THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Cody Hawkins era quickly taking flight at Idaho State

In two years, Cody Hawkins has Idaho State football to the point where the Bengals are no longer an automatic win on other teams’ schedules. 

After ISU went 1-10 in 2021 and ‘22, Hawkins was brought in from UC Davis, where he was offensive coordinator under his father, Dan.

Last year under Cody Hawkins, ISU finished 3-8, 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference. 

This year, the Bengals are 5-6, 3-4 heading into Saturday’s season finale vs. FCS playoff-bound Idaho (8-3, 5-2) at the sold-out ICCU Dome in Pocatello. 

“The most important thing in Year 1 is to learn your people and find out what you don’t know,” Hawkins said in July, and the Big Sky Football Kickoff in Airway Heights. “Year 2 is about trying to improve, and take advantage of the processes and relationships that are already in place. I have absolutely loved Pocatello and the community support so far, our team has done a fantastic job adapting and evolving, and we’ve had some really cool things administratively that have benefitted our school, so, just over the moon. Year 1 is just a lot of learning from players and coaches alike, and Year 2 is all like, let’s ramp it up, let’s go compete a little bit.” 

AND THE Bengals have, playing Big Sky-leading Montana State tough at home, and beating Sacramento State and Weber State. Hawkins points to the $30 million in improvements at the ICCU Dome, and just as important, support from the administration. 

“New seats, new presidents box, new press box,” Hawkins said. “Took out this caged storage area and made it a brand new meeting room, which is absolutely fantastic because we can host our recruits in there. If you were at Idaho State two years ago, and were to come now, you would not recognize the place. We got a new weight room, new meeting rooms, even new colors in the dome ... It used to look like a barn.” 

AFTER LAST season, Dan Hawkins announced his resignation from UC Davis. Cody knew during the season it was probably coming. The natural outside thought was, son goes back to place he coached before to replace dad, even if it was after only one season at ISU. 

Hawkins said he wasn’t interested. 

“To be honest, I don’t want to go back,” Cody Hawkins said. “Davis was an amazing part of my life, made a lot of fantastic relationships there, loved the town, married my wife there, had my kids there ... Davis is always going to hold a special place in my heart, but Davis is not my forever. My dad graduated from Davis; that’s his place. Tim Plough (who was hired as head coach) was made in a lab to coach at Davis, and I worked under Tim Plough when he was the offensive coordinator at Davis for my first three years, then I was coordinator for three years after he left, but Plough’s an alum, he knows all the donors. He’ll be brought to tears talking about how much Davis means to him.” 

It’s different for Cody, who starred at Bishop Kelly High in Boise before playing for his dad at Colorado. 

“For me, I get brought to tears talking about what the Treasure Valley and Boise meant to me growing up,” he said. “To see my high school coaches all the time, to see kids that I went to high school with coming to my games, That’s what’s special for me. And as much as I love my dad, at some point you have to do your own deal. I’ll work with him forever, I’ll love him forever, but this is a great opportunity for me to do my own deal, and it’s best for everyone involved what happened. 

“I went to Idaho State because I wanted to be at Idaho State, not because it was just A job. I thought it was the perfect environment of, opportunity to improve, proximity to home, really love the community and administration there, and to do something that I really wanted to do.” 

AS IT turned out, Cody Hawkins hired his dad, Dan, to the staff at Idaho State prior to this season.  

Dan Hawkins is director of player and staff development at ISU. He’s a “floater,” Cody said, not tied to one particular duty.  

Cody noted that he lost two defensive line coaches to other Big Sky schools who nearly doubled their salaries, showing how little ISU is able to pay at this point.  

“So, being able to get that kind of experience on staff is super valuable for us,” Cody said. “Because we have a lot of young coaches who are extremely competent, but there’s no replacement for experience and wisdom. And being able to have him around, he’s not tied to a position group, so he can leave to recruit, he can leave to talk to boosters, he can go hang out with my extended family. He wants to be a grandpa, and he wants to be a husband. But he also loves football and wants to be involved in what we do, and this is a way to make it compliant, but also give him a role where he can do what he does best, and that’s mentor the people in our program.” 

ISU MAKES no bones about it. The Bengals are a passing team.  

They threw for 3,634 yards in 2023, compared to 944 rushing yards. This year, with an increased emphasis on the run game, ISU has thrown for 3,319 yards and run for 1,592. 

“In Year 1, let’s be really good at something,” Hawkins decided. “And Montana and Montana State, and Idaho and Weber, all the schools around us, are running the ball. So, we want to zig when they zag. It doesn’t mean those schools are one-dimensional, but for us to be able to get good at something right away, it was easier to choose passing, because we’ve got a dome, and we’re not competing for the same types of players in that offense.  

But yeah, we have to be more physical and be able to run the ball, and you’ll see more of that from us, use the pass to set up the run, but we’re going to take what defenses give us.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.