How Buffs' leadership plans to navigate the fallout after firing Karl Dorrell

After Colorado fired head coach Karl Dorrell on Sunday afternoon, two of CU’s most prominent university figures, chancellor Philip DiStefano and athletic director Rick George, introduced Mike Sanford as the Buffs’ interim head coach. 

As the book was closed on the Karl Dorrell era at CU, George, DiStefano and Sanford emphasized their admiration, respect and the integrity that Dorrell possesses. All sentiments the media has heard repeatedly from players, coaches and football personnel.

Dorrell failed in terms of on-field performance but George made sure to mention the positives of Dorrell’s tenure that included helping navigate the football team and university through the trials and tribulations of COVID-19.

“He led our program to the highest GPA in our history, and his team was involved in a lot of different community activities,” George said.

In firing Dorrell, Colorado has brought upon itself the financial issue of buying out Dorrell’s contract. Chancellor DiStefano spoke about Dorrell’s buyout and how the university will handle it.

“I want to stress that Karl’s contract buyout will come from the athletics department budget,” DiStefano said. “I’m confident that the final payout number will be less than the $8.7 million.”

Buffs’ leadership also made the call to fire defensive coordinator Chris Wilson and promote defensive line coach Gerald Chatman to that position.

Sanford and George spoke glowingly about Chatman and what he can do to fix a Colorado defense that is among the worst in the FBS.

“[Chatman] is a galvanizer of people, an incredible motivator, and somebody who’s going to allow our defense to play fast, sound and simple football,” Sanford said.

The Buffs’ athletic director and interim head coach also promoted Clay Patterson to offensive coordinator, he will be moving up to the press box in place of Sanford. Patterson arrived in Boulder with Sanford after the two coached at Minnesota previously.

Despite the bad start to the season, Dorrell never lost the locker room and Sanford recognizes the player’s want to buy in and fight until the final whistle.

“These players haven’t quit, they have shown nothing but fight,” Sanford said. “They have shown resolve. And they’ve shown the leadership that we would all want to see in our own sons.”

In his first matter of business as the interim head coach for Colorado, Sanford plans to meet with each and every player on the team.

“The first and foremost thing that I need to do with this football program today is that I need to love these kids,” Sanford said. “These players need to be tended to, and that’s what I believe is the best allocation of my time.”

Both sides of the ball have had their issues to start the season but Sanford sees this as an opportunity to put those players in a better position to win.

“We’re going to look at this as an opportunity to develop a lot of young talent that we’ve seen on offense and re-energize and re-invigorate the defensive veterans that we have on this roster,” Sanford said.

Sanford’s focus is on this year’s team, but George is looking beyond that as he is tasked with hiring a third head football coach in the last five years.

“I’m more confident than ever in Colorado football and we will find a leader that will get us back to prominence,” George said. “I’m energized about going out to find that individual.”

Fans shouldn’t expect news anytime soon on who the next Buffs’ head coach will be given that the college football season still has two months to play out. George plans on using those two months to utilize his and the universities network of football contacts to eliminate the recent instability Colorado’s football program has faced.

“It’s important that we have stability in our program, and that we have coaches that want to be here,” George said. “We’ve got to look at how do we get this program back to greatness like it was, and we have all of the elements for that. There’s no excuse why we’re not there. So this hire is extremely important for us.”

This is shaping up to be the most important coaching search in the history of Colorado football given the current landscape of college football. Despite that, George is casting a wide net to find the best person to lead the Buffs.

“I don’t have any specifics in terms of this profile has to fit or this candidate doesn’t fit,” George said. “We’ve got incredible facilities, we’re in a great location, we’re in a terrific conference, we need to go win, and we need to get the right people in the right seats.”

Buffs fans have been extremely vocal on social media and at games stating their displeasure with this year’s team and the direction of Colorado’s football program. CU’s handling and use of NIL and the transfer portal have been a hot topic given that conference realignment could once again present issues for the university and football team.

Fans are concerned that Colorado is falling behind in those departments and George directly addressed those concerns.

“I would say we’re in a really good position,” George said. “Do we need to get better in NIL? Yes, and we are very focused on that. We love our conference. We’re bullish about where we are. George [Kliavkoff] is out there with his team, negotiating our media rights as we speak.”

While some fans have threatened to and are actively boycotting the team, George emphatically asked for fan support in order to help get the university and football team back to where everyone wants them to be.

“Get involved with us, invest in us, and buy tickets, come to games, do all those things because having those resources allows us to do other things,” George said. “But I will tell you that when something comes to us that the NCAA allows, we have always participated. And we will continue to do that.”

Chancellor DiStefano explained how Colorado’s academic requirements may limit the type of transfers they are able to bring in.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of altering any of the rules and policies,” DiStefano said. “It’s just based upon the degrees we offer, and the way that faculty own the curriculum, they own the degrees. We don’t have physical education here, we don’t have general education and to be honest, that’s not going to change.”

In terms of NIL, Colorado is one of 29 states that have passed NIL laws modeled after California’s “Fair Pay to Play Act”.

“Other states that don’t have a state policy, can basically do whatever they want to do within NCAA guidelines,” DiStefano said.

“We always read about these big deals, but that’s the one or two percent,” George said. “While that’s important, the 98 percent is really important as well.”

George also mentioned how Colorado is one of 22 schools that have been providing up to $5,980 per year in financial compensation for student-athletes. A ruling that was made available to universities after the  U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Alston v. NCAA from 2021. 

Many Colorado football fans and supporters got their wish when George and DiStefano made the decision to move on from Dorrell but now the real work begins in getting this program back on track.

Colorado is on bye this week before they return to Folsom Field for Mike Sanford’s interim head coaching debut for the Buffs on October 15th against Cal.