This is a guest post from Colton Denning, A long-time friend of the site and the purveyor of 2 Stripes CPD.
Here are three separate conversations I had with friends the day Colorado hired Karl Dorrell:
Sadly, I didn’t pull out these receipts to impress you with how big my brain is. I’m an idiot, and even I knew hiring Dorrell would end with Colorado in the exact spot it’s in less than three years later. Not only is the program in worse shape than when he took it over – we’ll get back to that – but it’s arguably at its lowest point since the early 1980s. It’s the worst Power Five program in the country, and it’s hard to see how this is anything less than a three-year cleanup for whoever gets the job next.
What went wrong?
To shoot Dorrell the smallest amount of bail I’m willing to give him, he walked into a tough situation. Mel Tucker dipping for Michigan State a month before 2020 spring practice started was bad enough. Doing it days after he voluntarily put out a public statement saying he was passing on the MSU job and staying in Boulder made things even worse. Doing it three weeks before a pandemic completely flipped the world upside down made things unprecedently bad. (The last one’s obviously not Tucker’s fault, but it has to be added for context).
Tucker dumping Colorado for Michigan State left a lot of hurt feelings in Boulder. Naturally, CU’s administration did what many dumbasses who just got dumped do: Made a goddamn fool of themselves. Instead of just taking the L and promoting offensive coordinator – and beloved CU alum – Darren Chiaverini to interim head coach and using the next nine months to figure things out, athletic director Rick George played off the raw emotions of Tucker leaving.
He was determined to hire someone who wouldn’t leave Colorado out in the cold again. Preferably, someone with ties to the program and the head coaching experience the remaining members of the staff lacked. Dorrell – bad hire or not – checked all those boxes. His family was already living five minutes outside of Boulder. How convenient!
“But Colton, Colorado went 4-2 in 2020, made the Alamo Bowl, and Dorrell won Pac-12 Coach of the Year! Explain THAT!”
Yes, the abbreviated 2020 season went surprisingly well, but that’s only because Dorrell had almost zero opportunity to actually fuck things up.
He was officially introduced on Feb. 23. CU’s first spring practices were canceled due to COVID less than three weeks later. Since Pac-12 COVID restrictions were so stringent, Dorrell’s first actual on-field practice wasn’t until Oct. 9, less than a month before the season opener.
The chaos the pandemic wreaked on that season meant he couldn’t get his fingerprints all over the team as he would’ve been able to in a normal year. Dorrell’s main job was to (presumably) steer the ship and let the remaining coaches on staff do their thing. Unshockingly, that was his best season!
The Buffs went 4-1 in the regular season, ran the hell out of the ball behind Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year Jarek Broussard and played solid defense. They built on the foundation Tucker left behind, and even though they got smoked by Texas in the Alamo Bowl, finishing 4-2 and 67th in SP+ was better than anyone could’ve hoped for, given the circumstances.
Unfortunately, the end of the season meant Dorrell finally had time to implement all the things he wanted and build the program in his image. That’s when it all went to hell. Over the course of the next 12 months, the positive momentum from 2020 was obliterated.
The Buffs went 4-8 in 2021 and dropped all the way to 104th in SP+. The offense suddenly couldn’t run, and threw for less than 100 yards five times. The defense gave up an average of 451 yards per game in conference play. Dorrell pushed a local cameraman after a home loss to USC.
From January to December, Dorrell fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators. Six of his 10 assistants in 2021 were either fired or took other jobs. Colorado signed a recruiting class ranked behind Duke, Northwestern, Syracuse and Washington State. Dorrell also alienated most of the remaining young talent Tucker brought in.
Guys like Broussard, receiver Brendan Rice, and likely 2023 first-round NFL draft pick Christian Gonzalez all left the program for various reasons. Worst of all, Dorrell’s solution to fixing the offense was hiring Mike Sanford Jr., which led to this text exchange with me and a friend:
With everything that went wrong in 2021, you’d think Dorrell would’ve had a semblance of self-awareness about where the program was heading, and what needed to be fixed going into the 2022 season. Instead, he talked about how he hires good coaches and had the audacity to say the program was in “better shape” than when he took it over.
Less than three weeks after saying that, the Buffs got smashed 38-13 by TCU in their season opener, surrendering 260 rushing yards in the second half alone.
Is it bad when your team captains tell reporters their teammates gave up? After the first game of the season?
