CU Buffs Hope to Slow Down All-American Carey and the Arizona Wildcats

Six games into the 2013 season, and the Colorado Buffaloes football team is 3-3. Back in the glory days, a .500 record halfway through the season would be cause for alarm. Following the 2012 team which went 1-11 (and generally regarded as the worst team in Colorado history), most serious Buff fans are convinced that the football program is heading in the right direction under new head coach Mike MacIntyre.

Unlike last year, the Buffs are finally winning the games that they are "supposed" to win. After three conference losses by wide margins this year (and 8 games last year), the next thing on the agenda of both coaches and players is to be competitive within the conference. The Buffs have lost their last 11 conference games by an average of more than 35 points (as in FIVE touchdowns).

To be fair, the Buffs only lost at home to Utah last year by 7 points, but that just goes to show how bad the other losses were. Two of the losses this year were by 41 points, and the other by "only" 28.

There is a bright side however. The Buffs have played the Pac-12's three strongest offensive teams to start conference play. And the shocking numbers put up on the Buffs during those games have been quite similar to the numbers put up by those teams against teams other than Colorado.

Oregon is averaging 55 points a game in conference play. Oregon State is averaging 48 points. And Arizona State is averaging 49, which includes scoring 62 against USC.

The Buffs next opponent is the University of Arizona. They bring a conference record of 1-2 to Boulder on Saturday. They average just over 26 points per game within the Pac-12. Their passing game ranks only 111th in the country, but their offense does feature All-American running back Ka'Deem Carey. Last season, Carey ran for 1926 yards and 23 touchdowns (including a Pac-12 record of 366 yards and five touchdowns against Colorado).

After last year's 56-31 thrashing in Tucson, the Buffs will look to shut down (or at least contain) Carey and earn their first conference win of the season. To do so, the Buffs will have to force Arizona QB B.J. Denker to do the damage instead of Carey.

On offense, the Buffs must continue on the pace set by new quarterback Sefo Liufau. To win, Liufau must continue to complete nearly 70% of his passes and convert 50% of CU's third downs. Overall, for the Buffs to have a chance they must also win the turnover game, limit dumb penalties, and not be done in by "home run" touchdowns by the Wildcats.

To become a bigger threat on offense, the Buffs and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren must become much less predictable when passing the football. As will be detailed in the next post, the Buff's passing game has made it very easy for opposing defensive coordinators by focusing the vast majority of their passes into two nine yard wide pockets on either side of the field, and leaving the middle 35 yards of the field relatively free of flying footballs.

If the Buffs can play some good run defense and throw the pigskin somewhere besides the sidelines, Colorado has a chance to rack up their first conference win of the season. If they cannot stop the run, and continue to throw in the same manner, another big conference loss is on the horizon.

Flooding in Boulder Threatens Football Game Against Fresno State

It's just a game. That is quickly becoming the mantra regarding the University of Colorado Buffaloes football game scheduled for Saturday against the Fresno State Bulldogs. CU is closed today while officials evaluate damage to the campus that has affected nearly every building. There has been flooding in dorms and some 500 people living in family housing on campus have been evacuated. The City and County of Boulder are on Emergency Alert.

Sometimes it takes the wrath of Mother Nature to remind us that the things we do for entertainment pale in comparison to real world issues, especially when they slap us in the face. More than 10 inches of rain have fallen on Boulder and the University of Colorado over the last several days, including an estimated 6-8 inches overnight. On top of that, the rain continues and is expected to drop several more inches today and tomorrow.

The damage inflicted by the massive storm has not been limited to Boulder. Much of Eastern Colorado has felt its wrath. Lyons to the North of Boulder is effectively an island, with every road in and out closed by floodwaters, debris and washed out roads. In the mountain towns just west of Boulder, waters have washed away buildings and homes. So far, at least two deaths have been attributed to the 100 year-storm. With the light of day, the true extent of the damage is becoming evident.

The CU Buffs football team is 2-0 for the first time in 5 years, and after the nightmare 2012 season in which they went 1-11, the players have been fired up to play a Bulldog team which completely destroyed them last season by a score of 69-14. This CU team has improved greatly since last year, and the team has been anxious to show that improvement against a FSU team which is ranked #27 in the country.

