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Karl Dorrell officially named Colorado HC

After giving it some thought...

For 13 consecutive coaching carousels KD has been a position coach (save one year at OC at perennial powerhouse Vandy). What does that tell you? No one, except CU, was ever going to hire him as HC. I know, everyone else is dumb and RG is brilliant. Besides, KD was just biding his time for his dream job.:rolleyes:

This is/was a desperation hire. It is probably Embree 2.0. I sincerely hope not, but that is what I am expecting.

If KD is his own OC look out. For most of the time he has been in the NFL. We will likely see the WCO. The WCo doesn't work in CFB. WCO concepts can, but the WCO is too complicated to implement with the practice lmits in CFB. Expect to hear "We are going to simplify the offense" and the always popular "we need to execute" ad nauseum if the WCO is the base offense.

Successful CFB teams do not score TD's on 15 play 60 yard drives. They score on 5 play 60 yard drives. The WCo dinks and dunks its way down the field. Remember Shawn Watson's O? Get ready for more, most likely. Don't believe me? 4 out of 5 of the highest yds. per play were the 4 CFP teams. They break big plays, they do not dink and dunk down the field.

Don't even get me started on the D.

I really, really hope I am wrong. But this is not a good hire.
We all hope you’re wrong.
 
After giving it some thought...

For 13 consecutive coaching carousels KD has been a position coach (save one year at OC at perennial powerhouse Vandy). What does that tell you? No one, except CU, was ever going to hire him as HC. I know, everyone else is dumb and RG is brilliant. Besides, KD was just biding his time for his dream job.:rolleyes:

This is/was a desperation hire. It is probably Embree 2.0. I sincerely hope not, but that is what I am expecting.

If KD is his own OC look out. For most of the time he has been in the NFL. We will likely see the WCO. The WCo doesn't work in CFB. WCO concepts can, but the WCO is too complicated to implement with the practice lmits in CFB. Expect to hear "We are going to simplify the offense" and the always popular "we need to execute" ad nauseum if the WCO is the base offense.

Successful CFB teams do not score TD's on 15 play 60 yard drives. They score on 5 play 60 yard drives. The WCo dinks and dunks its way down the field. Remember Shawn Watson's O? Get ready for more, most likely. Don't believe me? 4 out of 5 of the highest yds. per play were the 4 CFP teams. They break big plays, they do not dink and dunk down the field.

Don't even get me started on the D.

I really, really hope I am wrong. But this is not a good hire.
Embree was never anything but a position coach while Dorrell has been a head coach, but whatever. This all depends on assistants, hope he does well there.
 
After giving it some thought...

For 13 consecutive coaching carousels KD has been a position coach (save one year at OC at perennial powerhouse Vandy). What does that tell you? No one, except CU, was ever going to hire him as HC. I know, everyone else is dumb and RG is brilliant. Besides, KD was just biding his time for his dream job.:rolleyes:

This is/was a desperation hire. It is probably Embree 2.0. I sincerely hope not, but that is what I am expecting.

If KD is his own OC look out. For most of the time he has been in the NFL. We will likely see the WCO. The WCo doesn't work in CFB. WCO concepts can, but the WCO is too complicated to implement with the practice lmits in CFB. Expect to hear "We are going to simplify the offense" and the always popular "we need to execute" ad nauseum if the WCO is the base offense.

Successful CFB teams do not score TD's on 15 play 60 yard drives. They score on 5 play 60 yard drives. The WCo dinks and dunks its way down the field. Remember Shawn Watson's O? Get ready for more, most likely. Don't believe me? 4 out of 5 of the highest yds. per play were the 4 CFP teams. They break big plays, they do not dink and dunk down the field.

Don't even get me started on the D.

I really, really hope I am wrong. But this is not a good hire.

You're definitely not wrong, especially at the nobody else was about to hire Dorrell. Ouch. Seems to me RG really placed an emphasis this time around on getting a guy with prior HC experience, not sure why.

My hope is he knows the west coast offense isn't the key in college and hires a real OC. Miami wasn't running anything resembling the west coast last year, so hopefully he's over it.

That's really all I got. Short of knocking it out of the park with assistants, I think this dude is a 6-6 machine. Hopefully he hires his own successor with some random coordinator and once we're tired of hovering the 6 win line we move onto that guy.
 
You're definitely not wrong, especially at the nobody else was about to hire Dorrell. Ouch. Seems to me RG really placed an emphasis this time around on getting a guy with prior HC experience, not sure why.

My hope is he knows the west coast offense isn't the key in college and hires a real OC. Miami wasn't running anything resembling the west coast last year, so hopefully he's over it.

That's really all I got. Short of knocking it out of the park with assistants, I think this dude is a 6-6 machine. Hopefully he hires his own successor with some random coordinator and once we're tired of hovering the 6 win line we move onto that guy.

He got to five bowls in five years at UCLA-if he does that here, he can coach CU as long as he likes.
 
I think Dorrell will be very capable of limiting attrition and at least has a shot to maintain the current ’momentum‘ of the program. Who he can bring in for OL and DL coaches and their ability to recruit legit P5-sized athletes will be the key.
 
