Buffaloes Wire includes USC’s Alex Grinch plus Deion Sanders on Colorado coaching search list
Coaching. Carousel. Season. We at Trojans Wire lived through this experience last year when Mike Bohn fired Clay Helton and began a long search which ended up with a jackpot hire, Lincoln Riley. Colorado just fired Karl Dorrell. He and defensive coordinator Chris Wilson have been let go.
The Buffaloes are not getting Lincoln Riley or any elite name, but they obviously could go in different directions depending on the quality of the hire they make. Mike MacIntyre guided them to a Pac-12 South Division championship in 2016. Dorrell was a total bust. The Buffs can improve their program if they find the right guy.
The team at Buffaloes Wire is already on the job, providing its initial look at the CU head coaching search. Here are Buffaloes Wire’s early candidates.
All quotes come from Buffs Wire staff writer Tony Cosolo:
BILL O'BRIEN
Cosolo:
Current Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien flamed out as a head coach in the NFL. But, he has jumped back into the pool of college head coaching candidates with his work on the offensive side of the ball at Alabama. O’Brien was previously the head coach at Penn State for two years where he compiled a 15-9 record before making the jump to the NFL.
RYAN WALTERS (FORMER COLORADO PLAYER)
Ryan Walters was a hard-hitting safety at Colorado who famously led the defense that shut down Sam Bradford and the high-flying Oklahoma offense in 2007. Walters has now made quite the name for himself in his coaching career. He currently leads the No. 1 scoring defense in all of college football at Illinois as its defensive coordinator.
TROY CALHOUN
Troy Calhoun has owned the state of Colorado for several years now and was part of the candidate pool when Mel Tucker left the program. Calhoun would need to make the move away from the triple-option, but he could still utilize some of those principles along with a pro-style attack he would have picked up from his time with the Denver Broncos.
However, his recent recruiting violations are concerning.
MARCUS ARROYO
Marcus Arroyo is probably more of an unknown name and his record won’t jump out at you (6-17 so far at UNLV). But with his start this year (4-1) and his knowledge of the Pac-12 — he was Oregon’s offensive coordinator for three seasons — look for Arroyo’s name to come up frequently.
MATT ENTZ
Matt Entz comes from the Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse that is North Dakota State. Entz already has two national titles to his name and could be the next NDSU coach to make the jump to Power Five football.
TODD MONKEN
Todd Monken has done wonders for the Georgia Bulldogs’ offense, largely by turning Stetson Bennett into one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football.
ALEX GRINCH
USC sent Colorado into a swirl this offseason when the Trojan announced they would be leaving for the Big Ten. How sweet would it be to poach one of their top assistants on their way out? Alex Grinch is in his first year as USC’s defensive coordinator and he has turned around a defense that gave up more than 30 points a game into a unit that is only allowing 19.6 a contest.
DEION SANDERS
Deion Sanders has already shown that he can recruit the best talent down to Jackson state, but what could he do with the flatirons in his backyard? This would be another flashy hire that would need significant backing by the administration at every level to make it work, but what Buffaloes fan wouldn’t want to see Prime Time roaming the sidelines?
ERIC BIENIEMY
Eric Bieniemy was the offensive coordinator for the Buffaloes during the short Jon Embree tenure. Bieniemy has since moved into the NFL and is currently the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reid. Could Colorado give Bieniemy another shot at turning around the football program?