All the desires and plans for the game by the players and head coach Mike MacIntyre and his staff might have to redirected toward helping CU and Boulder recover from the worst rains Boulder has ever experienced. The amount of precipitation Boulder and CU have received in the last 72 hours is roughly the same as they would normally get in an entire year (around 16 inches). Forecasts call for several more inches in the next 48 hours. It could be less than that, but it could also be much more.

There have been no official statements from CU about the status of the game that is scheduled for kickoff shortly after noon on Saturday. This does not mean that the officials do not think it is important, it just means they have more important things to worry about right now. Not just the condition of the buildings on campus, but more importantly, the safety of the students and staff at the state's flagship university.

More and more, even the question about whether to play is met with incredulous stares. This is just as it should be. After all, it IS just a game.

The ART of Leadership: A look at Patton, the 1958 Packers and the 2012 Colorado Buffs

One of the greatest misconceptions about college football is that it is an individual player driven sport. Nothing could be further from the truth. Football requires more concerted teamwork by a larger number of players than any other sport. The main orchestrator of this teamwork is the head coach, and it is disseminated to the team through the coaches and the players respected as leaders among them.

Winning in football is generated from the top down more than any other sport. Being a great college football player does not make one a great NFL player. By the same token, being a great high school player does not make one a great college player. At the same time, while it is possible to be a great player on a lousy team, it is virtually impossible for a lousy coach to lead a team to greatness.

On paper, the 1958 Green Bay Packers and the 2012 Colorado Buffs have a lot in common. The Packers ended the season with a record of 1-10-1, while the Buffs ended the season with one victory and 11 losses. Each team had what is generally considered to be the worst season ever for their franchise or school.

Another thing CU and the Pack had in common is that conventional wisdom held that the main reason behind the horrible records in those years was due primarily to a lack of quality players. Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay in 1959 and proved that assumption to be wrong.

Five players on that horrible 1958 Packer team went on to have careers under Lombardi that earned them a place in the NFL Hall of Fame. It's kind of stunning just how much difference that a coaching change made in the the lives and careers of five NFL players who played on the worst team ever for their franchise.


The more one listens to new Colorado Buffalo football coach Mike MacIntyre, the more one hears commitment to the ideals shown by Vince Lombardi. Like the man who is considered to be  the greatest football coach ever, CU's new head coach stresses hard work and sacrifice, conditioning and perseverance, dedication and respect, and most of all, a commitment to the success of the TEAM.

Mike MacIntyre respects and realizes these ideals by leading from the top down. He demands it of himself and expects it from his coaches and his players as well. Those who refuse to show commitment to the law, their schoolwork, their teammates, their coaches, and themselves have no place on this TEAM. Anytime someone is not held accountable for their actions or inaction, it is a slap in the face to those who have committed themselves.

In football, the greatest player at any position can be reduced to insignificance by the players around him. Imagine Jerry Rice without Joe Montana or Steve Young to throw him the ball. Imagine John Elway or Barry Sanders without great linemen to block for them. A dominating defensive player can be double or triple teamed if his teammates do not do their jobs. Football is truly a team sport.

Lombardi used to say that "football is only two things -- blocking and tackling." But he also emphasized that TEAM was the only way to make that work. He also knew that fitness and strength, individually and as a team, made it possible to compete in the athletic arena. He stressed this with his famous mantra that "fatigue makes cowards of us all."

It is a belief similar to that held by General George Patton during World War II. He took over a demoralized army that had been ransacked by the Germans in their first battle and built those men into the most dominating force in the war. According to the Academy Award winning film about his life, Patton was reputed to have said about the men when he arrived in North Africa that "they don't look like soldiers, they don't act like soldiers, why should they be expected to fight like soldiers?"

Before Patton's arrival, both the officers and the servicemen had no discipline. And this fact showed on the battlefield. What this same group of men achieved under new leadership showed that a change at the top can bring about a radical and almost immediate change in performance. Lombardi showed how to do it again in 1959, and MacIntyre is poised to do it now with the Buffs like he did at San Jose State.

Leadership takes many forms and styles, of course, but all great leaders who have achieved radical turnabouts have done it with discipline and high expectations of themselves and everyone under their command.

Why CU Buff Football Fans Should FORGET About the Recruiting Services

There are more than EIGHT months to go before the 2014 National Signing Day for college football, yet many CU Buff football fans are worried about coach MacIntyre's next recruiting class and how it is ranked by the well known recruiting services Scout.com and Rivals.com. These fans should really STOP giving so much credence to these and other recruiting services.

WHY should fans take what the services say with a grain of salt?

• Rivals and Scout each use a network of about 300 "sources" to come up with their ratings of players.
• According to USA Football, there are roughly 1.134 MILLION high school football players at 15,513 high schools across the US.
• That would mean each "source" used by these recruiting services would be responsible for well over 50 high schools, which would not be an easy task.
• If that were not daunting enough, according to the Digest of Education Statistics there are actually over 37,000 public and private high schools in the US. This is well more than double the number listed by USA football.
• This would raise the number of schools to be watched over by each "source" to about 120, a much harder task.
• Many of the "sources" used by recruiting services are unpaid fans of local football. Most of them depend on simple calculations like height, weight, and 40 yard dash times to determine the number of "stars" a recruit will get from them.
• Most never have access to whether potential recruits have the grades or test scores that indicate probable success as a STUDENT at the college level.
• They are not trained or paid (in most cases) to evaluate growth and strength capabilities of rapidly growing young men.
• Some so-called recruiting services can be persuaded to UP their evaluations if the price is right. Basically, this means the are being paid to promote athletes.

Compare this if you will with college football coaching PROFESSIONALS.

• These men are paid handsomely to build relationships with high school coaches and prospective recruits.
• They have to get inside the heads of their recruits. They meet their families and learn about how dedicated to schoolwork the young men are.
• Meeting the parents and siblings (especially older ones) allows these men to ascertain how much the recruit is likely to grow, and how much family support is there for the University of Colorado.
• The coaches also have to evaluate prospective players psychologically. They have to determine if they are dedicated TEAM players, or if they are a potential prima donna who will be disruptive to the team.
• Sadly, they also have to determine if the prospective student is likely to have "legal problems" or thrive in an environment which might be VERY different than they are used to. 
• These men take these responsibilities very seriously because their jobs and career depend upon it.

Recruiting is an inexact science at best. If the recruiting services were right then USC would be handed the National Championship trophy just about every year. What is much more important than star ratings of recruits is coaching, Coaches are trained and paid to know and evaluate young men.

If a coach from a FBS school offers a scholarship to a young man who is unrated or a two-star recruit according to the recruiting services, what it usually means is that the coaches know a lot more about the recruit than the "services" do. We should let them do the jobs they are PAID to do.

A case in point here is the young man named Connor Center who recently signed on to play for the Buffs. He is an excellent athlete who played another sport in high school. So what? His numbers (6' 8" tall, 250 lbs., and 4.68 in the 40 yard dash) would have made him a top ten recruit at tight end. Even though he never played high school football, many schools offered him a scholarship based solely on a workout video he sent out this spring. But CU coaches liked what they saw and sent a coach across the country to work him out in person. A visit to Boulder later, and the Buffs now have one of the biggest coups of the 2013 recruiting class. As the old saying goes, you can't teach height or speed.

Another example is David Bakhtiari, who left school early and was drafted recently into the NFL. Coming out of high school, David was listed by the recruiting services as a TWO star recruit.

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On another note, USC was in the news recently for offering a scholarship to an 8th grade kid who hasn't even gotten to high school yet. Brave move by a coach that many Trojan fans want gone. The one way to nip this idiotic trend in the bud is to make schools live up to that offer no matter what happens to the kid in the next four years. Is the offer still good if the young man blows out his knees or gets multiple concussions? No coach is bound to honor scholarship offers, especially those made by prior coaches. Even the ones they offer themselves can be rescinded at any time. And recruits can also change their minds at any time. Nothing is set in stone until the Letter of Intent is signed, sealed and delivered.

In Defense of Mike Bohn -- CU's Leadership is Lacking at the Very Top

Like a lot of people, it was easy for me to think that Mike Bohn was doing a horrible job as the Athletic Director for the University of Colorado. After considerable research, I can freely admit that I was wrong. Mike Bohn has been devoted to the university he loves and did as well as could be expected despite the lack of commitment from CU.

When one digs deep enough to find the true power structure behind CU athletics, the facts are that Mike Bohn was the best fundraiser that CU has ever had in the position and that the true bosses at CU (President Bruce Benson and Chancellor Phil DiStefano) want all the benefits of having a top notch athletic program while making none of the investments needed to achieve that goal.

Case in point: Mike Bohn had a salary of  $310,000 per year. Some folks might say that 310k is a lot of money. However, those who hire athletic directors at major universities would say that Colorado was trying to get off cheap. Real cheap.

