Colorado hires Clay Patterson as tight ends coach and passing game coordinator

BOULDER — CU’s coaching staff is almost complete.

The Colorado Buffaloes announced Sunday that they will hire Clay Patterson as tight ends coach and passing game coordinator. Patterson, 39, spent the last four seasons as the tight ends coach at Minnesota. Bryan Cook, Colorado’s tight ends coach in 2021, will not be retained. He was under contract through the 2022 season.

“Before accepting the position at Minnesota, Clay’s background and experience was well documented in highly-productive offenses,” head coach Karl Dorrell said. “His knowledge with passing game concepts over his career will be a big benefit for us as we build a successful offense here at Colorado.”

Notably, Patterson coached under new Colorado offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. at Minnesota for the past two seasons. This move, essentially, turns Patterson into Sanford’s right-hand man. Minnesota’s offense is predicated on power running out of heavy formations with significant use of RPOs. Tight ends are a key piece of the Gopher offense.

“My wife Ashley and I are very thankful for Karl Dorrell and Rick George for the opportunity to come to Boulder and coach at the University of Colorado,” Patterson said in a press release. “Coach Dorrell is an outstanding football coach and man; I am very excited to work for and learn from him. When the opportunity to continue to work with Mike Sanford and build an offense together came up, I was thrilled. Mike is great to work with and he has an excellent offensive mind.”

Patterson played tight end and wide receiver at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He began his coaching career in 2003 and spent 13 seasons coaching receivers and quarterbacks, and also as an offensive coordinator in the Division II, FCS and JuCo ranks. In 2016, he took over as head coach at NEO A&M, his alma mater, a JuCo school. After two seasons, he took the tight ends coach position with Minnesota.

Cook, 44, was Colorado’s tight ends coach for the 2021 season, filling in after Taylor Embree left to join the New York Jets as a running backs coach. Cook was previously the director of defensive quality control for two seasons. He’d previously served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia Southern. Cook will be due $200,000 for the upcoming season, though any money he makes coaching at another school will be subtracted from that amount.

The Buffs will return Brady Russell for his senior season, but the rest of the rotation at tight end is to be determined. Matt Lynch and Alec Pell have moved on, so only rising senior Nico Magri has significant experience. Caleb Fauria is the highest-rated recruit from Colorado’s 2020 class who is still with the team. Erik Olsen was the Buffs’ highest-rated recruit overall in 2021.

Colorado only has one opening left on its coaching staff. The final coach hired will either manage the quarterbacks or the wide receivers, with Sanford coaching the other position.