Colorado promotes Chris Wilson to defensive coordinator

BOULDER — Colorado’s staff is almost finalized.

The Buffs announced Friday that defensive line coach Chris Wilson will be promoted to defensive coordinator. Wilson, 52, previously served as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State from 2010-12 and won a Super Bowl as the defensive line coach of the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017.

Additionally, CU announced that safeties coach Brett Maxie will be promoted to passing game coordinator. Like Wilson, Maxie was hired by head coach Karl Dorrell to join Colorado’s staff last spring.

Wilson was the first reported candidate for the defensive coordinator job, following Dorrell’s firing of former defensive coordinator Tyson Summers in mid-January. Later that week, Dorrell told reporters that he had spent the 10 days following the Alamo Bowl evaluating his program and wanted to find a defensive coordinator who could “bring the defense forward” and “tailor to the skillset” of the players in the program. He was considering candidates from inside and outside of Colorado’s program.

Hearing that Colorado defensive line coach Chris Wilson is viewed as a strong internal candidate to become the Buffs defensive coordinator. The 52-year-old Wilson has DC experience from his days at Miss. State.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 12, 2021

Ultimately, Dorrell must have decided that Wilson could achieve those goals and it’s easy to see why. First of all, Wilson had success in his first season back with the Buffs. (He was previously Colorado’s defensive line coach from 2000-04, working with names like Matt McChesney and Justin Bannan.)

This year, Colorado produced more than eight tackles for loss per game, ranking seventh in the nation. The Buffs also ranked second in the Pac-12 in sacks. Mustafa Johnson and Terrance Lang each provided more than three quarterback pressures per game, according to Pro Football Focus.

This success came after Chris Wilson pushed to change the Buffs from a two-gap technique to a one-gap technique. This meant allowing Colorado’s defensive line to focus on penetration rather than clogging up the trenches.

The other reason Wilson may have fit Dorrell’s criteria is that he literally brought up tailoring the defense to his players when he spoke to reporters in June.

“Great teachers are like custom tailors,” Wilson said this summer. “Each one of you men has a different in-seam. You wear a different size. You can’t take a cookie-cutter approach.”

Chris Wilson is returning to the college ranks and he’s bringing a doctorate in football with him

After promoting Wilson on Friday and hiring former Stanford strength coach Shannon Turley on Thursday, Colorado only has one hole left on the coaching staff: tight ends coach.

Taylor Embree joined Dorrell in Boulder last spring but he left in January to coach running backs for the New York Jets. Dorrell hasn’t addressed the opening publicly but he is talking to reporters Friday afternoon, so an update should be on the way.