‘We’re all on the same level’: Big Sky coaches, players emphasize positive culture in wake of Northwestern hazing scandal

Last month, sitting between two of UC Davis’ All-Big Sky first-team selections from the 2022 season, Dan Hawkins told a series of anecdotes that had everything and nothing to do with winning football games – and nothing to do with conference realignment.

One was about a nice note he got from a player on the team who was expressing his appreciation for the amount of attention and time afforded to everyone on the team, regardless of whether they were the best player or the worst player.

Another was about a conversation he heard between a freshman and a parent this summer, in which the parent was telling their son that he would need to prove himself and earn the respect of the upperclassmen. He offered a correction.

“That’s not what we do,” Hawkins said, retelling the story during Big Sky media day in late July at Northern Quest Resort & Casino. “When guys come in, guys mentor (them). We have a bigger picture in mind at Davis.”

It’s not a “holier-than-thou” attitude, said Hawkins, whose six-year tenure at Davis follows other stretches as the head coach at Colorado (2006-2010) and Boise State (2001-2005). Rather, it’s that “we have a bigger picture in mind at Davis.”

“We want to be the best version of ourselves,” Hawkins said, “and we’re trying to do that as well as we can, and so we’re going to try to support each other. We want everybody to have an environment where they can be that, whatever that is. Whatever that is.”

And so, when a month ago news broke of hazing allegations in the Northwestern football program – allegations that led to the dismissal of longtime football coach Pat Fitzgerald and the filing of a series of lawsuits against the program – Hawkins sent out a note to the UC Davis team, an acknowledgment that Davis is different.

Miles Hastings, the All-Big Sky quarterback who was sitting to Hawkins’ right, said when he heard the allegations he was shocked.

“I think that’s just because I’ve been at Davis so long, I couldn’t even imagine some of that stuff happening,” the junior said. “It’s sad to hear.”

Those were sentiments expressed again and again by Big Sky players and coaches at the event. They reiterated their programs’ no-tolerance policies toward hazing, saying that such actions have no place in a football program. All of those programs are now into preseason practices in advance of season openers at the end of August and beginning of September.

But they also recognized that head coaches and players share responsibility for ensuring that the environment of their program simply makes such actions incompatible and unacceptable.

“It’s unfortunate if people did have to go through that, and we definitely don’t want that in our program,” said Andy Thompson, Sacramento State’s first-year head coach who for the previous four seasons was the team’s defensive coordinator. “So you have to work at it. You have to talk about it.”

‘Competition is second’

One of the most difficult places to win games in the past three decades of Big Sky football has been Pocatello, Idaho. Just five times since 1993 have the Idaho State Bengals won more conference games than they lost, and the most recent time they did so was in 2018.

This season they will be coached by first-year head coach Cody Hawkins, the son of Dan Hawkins. He was on the UC Davis staff for the past five years.

As he settled into his job at Idaho State, Hawkins wrote his cellphone number on his board so that all players could see it and have it and reach out directly to him whenever they want. If a water fountain isn’t working, Hawkins wants to know about it.

“I know it would be easier if no one was talking to me, but I don’t want to run that kind of program,” Hawkins said, “and I don’t think our kids want to be a part of that program.”

It is all part of how Hawkins is working to create an environment and culture that everyone in the community can be proud of.

“Competition is second, and I want to be really good at competing,” he said. “I want to win and get better. But we’ve got to treat people really well because when everybody feels proud of what we’re doing, and everybody feels like they have a hand in success, they’ll be better off for it.”

ISU senior offensive lineman Mike Davis made clear that there was no room in that culture for actions that could be perceived as hierarchical.

“There’s no hazing going on,” Davis said. “There’s no, ‘Hey freshman, carry my bags.’ ”

Bengals defensive back Calvin Pitcher agreed.

“I go about it myself treating the incoming freshmen the same way as I treat the sixth-year senior,” Pitcher said. “We’re all on the same level. We’re all even.”

What is alleged at Northwestern involves hazing and sexual abuse. When he fired Fitzgerald, Northwestern President Michael Schill said the head coach failed “to know and prevent significant hazing in the football program.”

Big Sky coaches and players consistently said that in their own programs the role of the head coach is crucial to fostering a positive environment.

“It starts with the coaches, from the top down,” Portland State senior linebacker Isaiah Henry said. “From Day One, coach (Bruce) Barnum creates an environment where you feel welcome. It feels like a family. I think that’s where it starts. We’re all people, so you have to connect on a personal level before you can expect things from people.”

Barnum has been Portland State’s head coach since 2015, when he led the Vikings to their best overall record (9-3) in their 26 seasons in the Big Sky. He’s 59 years old, though, and he admitted that while the coaches get older, the guys “always come in as 18.”

That can create some challenges, but he said that can’t be an excuse for not connecting with players and not knowing what’s going on.

“You better know what’s going on. You better have an ear to it,” Barnum said. “I probably do it by getting to know them a little bit more than maybe another head coach, but you have to know what’s going on down there.”

Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best said he too leans on those connections with players. It’s about being intentional, too.

“I like to be in their space, and they’ll snicker sometimes,” Best said. “(You have) to know the guys, to check in, and it’s harder as a head coach to do that because you have so many other things, so I have to lean on the assistants, the coordinators, lean on the captains. All of that is relationship-based.

“But if all of a sudden someone says, ‘You don’t know,’ don’t tell me you have a bad memory. Memory is a choice. If it matters to you, you will remember.”

In that way, Best said, he has to be in the locker room and in position meetings. He has to be deeply connected to his team.

Presence matters

Similar to Cody Hawkins, Ed Lamb this offseason took over a program that has struggled to succeed in the Big Sky.

Northern Colorado has yet to finish with a winning conference record since it joined the Big Sky in 2006. In each of the past five full seasons, Northern Colorado has finished 2-6.