The true bosses at CU have been quoted as of late saying that CU needs someone in the AD position who can  help us compete with the BIG BOYS of college athletics. Really? Are they willing to make the financial commitment to hire one of those people? Mike Bohn was the lowest paid athletic director in the Pac 12. And before that he was the lowest paid AD in the Big 12.

The average AD in the Pac-12 at the public schools is $534,000. Stanford and USC most likely pay much more than average, but as private schools they do not have to divulge their AD pay. Compared to CU's old conference, however, the typical Pac-12 school is certainly not among the big boys when it comes to AD pay. CU's old rivals in the Big 12 pay their Athletic Directors an average of $837,000 per year, which is closing in on 3 TIMES the amount that CU invests.

Jon Embree was paid $725,000 a year to be CU's head football coach. Compare that salary with the average Pac-12 rival coach of $2.29 MILLION or the pay enjoyed by Big 12 coaches of $2.76 MILLION. Embree's pay was less than the coaches of nationally renowned football powerhouses like Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette. Up in Fort Collins, their head coach pulled in almost double what Embree earned.

Not only did CU pay the head of the team for CU's traditionally only revenue generating sport less than a third of what other schools were paying their head coaches, Embree also had to foot the bill for bottled water for his staff. CU's illustrious leaders would not even pay for water? That made CU a much bigger joke around the country than lack of wins on the football field.

It has been said that Benson is a master of getting big donors to give to CU. If that is the case, why the hell is tuition going up at so many times the rate of inflation? Not only that, but CU has a long proud history of treating their students like an unwelcome burden. You guys ought to try being nice to students. Don't you idiots realize that it is the students of today who are the potential donors of tomorrow? If you want dividends in the way of donations in the future, you need to invest in students today. If you want your football program to fund all of your other sports, you need to invest in the program.

Everyone seems to know that the football program lost money this past year. Does that really surprise anyone? It shouldn't. The switch to the Pac-12 cost CU money. They had to pay to get out of the Big 12 and as a new member of the Pac-12 they only got ONE FOURTH of the television money that the other schools got, same as Utah. Next year, that goes up and CU's athletic program will once again be flush with money.

Mike Bohn worked tirelessly to get Colorado into the Pac-12. This was a very good thing, Most of CU's out of state students come from the west. The TV revenue that comes from the new conference is more than double what CU used to make in the Big 12.

Thanks to Mike Bohn and his hiring of Tad Boyle, Colorado now has another revenue generating sport in basketball. Not only do the B-Ball Buffs sell out the Events Center, they also earn big dollars by making it to the NCAA's Big Dance. Based on Boyle's coaching and the quality of his recruits, that will not change anytime soon. Under Bohn, Linda Lappe has rebuilt the Women's Basketball program almost to the point of its former glory under Acting AD Ceal Barry. Stories like this abound in CU athletics. A lot of the thanks for those successes rest with Mike Bohn.

Many forget that Mike Bohn came into his job as AD to rescue CU from a bad situation. The real and fabricated scandals around Gary Barnett were causing CU a great deal of embarrassment. Bohn did his best to mitigate the situation and fired Barnett. It needed to be done. Then, Bohn went out and hired the hottest coaching candidate in the country. When Dan Hawkins was hired away from Boise State, he was considered to be a great hire. His teams as head coach before CU were 93-22. Nobody predicted that Hawkins would go 19-39 at Colorado.

Then came the Embree hire. Following the dismissal of Hawkins, Bohn took the meager funds available to him from the Big Bosses at CU and hired an ex-Buff to revitalize the program. The commitment that CU showed Embree was as small as his pay, and Colorado dropped further and further away from their former glory. Two years in to an untenable position with little support from the university, Mike Bohn was forced to fire Jon Embree. Mike Bohn's handling of the firing of his third head coach gave everybody the impression that Bohn was to blame for all the woes of the football program. And the puppet masters pulling the strings behind the scenes, who also held the purse strings, did nothing to change that view.

Finally, Benson and DiStefano, with Bohn as the fall guy, decided to fire the guy who did more with less money than just about any AD in the country. How delusional are these folks? They sat quietly by and spoke of a "national search" for the new AD. More comically, they mentioned as possible candidates guys who already make significantly more money than Bohn. One guy mentioned makes more in interest on his investments every year than Bohn earned in eight years on the job. As he eloquently stated in letter to the Denver Post, he is NOT a candidate.

Well, the ball is now in the court of two guys who have never shown a commitment to CU athletics. Let's see how much money they are willing to spend on a new AD. One thing is certain, no matter who they hire, they will not have the same love and devotion to the Buffs as Mike Bohn did. At least they had the good sense to let Bohn hire Mike MacIntyre and actually pay him commensurate with his peers.

Friday Night CU Buff Musings: Hirschman, Bakhtiari, and Roberson

It's a beautiful late April Friday night/Saturday morning in Boulder...

Normally, this time of year is pretty slow on the news for Colorado Buff fans of hoops and pigskin, but 2013 has offered some interesting tidbits. Here are the subjects, the pertinent details, and my humble opinions on each.

Nick Hirschman:

-- Nick entered the spring practices under new coach Mike MacIntyre with five other QB's all starting from scratch.

-- After the first half of the practices, he was one of four named as still competing for number one QB.

-- By the end of spring he had elevated himself to co-starter with Connor Wood after last year's starter Jordan Webb injured his knee and Shane Dillon was moved down the depth chart.

-- He was identified by the coaches as one of the leaders of the team being counted on to help lead the team through summer workouts.

-- Then, he surprised everyone by announcing via Twitter that he would transfer to another school. Since he is graduating next month, he can transfer to another school without having to sit out a year. He has two years of football left before he runs out of eligibility.

-- MacIntyre released him from his scholarship with a few restrictions on where he could transfer.

-- Then, Hirschman gave an interview saying that he left because he was not named the starter at the end of spring.

Opinion:

First, I want to congratulate Nick on his impending graduation and wish him all the luck and success that life has to offer. That said, I think that Nick leaving the Buff football program is probably for the best. As the backup QB for the worst FBS team in the country last year, methinks that Nick was in no position to be demanding as far as a starter position goes this fall. He was offered the opportunity to compete and he was doing well, but then he decided to walk away. This was not the sign of a leader that Colorado needs right now. Fortunately, Connor Wood really seems to be coming into his own at this time, and is showing signs of why he was one of the most highly sought after QB's in the country coming out of high school. It's possible the development of Wood and the impending arrival of Sefo Liufau this summer provided too much of a challenge and Nick wanted to head somewhere that he might be guaranteed a starting spot. Good luck with that.

David Bakhtiari:

-- David was one of the bright spots for the Buff football team the last several years.

-- He opted not to go through another head coaching change at Colorado and decided to enter himself in the NFL Draft.

-- He became the 7th Buff ever to declare for the NFL. The first six were all drafted.

-- Somebody convinced him that he would go in the first or second round of the draft, which would come with a pretty good payday.

-- Someone convinced him that he was the 6th best offensive tackle in the draft.

-- After the first three rounds of the 2013 NFL draft, David has not heard his name called. A total of NINE offensive tackles have already been chosen in the first three rounds.

Opinion:

I really hope that David hears his name called soon when the draft resumes with round four. He is a talented guy who might very well have a NFL future. I commented early on when David declared for the draft that he could use another year of development before he was truly ready. The NFL is a hard club to get into, as David should know. His older brother has been cut something like 14 times trying for a career in the NFL. The best of luck to David, although I really wish he was going to be back in Boulder this fall as the Buffs try to get things turned around.

Andre Roberson:

-- Andre has been one of the stalwarts of the resurgence of Colorado Basketball under Tad Boyle.

-- Over the last two seasons, Andre has been one of the best rebounders in all of college basketball, and is one of the reasons why CU has been to the Big Dance two years in a row.

-- Andre was named the Pac 12 Defensive Player of the Year for this past season.

-- Andre is currently deciding on whether to end his Colorado career early and try to get into the NBA. He scheduled a press conference on Friday to announce his decision... and then cancelled the press conference at the last minute.

Opinion:

Like his head coach has stated in interviews, it seems that someone is pressuring Andre to declare for the NBA draft. As good as Andre is on the court, the fact is that his offensive game is not yet at an NBA level. There is a great chance that if Andre declares for the draft that he faces the very real chance of not being drafted. Unlike the NFL, the NBA draft has only TWO rounds. While there a few undrafted free agents doing well in the league, such as Jeremy Lin, the fact is that having his game ready at all levels will help Andre make it to the next level. The Buffs look to be loaded with talent next year and having that kind of support can only help Andre grow his game. If he does decide to leave, I wish him all the luck in the world... which he might need because the next stop if the NBA turns you down is usually Europe. Good luck whatever you decide to do, Andre.

The Ominous Tale of Jordan Webb: It's Time for Colorado Football Fans to Show Some Class

As a University of Colorado graduate and die-hard football fan since attending CU in the 1980s, there have been very few times that I was more embarrassed by Buff football than last year's season-long disgraceful display. That changed drastically on Tuesday following the reports that CU quarterback Jordan Webb had torn his ACL and would be lost for the year. It was sad to hear that a young man like Webb would need to devote many months of his time to rehab after surgery. It was sadder still to read some of the comments of so-called Buff fans rejoicing at the injury. To be blunt, it made me sick that fellow supporters of the Buffs could be so classless.

As everyone knows, the Buffs last year were arguably the worst D-1 team in the country, and certainly the worst in Colorado's long and storied football history. The fault for that lies squarely on the noggins of the former paid heads of the program - Head Coach Jon Embree, Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, and Defensive Coordinator Greg Brown, and also previous head coach Dan Hawkins, who left the program in shambles.

Even though these men all made many hundreds of thousands of Colorado taxpayer dollars, there seems to be small but vocal group of professed fans who would like to blame Jordan Webb for the woes of the football team last year. The idea is asinine. The CU football team is made up around 100 young men who are full time students who are also required to devote hundreds of hours a year devoted to football. None of them, including Jordan Webb, are personally responsible for the woes of the Buffs last year. For that matter, Webb deserves credit for leading the team to their only win last year by scrambling into the end zone for the game winning touchdown as time expired against Washington State.

Buff fans should rejoice that they finally have a head coach in Mike MacIntyre who has proven that he can develop talent and lead a moribund program into national prominence. He has done it before and he will do it again. He and his fellow coaches that he brought with him to Colorado deserve the chance to do their jobs.

By the same token, Jordan Webb and every one of his teammates should be honored for their commitment to the University of Colorado. Only a handful of these young men will go on to play in the NFL. They know this. Most of them do the jobs they do to earn an education and because they love to play football. Their dedication to CU and the very real risk of injury should be applauded and respected. None of them should ever again have to read stupid comments about how the school is better off with a player being injured.

It is interesting to note that some of the same "fans" who delight in the injury to a young man also seem infatuated with the idea that high school kids who are highly rated by recruiting services are the only way for Colorado to become relevant once again on the gridiron. The fact is that none of the recruiting services has the manpower to effectively cover all high schools throughout the country. One of the reason that D1 football coaches are paid so much is their ability to evaluate talent. Another skill is being able to develop high school players into good college football players. We need to let our new coaches do this. Having vocal fans speaking positively about injuries to our own players gives rival coaches yet another chip to add to the pot in the poker game that is college football. We do not want to lose out on the opportunity to get good players to come to CU because rival coaches can point to published reports of Buff fans who talk about how great it is when players they do not like get hurt.

I do not know Jordan Webb personally, but I would like to apologize to him for the lack of class showed by some Colorado football fans. Good luck with your surgery and rehab. And please know that the vast majority of CU fans would never ever cheer an injury by any CU player, or any player we play against either. We support you and the team, but realize that it is just a game after all.

CU Buffs Depth Chart: The Only Positions that Matter!

The Colorado Buffs have released their first "pencil" depth chart of the team since beginning spring practices. Unfortunately, the general consensus among fan sites devoted to the Buffs and also comments on news stories has been a worried and collective wringing of hands. Seriously? Only halfway though the 2013 Spring Practices, and there seems to be an irrational worry about who is where and why.

RELAX PEOPLE.

There are only ten positions on the Colorado Buffs football team that really matter right now. Fortunately, after the worst season in CU football history, all ten of those positions have changed since last year. Fans should be looking only at these 10 guy right now, because these are the men who will determine how the entire team does this coming season and for the foreseeable future.

Mike MacIntyre -- Head Coach

Kent Baer -- Defensive Coordinator / Linebackers

Brian Lindgren -- Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks

Klayton Adams -- Running Backs / Tight Ends

Gary Bernardi -- Offensive Line

Charles Clark -- Safeties

Jim Jeffcoat -- Defensive Line

Andy LaRussa -- Cornerbacks

Toby Neinas -- Special Teams

Troy Walters -- Wide Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator

CU fans need to let these men do their jobs and quit fretting about who will be at QB (or LB, DT, etc.) These men are professionals whose jobs are to evaluate the talent of the players they have available. Unlike the casual fans, these guys are paid to coach, train, and evaluate all the players and utilize them to put the best team on the field when the season begins.