FWIW, on Reddit r/CFB there have been some rumblings about Ronnie Bradford joining KD's staff as a DB coach. Was last at USC not that long ago IIRC. I wasn't wowed by the hire of KD but hopefully, his connections are better than Mr. Integrity's and he brings in a slew of strong recruiters/position coaches.
 
After giving it some thought...

For 13 consecutive coaching carousels KD has been a position coach (save one year at OC at perennial powerhouse Vandy). What does that tell you? No one, except CU, was ever going to hire him as HC. I know, everyone else is dumb and RG is brilliant. Besides, KD was just biding his time for his dream job.:rolleyes:

This is/was a desperation hire. It is probably Embree 2.0. I sincerely hope not, but that is what I am expecting.

If KD is his own OC look out. For most of the time he has been in the NFL. We will likely see the WCO. The WCo doesn't work in CFB. WCO concepts can, but the WCO is too complicated to implement with the practice lmits in CFB. Expect to hear "We are going to simplify the offense" and the always popular "we need to execute" ad nauseum if the WCO is the base offense.

Successful CFB teams do not score TD's on 15 play 60 yard drives. They score on 5 play 60 yard drives. The WCo dinks and dunks its way down the field. Remember Shawn Watson's O? Get ready for more, most likely. Don't believe me? 4 out of 5 of the highest yds. per play were the 4 CFP teams. They break big plays, they do not dink and dunk down the field.

Don't even get me started on the D.

I really, really hope I am wrong. But this is not a good hire.
That's pretty much how I feel at this point. This is a hire where you're pretty much hoping we get MacIntyre results, maybe catch lightning in a bottle one season, but the rest you're praying the team somehow wins six games. He'll probably be here three or four seasons before he's fired and we're right back in the same place trying to find another coach that'll take a chance on a **** team with little to sell. This is the type of hire that resets the timeline of competing for anything of relevance another six years at least.

And god forbid Summers and Chev wind up as coordinators. That happens CU is going to struggle to top three wins this coming season. Those type of hires and I'll expect complete and utter humiliation in Fort Collins to open the season.
 
IMO - Dorrell checks about 90% of the boxes on my list, except for (perhaps) recruiting, name recognition, and recent college success.

The Good: He is dynamic enough to be good in front of donors and boosters. I'm confident he's organized, and will be a good leader for the team. He knows how to run a program, having done it before. He'll prioritize teaching/coaching. Former players and coaches he's worked with have said the team will love him. He should have a fantastic rolodex to fill out the assistant coaching staff.

I don't see him getting us to BCS playoff status, but outside of Sark I don't think there was a single candidate available to us that fit that bill. At this point, I'd be thrilled with a coach that can put us in bowl games more often than not for the next 4-5 years, stuff the roster with great recruits, and set us up for future success.

I'm looking forward to seeing how he hires, and especially how he recruits over the next year. I loved MT's confidence in going after top recruits. I hope that doesn't change under Dorrell.
 
To state the obvious, nobody can really anticipate what Dorrell's record will be at CU.

I am heartened that RG didn't go with the CFB churn chart this time. The coaches and agents that position men to be CFB head coaches have their own motivations, and those motivations don't necessarily coincide with CU's. Dorrell obviously wasn't part of that system--this doesn't mean he's not a better candidate than those who are.

Tucker was a product of that system, and the Buffs underperformed on the field last season. As for recruiting, it wan't great, either. Was it trending up under Tucker? Who can say? If so, likely the focus and increased staffing relative to recruiting played a large part. That can be continued/replicated, though Dorrell will have to learn what recruiting looks like today.
 
Tell me, what qualifications does EB and Walters have that Dorrell doesn’t? Only thing I really see is age, but Dorrell has proven a lot more and has a lot more experience than those guys. All I ask is people to give it a chance, you don’t have to like the hire, give the man a ****ing chance.
 
Tell me, what qualifications does EB and Walters have that Dorrell doesn’t? Only thing I really see is age, but Dorrell has proven a lot more and has a lot more experience than those guys. All I ask is people to give it a chance, you don’t have to like the hire, give the man a ****ing chance.
I think most of us are fine giving it a chance, but you also need to understand that some of us are going to express their disappointment and overall curiosity about the hire.
And to answer your first question, EB just won the Super Bowl as the OC for the most high powered offense in the NFL. EBs career trajectory is sky rocketing. That is vastly different than the situation from which we plucked Dorrell.
I hope KD makes me look like a fool, but some of you seem unwilling to even question this decision by RG.
 
I’m reserving judgment until the assistant coaching staff is filled out.

