This year saw a ton of discussion about Deion Sanders’ first season as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, where they went 4-8 overall. That’s an improvement from the 1-11 mark in 2022 under Karl Dorrell and Mike Sanford Jr., but a disappointment for many after a 3-0 start that had them ranked as high as No. 18. And the Buffaloes have seen a lot of recent talk about recruiting decommits, transferring players, and even coaching exits. The latest one there is defensive coordinator Charles Kelly:
Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly is expected to leave the Buffs for a job on the defensive staff at Auburn, sources tell @247Sports.
Before Colorado, Kelly worked at Alabama and Tennessee and as a defensive coordinator at Florida State.https://t.co/dJORJ80Uo5 pic.twitter.com/TV7LkYErXx
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 30, 2023
Sources: Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly is leaving for a position at Auburn. May be in a co-defensive coordinator role with the Tigers. Kelly is a former Auburn defensive back who has coached extensively in the state, including at Alabama from 2019-22. @mzenitz 1st.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) December 30, 2023
The Buffaloes will now have new coordinators on both sides of the ball next year. Offensive coordinator Sean Lewis is now the head coach at San Diego State (and got that job despite an unusual mid-season move where Sanders took away play-calling responsibilities from him in favor of Pat Shurmur, who was elevated from quality control assistant to co-offensive coordinator when he got those responsibilities). And now Kelly is leaving as well, and for what sounds like a co-DC role at best (Ron Roberts is currently the DC at Auburn under head coach Hugh Freeze, and was hired to that role ahead of last season).
That’s not the only change on the Colorado coaching staff this offseason. Tight ends coach Tim Brewster, a key recruiter and former head coach with Minnesota who had previously coached with Sanders at Jackson State, resigned following the season. Offensive line coach Bill O’Boyle and running backs coach Darian Hagan both left to follow Lewis to San Diego State, taking those same roles there, and defensive ends coach Nick Williams left for the same position at Syracuse. Meanwhile, the Buffaloes have added Phil Loadholt (previously an analyst at Oklahoma) as their offensive line coach, and are expected to bring in Warren Sapp.
It all adds up to quite an offseason of change around the Colorado program. The Buffaloes’ recruiting class didn’t impress many, and the bookmakers aren’t expecting much from them next year. But Sanders has been optimistic in his comments about how they’re building. We’ll see who they get to replace Kelly at DC, and what that means for the program.
[Matt Zenitz on Twitter]