The enthusiasm of the fans writing blogs and commenting on news stories is commendable, but some of them need to calm down. If one looks at the upcoming season as a war with 12 battles, fans need to realize that D-Day is not until August 31st. We are barely into basic training at this point. In time, the captains and leaders and starters will rise to the top. It is up to these 10 commanders to make sure the best players do so and to encourage all the others to improve as well.

Fans should resist the temptation to look at what individual players did prior to this coaching staff arriving in Boulder. The sad fact is that the main reason that CU has had seven straight losing seasons has been the coaching, or more accurately, the lack of coaching.

Winning the battles each week for a football team is made possible by the work of the coaches both before and during the games. That being the case, it was really dumb luck that CU won a single game last year. The blame goes not to the foot soldiers, but should be put on the heads of the officers (coaches). Jon Embree and Eric Bieniemy were great players for CU. Scooter (EB) is one of my favorite Buffs ever. But the sad truth is that neither man had any idea how to do the jobs they were hired to do. So we move on.

Athletic Director Mike Bohn has taken a lot of heat for the last two hires before Mac to lead the Buffs football program. Some of the criticism is undoubtedly deserved, but football fans need to recognize that Bohn is the AD for the entire school. CU won another national championship in skiing this year. The men's basketball program and fan support are at an all-time high. The women's basketball program is starting to look a lot like the dominant days under Ceal Barry. And Bohn was instrumental in getting CU into the much more lucrative Pac-12. So, while deserved criticism needs to be acknowledged, deserved praise needs to be as well.

All said, for the first time in way too long, the football team appears to be in the hands of people who know what they are doing. Good battle plans will allow the Buffs to be competitive, and the winning will follow as the culture is changed. These men have done it before, and they can do it again.

Go Buffs!

A New Dawn for Colorado Buff Football

It's a new dawn in the land of the Golden Buffaloes. After the longest and darkest night in the history of the Colorado football program, a light has begun to show on the horizon. The view outside is beautiful and so is the weather. The flatirons loom above campus and snow in the hills and high country complete the wondrous sight. Yet another of the more than 300 days of sunshine we enjoy every year, without the high heat of the desert or the crushing humidity of the south.

As an old coach here once said, the University of Colorado and Boulder have EVERYTHING that money can't buy. It is stunningly gorgeous. The town itself is the fittest in America, and Boulder is also the most highly educated city in the US. World class skiing and snowboarding, cycling and mountain biking, hiking and mountain climbing, hunting and fishing, tubing and camping are all right here. And CU itself is a world class school.

What has been missing for much of the last decade is a decent football team. Those of us who were fortunate enough (or, as some would say, old enough) to watch Bill McCartney take a program in shambles and build it into a national powerhouse have longed for the school to regain the glory. The new man in town, the new Big Man on Campus, appears to be the man the Colorado faithful have been waiting for. He's sincere, he's knowledgeable about the game as the son of a college coach, he's trained at the side of coaching great Bill Parcells, and most importantly, he and the staff he has assembled have done the job before. And since he has been able to do it before, he has a plan to do it again.

To be more specific, Mike MacIntyre and his staff know how to turn around a program. They took a very down program at San Jose State and turned it from a team with one win in a season into a team that won 11 games last year and came up just short of downing Pac-12 champion Stanford. And this turnaround happened in only 3 years. More importantly for those involved, the new Coach Mac has done it the right way. He stresses academics and accountability. It is the discipline that young men need to succeed in life. He stresses stength and knowledge both on and off the field. And he and his staff of assistants excel at teaching their young men how to do things right.

The Universty of Colorado is my family university, and I am proud that no one in Boulder is willing to sacrifice our community and our reputation by being willing to lower our standards and expectations. Coach MacIntyre goes after young men who are not only good athletes but also good students and citizens. I am glad that he won't be willing to dismiss a prospective recruit's multiple arrests or horrible grades just because he runs a 4.3 forty yard dash. Being fast can only help you in life if you know where you are going.

As a fan for 30 years, since I arrived in Boulder to marry my sweetheart and attend CU, I look forward to watching these young men represent themselves and my university with honor and integrity. And I look forward to them learning that you can win at the highest levels without sacrificing those values. Go Buffs!