This is how their 41-10 loss to Air Force the next week started:
Then came a 49-7 loss at Minnesota:
A 45-17 loss to UCLA to start Pac-12 play put them in historically bad company:
Heading into the Arizona game, with a bye on deck, the writing was on the wall for Dorrell: Lose and you’re gone. And, well,
College football’s coaching history is littered with guys fired because they couldn’t compete on one side of the ball. Kliff Kingsbury’s Texas Tech teams couldn’t defend worth shit. Derek Mason’s Vanderbilt teams struggled to string two first downs together.
There are other guys whose teams can’t do anything. Chris Ash’s tenure at Rutgers, Steve Addazio’s at Colorado State, Scott Loeffler’s at Bowling Green, Charlie Strong’s at USF… hey, wait a second!
And then there’s Karl Dorrell at Colorado.
Colorado finished 120th in offensive SP+ and 94th on defense in 2021. This year, it’s 113th and 106th. Through six games, the offense has six non-garbage time touchdowns. The defense has allowed 1,506 yards rushing and over 2,800 total yards.
In Dorrell’s 23 games, the Buffs threw for fewer than 100 yards eight times. Everything about the two Colorado teams he was actually responsible for sucked ass, and the saddest part is: Every bit of it was predictable. From the very moment he was hired.
There’s a saying around the Colorado Football program, coined by legendary Buffs head coach Bill McCartney:
“The pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes will not be entrusted to the timid or the weak.”
I don’t know Dorrell, and I have nothing against him as a person. He’ll get his ungodly buyout money, and I’m not mad at him for that. I can’t take away any of the work he put in or his memories from when he was part of the glory days of CU football in the 90s.
But as Colorado’s head football coach, he was timid, weak and responsible for the darkest days in program history. Good fucking riddance, Karl Dorrell. Please never associate yourself with CU football ever again.
What’s Next?
I have a quick thought about what I want from this search before we get to names.
Rick George and whoever else makes decisions in Boulder need to enter this process with this mindset: The best-case scenario is that they hire someone who leaves within three years. This isn’t a destination job anymore, and if the next coach does exactly what Mel Tucker did, so be it. At least that means progress has been made.
CU shouldn’t be dead set on hiring The Guy™️ here. It should be looking for the guy, who leads to another guy, who leads to The Guy™️. Will it do that? Probably not, but that’s the reality of where Colorado football is in 2022.
My Top Three
Bronco Mendenhall – Highly unlikely, but he’s at the top of my list. Mendenhall’s a proven program builder and already has vast experience in the west. At the very least, CU needs to make the call and make him say no. This would be a home-run hire.
Troy Calhoun – I don’t give a fuck that he runs the triple option. I love it. The fans who would hate this need to be reminded that CU’s been to ONE bowl game since 2008. This program isn’t above anything, especially running the triple. You’re telling me the floor every year is winning six games and being a pain in the ass to every team we play? Sign me up.
Ryan Walters – I can’t lie, I don’t know a ton about Walters outside of him being a former Buff and how awesome he’s been at Illinois. He’d obviously know the area, be able to connect with the fanbase, and could play into George’s desire to hire someone with ties to the program. I just think this is a terrible situation for your first head coaching job, even if you’re an alum. This is a major cleanup, and maybe that prevents him from even considering it. I’d be more than happy with him, but it’s tough for me to believe they’ll hire a first-time head coach here.
Other Names
Eric Bienemy – He’s the most obvious name everyone’s going to talk about, but I’m not sure he’ll even be a candidate, for multiple reasons.
1). He should be an NFL head coach.
2). He’s already been on staff multiple times, including as John Embree’s offensive coordinator. There were a lot of hard feelings when Embree and his staff got fired. I’m an outsider, so I could definitely be way off base here, but I’m not sure that bridge has ever been fully mended. I’d love for him to come home, but he’s way above this job.
Brent Brennan – I’ve gotten a chance to see what he’s done at San Jose State up close, and that’s the exact kind of turnaround CU needs. My only question is, would Colorado be willing to dip back into the SJSU well again so soon after Mike MacIntyre?
Sean Lewis – If he wants the job? Sure! I’m down to score a shit ton of points.
Matt Rhule – Worth a call, but he’s going to get bigger and better offers.
Jamey Chadwell – This will not happen, but it would be an awesome hire. This is one of the few Power Five places he could land that wouldn’t make Patrick instantly combust.
Alex Grinch – Fuck no.
Scott Frost – Scott Frost failing at Nebraska and succeeding at Colorado would be one of the funniest things to happen in sports history, and the biggest “fuck you” to Nebraska fans any CU fan could ever dream of. It’s stupid as hell, but part of me wants it – especially because they play each other the next two seasons.
Finally:
