t stop Jennings’ electric performance Monday night as he shook off two interceptions to finish with 430 passing yards and three touchdowns to go with 33 rushing yards as the Mustangs picked up an important win at Florida State to begin a 2026 season with playoff expectations. 

5. Lamont Lester, DE, Colorado

Only three players in the country had three sacks last week and only one did it against an FBS team, let alone on the road at a Power 4 opponent. Lester, a Monmouth transfer who tore up the FCS last season, made an instant impact on the Buffaloes defense, grabbing all three of the team’s sacks in a dominant defensive effort that paved the way for a 14-13 win to kick off year four of the Coach Prime era.