Meet your new favorite Denver Broncos coach

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — He’s quirky.

“We’re gonna kill it, okay? This is a great acronym, you guys, right? Kill it: keep it likable and learnable.”

He’s funny.

“I’m going to teach the guys some Italian, and there is going to be no shortage of pastries and lasagna.”

He’s engaging.

“Excuse me, sir, what was your name?”

He’s not one for math.

“Mr. Bowlen set forth over 20 years ago—I don’t know when it was—back in ’84, when he established the championship attitude.”

And he sounds a bit like The Dude.

“Man, how cool is it that when everyone else is shunning special teams and putting it on the back burner, how cool are you if you’re different and make it a priority? How cool is that, man?”

He wears ankle socks with dress shoes, and he’s your new favorite Denver Broncos coach.

“Good afternoon, folks. Brock Olivo, special teams coordinator.”

Those were the energetic opening remarks of 40-year-old first-time coordinator James Brockman Olivo who, unlike fellow coordinators Mike McCoy and Joe Woods, decided to introduce himself. From that moment on, those sitting in the Denver Broncos team auditorium on Tuesday afternoon—as the team introduced their new coaching staff—knew they were in for a treat.

As he abruptly introduced himself to Broncos Country, the man who hired him, Vance Joseph, smirked and chuckled in the background, knowing he had just released a wildcard. It’s something that Joseph likely gathered during the six-hour interview he had with Olivo. A “grilling” and a “test of fortitude” as the eventual hire calls it.

Joseph likely saw what many in that room on Tuesday likely saw: Olivo is a special teamer through and through. As a player once described to me, ‘You have to be a little cooky to enjoy b-lining 60 yards just to smash yourself into another dude.’ Brock Olivo might be a little cooky, and that’s quite alright.

His love for special teams was born during his sophomore year at the University of Missouri, when the then star running back noticed that the struggling Tigers weren’t up to par on special teams because the team wasn’t fielding their best 11 in that phase. He told his coach that he wanted to play special teams and that the program’s other top athletes would be joining him, whether they liked it or not.

Olivo would go on to win the inaugural Mosi Tatupu Award, given to the nation’s top special teams player. He would later see his No. 27 jersey retired by the university where he held the all-time rushing and touchdown records.

Olivo’s four years in the NFL on the Detriot Lions were fueled by his special teams play, leading the league’s top special teams unit in tackles multiple times.

You get it, the guy flat out loves special teams and when you hear him talk there is no doubt.

“It’s a niche, and I’ve sold it to my teammates and my players like this: ‘Man, how cool is it that when everyone else is shunning special teams and putting it on the back burner, how cool are you if you’re different and make it a priority? How cool is that, man?'”

Like many involved with special teams, Olivo’s full of clever phrases and acronyms, anything to engage his audience. He’s got ‘KILL’ it; he talks about “when the hay is in the barn,” the list goes on.

“There’s CTB which is come to balance, now I’m kind of getting technical,” he explained, just absolutely chomping at the bit to talk about his passion. “Come to balance is a technique that you use as you’re getting close to a returner and you need to start bending your knees and short stepping in order to be able to COD—Oh! There’s another one, change of direction—They’re going to start coming out, there are a lot of them. Ryan, as we go forward, I’ll throw some more at you.”

“There are a couple that I can’t share,” he told BSN Denver with a laugh before beginning to whisper. “They’re hilarious. One is LFF but that’s something I can’t say.”

It’s something about letting that something fly.

In the end, Olivo doesn’t have a choice. He has to be different because not only does he have to teach, he has to engage interest in something that most players just aren’t as interested in as he is.

“There’s no question, that’s a great point, you do [have to be a little different],” he said. “Guys have a lot on their plate offensively and defensively. When everybody comes into the NFL, the majority of them aren’t thinking, ‘Alright, I’m going to be the best R3 on kickoff I can be, and that’s what I’m going to be, that’s my career goal.’ No, he’s thinking, ‘Okay, I have to become the No. 2 wideout, or I have to become the No. 1 running back, whatever it may be. It’s my job as a coordinator, it’s our job as a special teams staff to not bog those guys down, to make it fun but at the same time educate them on why their role on special teams is so darn important. Field position in the NFL is everything.”

“Guys are looking for that energy,” he added. “They’re looking for something to hold onto, to grab onto because—look—they’re tired! They’re bogged down mentally from offense and defense; they’re saying, ‘Aw shoot, another meeting?’ No, I have to give them something, I have to give them a nugget, I have to be energetic and contagious.”

Trust this. Brock Olivo is definitely energetic and contagious.

“I’ve always had it, so I’m going to assume it came from my parents,” he explained of that energy, talking faster with excitement just thinking about it. “Just being enthusiastic about everything you do, attacking everything you do. Attacking everything you do head on, whether it’s football, whether it’s teaching your daughter how to ride a bike, whatever it is, be enthusiastic and attack that thing head on, man, and good things are going to happen. What better place to be enthusiastic and fired up and attack something than as a special teams coach.”

In the end, that enthusiasm is all about conveying to your players just how essential their job on “teams” is.

“Special teams can swing the course of a game, and it can win games in this league… Our identity is going to be fast, smart and tough; we’re going to bring that to town… I have to give Joe [Woods] and I have to give Mike [McCoy] the best field position possible, and that’s how we’re gonna roll here… We’re going to be simple. We’re going to play fast, we’re going to play hard… We’re going to turn our guys loose and really, our motto—it’s going to be in my office—it’s going to be, ‘Cut it loose and have fun.’ That’s what we’re going to do.”

But don’t forget that excitement and enthusiasm.

“Look, excitement, enthusiasm, that is very contagious, and we’re going to fall back on that a lot too.”