While I would love Herman as the HC, realistically I do not think he will be at CU. I believe CU needs young skilled minds with big recruiting chops. This would be my best scenario currently:
HC: Ryan Walters
OC: Bobby Petrino or Troy Taylor (doubtful if he would leave Sac State to come audition for a P5 HC position taking the OC at CU but this would be the best scenario)
DC: Donte Williams (If Colorado is truly looking to reestablish its recruiting pipeline to the Los Angeles area, Williams would be a smart choice. He's one of the more established names in the SoCal recruiting scene and has brought in talent to Oregon and now USC. Williams, 40, also served as interim head coach at USC last year after Clay Helton was fired and interviewed for Fresno State's head-coaching vacancy. He was retained by new coach Lincoln Riley and has overseen a playmaking secondary early this season. The Los Angeles native worked at Arizona and Washington earlier in his career and has spent all but one year in the Pac-12 footprint)
DL/Associate Head Coach: Oscar Giles - Prior to Giles’ first recruiting class at Texas in 2018, the Longhorns had the 25th-ranked class in the country. They followed up this performance with rankings of
third, third and eighth from 2018-20, respectively. Hired during the Tom Herman regime, Giles was retained by Steve Sarkisian and is a big part of building recruiting classes for the future. CU would need to add Associate HC to his title.
WR Coach/Lead Offensive Recruiter: Lonnie Galloway (NC State WR Coach) Galloway was one of the main contributors to 2020 and 2021 classes that both finished in the top 14 nationally. Two of UNC’s three classes immediately prior to his arrival finished outside the top 20, even with the signing of QB Sam Howell. Galloway’s WR group finished 12th in the nation in total offense and included
third-round pick Dyami Brown.
RB Coach: Brian Callahan (currently the Running Game Coordinator at Minnesota) Callahan was brought on board in P.J. Fleck’s first season as the Gophers’ head coach. Their three classes prior to his addition finished 63rd, 46th and 59th. Two of the next three seasons, Minnesota finished in the top 40 in recruiting and added first-round pick Rashod Bateman. Five of Callahan’s OL group were recognized as All-Big Ten honorable mention or better, and several are expected to be drafted in 2022.
DB Coach: David Lockwood (currently at Appalachian State) ranked as the 37th best DB coach in all of college football and doing so at App State, and an excellent recruiter on top of being a top shelf level DB coach. Upgrade to the P5 level and give him the Lead Defense Recruiter title.
Bob Lopez and Chandler Dorrell have to go - A solid Dir of Player Personnel would be
Ed Orgeron
Thrown in 20+ solid transfers and with this staff bringing in top 10 recruiting classes, CU is competing for the FBS Championship by year two. Plenty of reasons this would not happen but if there is a dedication to win, putting together a staff like this is reminiscent of what Coach Mac did, focusing on
recruiting coaches with talent at their position. Hiring the likes of this staff could turn things around for RG and his tenure/legacy (Dorrell could become just a blip sandwiched between MT and this staff). Again, not saying this will occur, but this would be my choice for a staff that could literally return the Buffs to Dominance almost immediately.
Donte Williams is the gem - he is listed as the #1 recruiter in the nation - moving him from USC DB coach to DC gives us a great shot and there is always Walters to help support the Defense if Williams is not quite ready for the jump to a full time DC role.
