Hawkins was the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for five games in 2013 before he was fired mid-season.

In 1993, Hawkins became the head coach at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and led the Bearcats to a 40–11–1 overall record (.779) in five seasons.

Hawkins moved up to NCAA Division I-A football at Boise State in 1998 as an assistant under first-year head coach Dirk Koetter.

Only Walter Camp, George Washington Woodruff and Bob Pruett had more total wins in their first five years of head coaching.

"[7] Prior to the 2009 season, Hawkins, under fire for his performance at Colorado thus far, publicly pledged "ten wins no excuses".

[8] While still nursing that large lead in the fourth quarter, Hawkins continued to have his team throw the ball on offense instead of running it, allowing Kansas time to mount its comeback.

[9] After the Kansas loss, Hawkins was criticized for cutting his contractually-obligated post-game interview with radio station KOA short after just two questions and 27 seconds.

After the interviewer asked him why Colorado didn't run the ball more to protect their shrinking lead, he dismissively replied, "We were playing football moving it both ways.

[13] Hawkins coached the 2015 United States national American football team at the 2015 IFAF World Championship to a gold medal.

[14] In 2015, Hawkins served as offensive coordinator for Carlstad Crusaders in the Swedish Superserien winning the national title and European Champions League.

He had been slated to serve as offensive coordinator at Florida International under Butch Davis when he was offered the position with the Aggies.

They are the parents of four grown children, daughters Ashley and Brittany, and sons Cody[18] and Drew, former Boise state quarterback.