That’s not the challenge of Thompson at Sacramento State, which went 12-1 last year, or of first-year head coach Mickey Mental at Weber State, which finished 10-3 a year ago.

Lamb sees his role at Northern Colorado as that of a steward, and that requires sacrifices. One of those is that he doesn’t leave campus when school is in session, which means he’s not on the road recruiting as much as he could be.

“I don’t have a support staff of 25 guys that are keeping an eye on our players and what’s going on,” Lamb said. “I think the way the NCAA characterizes it by rule is that coaches should have known, either knew of the infraction or should have. I buy that.

“I should know what’s going on, and I want to be present. I want to be with our players every minute that I can.”

Lamb said he still respects their personal time and recognizes that there are other things in their lives besides football. But at the same time, he said, “We’re here representing more than just ourselves.”

That doesn’t mean coaches need or can craft a policy that will cover every possible infraction. That would be impossible, Montana coach Bobby Hauck said.

But there are ways in which coaches can intentionally foster an environment that doesn’t allow for the sorts of infractions alleged at Northwestern, both by setting clear expectations and then holding players to those expectations.

“We’re with them every day, and guys know what’s expected of them,” Hauck said. “It doesn’t mean they’re always going to do it right. We don’t control that, but we control how we hold them accountable.”

Hauck said he never understood why older players would razz younger players.

“To me, it’s just small-minded and petty,” he said.

‘A humbling experience’

Dante Chachere became Portland State’s starting quarterback last year as a sophomore, when he threw for 1,956 yards and 19 touchdowns while also leading the team in rushing (609 yards and seven touchdowns).

When he hears of hazing allegations, at Northwestern or elsewhere, his first reaction is disbelief.

“It’s kind of weird at first, because how can this happen if you have a core in that program?” he said. “You have to sit back and think, ‘How do the main people who’ve been in the program let it happen?’ ”

Henry, Chachere’s teammate, said hazing is 100% preventable.

“If we’re all being decent people, that shouldn’t happen,” Henry said. “Just being accountable and responsible, none of that should happen.”

Being a star athlete comes with a certain air of entitlement, a special elevation that players feel from even a young age. At Clovis West High School in Fresno, California, Chachere was team MVP and first-team all-league his senior year. Henry was similarly recognized as a senior at Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, California.

But when he got to Portland State in 2018, Henry wasn’t starting when the Vikings played at Oregon in Week 2. He redshirted and didn’t play a single down in that game.

“Going into college, you’re 18, you’re coming from high school. You’re the man,” said Henry, whose Portland State team opens this season Sept. 2 at Oregon. “Everyone in this room was the man at their high school. It’s a humbling experience. It’s lowering yourself, fitting into a program, fitting into a broader objective, broader goals.”

That is one recognition – of the whole being greater than the self – echoed by a number of players across the Big Sky. Montana redshirt senior AJ Forbes, an offensive lineman, said it can be even more of a challenge for transfer players, who are more plentiful now.

“The best advice for someone going through the (transfer) experience is to truly buy into the culture that you’re choosing to be a part of,” Forbes said. “I think a lot of guys struggle when they choose to transfer and they go to their new school and they try to fight everything. They don’t try to acclimate to the situation; they try to bring everything that they’re trying to get away from to the place that they’re at.”

Turnover or infighting among coaches and players can certainly seed unhealthy environments, as some players pointed out. Coaching changes can lead to drastic shifts, too.

Many Big Sky institutions are located in smaller cities (like Idaho in Moscow or Northern Arizona in Flagstaff) or are adjacent to – but separate from – larger communities, in the way that Cheney regards Spokane. In those places, college athletes still carry some elevated level of recognition.

Darrien Sampson was aware of that perhaps earlier than other athletes. The son of a coach and a star player on his Rainier Beach High School team in Seattle, the Eastern Washington senior cornerback said he knew he needed to set an example for his teammates in high school.

“I feel like that’s one of the big things coaches saw in me (in recruiting) is they didn’t have to worry about me messing around or being off the loop,” he said. “I was locked in from Day One.”

Best agreed that those personal choices are a part of the decision as to how far to pursue a recruit.

“Certainly, social decisions, academic decisions, family decisions, friend decisions that happen in high school factor into who they’re going to be because we want the total package,” Best said. “We don’t want the player; we want the package. We can help make them become a grown man, but they have to want to become a grown man, and some guys fight that.”

Part of that maturation process is the awareness that people are going to be watching you, especially at a place like Montana State in Bozeman, senior linebacker Nolan Askelson said.

“People look up to you whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not,” Askelson said. “You’ve got to live out the core values.”

Those core values vary from program to program but generally include words like character, integrity, toughness and team.

Part of preventing situations like those at Northwestern from occurring is to make such actions incompatible with the conditions of the environment. That includes recruiting players who buy into the team’s culture and for players to recognize their need to be above reproach in their actions and words.

It also includes accountability from the top down, with coaches talking about – and acting to uphold – the importance of treating everyone in the program and community with dignity.

Northwestern’s football program seemed to have many of these policies in place. Mike Hankwitz, the Wildcats’ defensive coordinator under Fitzgerald from 2008 to 2020, detailed on social media recently an 11-point breakdown of the processes the program had in place to prevent hazing from happening. Many of those points align with those mentioned by Big Sky coaches.

Still, the Northwestern program is facing allegations of hazing and abuse.

For Best, fostering an environment impervious to hazing comes down to seeing every EWU football player for the significant person that he is.

“It’s not a senior, junior, sophomore, freshman,” he said. “These are people, people, people, people. These are somebody’s son. Somebody’s brother. Somebody’s friend. It’s very important to us, but it’s through our actions. If it never starts, you don’t have to put an end to it.”