To recap the search, I think CU found the following:
1. No current power 5 head coach was going to jump. CU does not have the extra $20 million per year that Big Ten schools have to overpay.
2. Eric Bieniemy wanted to stay in the NFL
3. Little interest from prominent coordinators in college, with Sarkisian being the noted exception. CU made a good offer, a very rich Alabama made a better counteroffer in Sark’s eyes. Avalos had no interest according to reports. Not much about Grinch, but I think that’s the case with him too. He’ll stay at OU and leverage that for a job in the eastern half of the country.
4. CU kicked around lots of retreads and non power five coaches because it had to. Long looks were given to Bielema, Mora, and Calhoun for sure, and probably others like McElwain, perhaps Blake Anderson and the like.
5. It’s really hard to lure an NFL coordinator away since they are typically in line to get a shot as a head coach. Even some sniffing around Greg Roman of the Ravens landed him a raise.
6. Promoting from within was also an option, keeping the staff left over from Tucker. Who would Chev have landed as OC, OL coach, etc.? There are few assistants to pull from right now, fewer still willing to hitch to a first time head coach. I believe this hurt Chev in the search process.

So, playing armchair athletic director, where do you go?

Ultimately, this appeared to be Rick George’s realistic options:
1. Sarkisian (declined offer)
2. Bielema
3. Mora Jr.
4. Calhoun
5. McElwain (maybe, never saw much smoke here)
6. Karl Dorrell
7. Chev

Based on that list, I think the offer to Sark made sense. The next best option on that list was really anyones guess, but I can see the reasons why George chose Dorrell. In context of the search, it makes a lot of sense.
 
This is not a sexy hire, at all. Most kids will be scratching their heads at who this guy is. A lot of what goes into recruiting is name recognition and who you’ve coached into NFL players. We saw exactly that with Jason Harris (please don’t leave Jason! 🤢🙏) when he said he chose CU because what Tucker has done. This guys floated around as a WR coach mostly and hasn’t been an OC in 21 years outside of his disastrous year at Vanderbilt, disastrous might be stating it lightly.

The biggest thing is does he have any cred to sell these kids? Outside of a WR coach in the NFL? Yikes. I thought Bienemy would be a bad hire but this feels even worse. This smells of desperation and really reaching on RG’s part. I know he didn’t have many options here but a NFL WR coach who hasn’t really been in college consecutively for 13 years?

I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong because I love CU and I don’t want this **** to continue. But **** man this feels like dark days are ahead, I’m afraid to witness this. If you see the transfer portal start to fill, we’re royally ****ed.
 
I think most of us are fine giving it a chance, but you also need to understand that some of us are going to express their disappointment and overall curiosity about the hire.
And to answer your first question, EB just won the Super Bowl as the OC for the most high powered offense in the NFL. EBs career trajectory is sky rocketing. That is vastly different than the situation from which we plucked Dorrell.
I hope KD makes me look like a fool, but some of you seem unwilling to even question this decision by RG.
Fair, but just remember QB sneak on 1st down.
How much of KC’s offense was Reid and Mahomes? Hell, Mahomes called one of the biggest plays in the SB, not EB. There are questions about the hire of KD, but there are reasons to be optimistic about it as well. Pretty much any candidate we were looking at had questions, even Sark.
 
This is not a sexy hire, at all. Most kids will be scratching their heads at who this guy is. A lot of what goes into recruiting is name recognition and who you’ve coached into NFL players. We saw exactly that with Jason Harris (please don’t leave Jason! 🤢🙏) when he said he chose CU because what Tucker has done. This guys floated around as a WR coach mostly and hasn’t been an OC in 21 years outside of his disastrous year at Vanderbilt, disastrous might be stating it lightly.

The biggest thing is does he have any cred to sell these kids? Outside of a WR coach in the NFL? Yikes. I thought Bienemy would be a bad hire but this feels even worse. This smells of desperation and really reaching on RG’s part. I know he didn’t have many options here but a NFL WR coach who hasn’t really been in college consecutively for 13 years?

I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong because I love CU and I don’t want this **** to continue. But **** man this feels like dark days are ahead, I’m afraid to witness this. If you see the transfer portal start to fill, we’re royally ****ed.

Man you should go to a psychologist because is sounds like you have borderline personality disorder. KD is much needed stability.
 
This is not a sexy hire, at all. Most kids will be scratching their heads at who this guy is. A lot of what goes into recruiting is name recognition and who you’ve coached into NFL players. We saw exactly that with Jason Harris (please don’t leave Jason! 🤢🙏) when he said he chose CU because what Tucker has done. This guys floated around as a WR coach mostly and hasn’t been an OC in 21 years outside of his disastrous year at Vanderbilt, disastrous might be stating it lightly.

The biggest thing is does he have any cred to sell these kids? Outside of a WR coach in the NFL? Yikes. I thought Bienemy would be a bad hire but this feels even worse. This smells of desperation and really reaching on RG’s part. I know he didn’t have many options here but a NFL WR coach who hasn’t really been in college consecutively for 13 years?

I hope I’m wrong. I hope I’m wrong because I love CU and I don’t want this **** to continue. But **** man this feels like dark days are ahead, I’m afraid to witness this. If you see the transfer portal start to fill, we’re royally ****ed.
The guy had a winning record in this ****ing conference as a HC!!! He went 10-2 one year and had one losing season!
 
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