Getting to know the new leaders of Colorado's coaching staff

“The theme of the day was energy.”

Colorado interim head coach Mike Sanford said as he addressed the media in his first press conference as the leader of CU football. No one took Tuesday’s theme more seriously than Sanford himself.

Buffs’ media were allowed to watch practice on Tuesday for the first time this year during a brief 20-minute window of individual position group work and 7-on-7.

Sanford has already been a breath of fresh air for Colorado football as he was running around the practice field chasing and cheering for any player that made a play.

After Sanford and the Buffs’ first practice in the post-Dorrell era, Sanford addressed the media and took questions before introducing Clay Patterson and Gerald Chatman as offensive and defensive coordinators.

As he mentioned in his introductory press conference, Sanford met with every player on the roster before moving forward as the Buffs’ interim head coach.

“I can’t just assume that everybody’s ready to move on,” Sanford said. “Coach Dorrell brought a majority of these young players here and there’s a tremendous love and respect for Coach Dorrell.”

After those meetings, Sanford announced that every player is still bought in and there will be no surprise redshirts or transfers at this point.

“I think all of them realized that every single one of us needs to bring more energy to practice, every single one of us needs to bring more accountability, to how we meet in our position meetings and the intention of those meetings,” Sanford said.

The Buffs struggled to translate practice performance to gameday under Dorrell and in his first practice in Dorrell’s place, the Buffs’ interim head coach tried mimicking gameday scenarios by practicing at Franklin Field.

“I think that’s where the execution gap has existed for us,” Sanford said. “Executing well in a controlled environment in practice, and then going into a quote-unquote, chaotic, noise-driven environment on a game day, all of a sudden, the execution and details start to fall off.”

Sanford and his staff conducted a thorough self-scout in an attempt to identify exactly what this team’s issues are and what needs the most immediate attention.

Colorado’s defensive struggles resulted in Chris Wilson’s dismissal and now that Gerald Chatman is in his place, the Buffs will be playing sound, fast and simple defense according to Sanford.

Tuesday’s gameday setting for practice wasn’t just for the players, the Buffs’ new defensive coordinator also used it as an opportunity to get game-ready.

“[Chatman] already had his headset on, communicating the calls and it was fun to watch him work with the effort and intensity he brought,” Sanford said.

This is the first time in Chatman’s 13-year coaching career that he has been a defensive coordinator.

“You have to answer to what you’re called to do,” Chatman said.

Chatman and the Buffs have a lot to do to fix a defense that is still the worst in the country in terms of rushing yards against per game. Before speaking about anything related to scheme, Chatman wants to alter the defense’s attitude.

“We have to change our traits, how we take the field, our energy and our sense of urgency,” Chatman said. “Scheme-wise, we’re going to be sound. We need to put guys in the right position to be successful. When you do that then tackling improves and the takeaways improve.”

It seems to be all about the details when it comes to Colorado’s new defensive coordinator. The Buffs defense practiced formation recognition Tuesday and will be watching individual position group film as well as team film under Chatman’s lead.

The Buffs’ defensive coordinator has placed an emphasis on re-teaching tackling mechanics and pursuit drills to get the defense moving as one unit as opposed to a group of individuals.

Colorado EDGE defender Terrance Lang expects the Buffs to be more aggressive on defense under Chatman.

“One of our main points of emphasis is being able to get more pressure on the quarterback,” Lang said. “We’re going to come after people a lot.”

On the other side of the ball, Clay Patterson brings some offensive coordinator and play-calling experience, just not at the FBS level. Patterson ran offenses at Texas A&M-Kingsville and Trinity Valley Community College (Athens, TX) but now it’s at the Power 5 level.

“I left Minnesota wanting more responsibility and wanting to have a little more input in the offense,” Patterson said. “I’ve got that here with Coach Sanford.”

With Patterson moving up into the booth for the Buffs, the tight end’s room is left without a coach. Or at least a formal coach.

“It’s funny because with everything going on, I walked into the meeting room today and I wasn’t as prepared as I normally am,” Patterson said with a smile. “I said, ‘guys, a lot is going on right now, here are the notes.’ And then Brady [Russell] literally said, ‘hey coach, it’s good I’m the interim tight end coach.’”

Similar to how Chatman is treating the defense, the Buffs’ new offensive coordinator is going back to the basics.

“We’re going to start with the details and coach them hard,” Patterson said. “We went back and reinstalled a lot of our base plays today because they’re young and that’s what you have to do. You have to teach them, you have to love them, and you have to care about them.”

Beyond that, look for the Buffs to be more aggressive when it comes to throwing the football early in their offensive drives.

“We have to be able to make some chunk plays, Patterson said. “We have to have some intermediate passing chunk plays. It doesn’t have to be explosive, it doesn’t have to be 80-yard touchdowns but we have to be better at moving the chains and getting that initial first down.”

In some ways, this is a dream job for Patterson who got a laugh out of everyone at the press conference when he talked about coaching for Colorado.

“My dream was to be a Big 12 offensive coordinator at Colorado or OU and I wanted to run the wishbone so we’ll see you guys next Saturday,” Patterson said as he stood up from his chair and faked an exit before ending his availability shortly thereafter.

There was a newfound sense of energy around Colorado’s football program after the changes to the coaching staff. Their ability to recognize how delicate of a situation this is for the players as well as the efforts being made to improve the program have given the Buffs a sense of hope during the bye week.

Cal is also on bye this week and could be without starting quarterback Jack Plummer before they meet the Buffs on October 15th for a duel at Folsom Field.