Monday Buff Bites - Basketball may be done, but Football is Back!

CU Basketball is done for this year. Believe me, I was there (man).  What I didn't get to see was the re-return of Spring Football. I'm excited.

Thorburn: Tad Boyle appears ready to lead CU Buffs for long haul - Buffzone

The Final Four is about crowning a national champion...The Final Four is also the annual convention for college basketball coaches and a place where athletic directors flock to feed the coaching carrousel.

Each spring dozens of universities fire their head coach or are in the market for a new one when theirs swims away to a bigger pond. In the future, Tad Boyle's name will be the subject of speculation when prominent head coaching positions become available.

Colorado's head coach is already a "hot" name in the business after building the program at Northern Colorado from scratch and leading the Buffs to a school-record 24 wins during his first season in Boulder. "I love CU, I love Colorado, my family loves it," Boyle said during an interview with the Camera after the Buffs' ride ended with a loss to Alabama in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals in New York last week.

"There's a lot of things we feel very, very good about. I don't even worry about that stuff. It doesn't even enter my mind. "You hear things and people tell you things. I'm just fortunate to be the head coach of Colorado and I don't feel any different than I did on April 19 last year when they hired me. This is where I want to be."

Coaches and lying usually go together like the pick-and-roll. But you get the sense that the down-to-earth Boyle really does view CU as a "dream job" because he's a Colorado native who believes this program is a sleeping giant. "It's certainly a better job and it is a different job," Boyle said.

"With our new practice facility coming on board and the commitment and investment that our administration has made, it's a much better situation."

"We've got everything we need to be successful. Next year is a new year. What I want to do is build a program that can sustain success," Boyle said. "I don't want to have a year where you're losing 80 percent of your production in one year. That makes it difficult the following year. "Once we're able to put some recruiting classes together back-to-back-to-back and redshirt some kids, then I'll say, 'OK, it's a different job.' "

Buffs Back At It After Spring Break - CUBuffs.com

The University of Colorado football team practiced for the first time in 10 days following spring break on a brisk afternoon on the lower practice fields, the seventh of 15 total practices leading up to the Spring Game on April 9.

CU head coach Jon Embree was impressed with the defense the first time back on the field. "It was a really good practice by the defense," Embree said. "I was encouraged to see them come out and respond, they were really sharp."

Embree spent part of the break reviewing the film from the first scrimmage (three times) and came away with some points:

• The run game was as it looked in person, solid, Tony Jones in particular ran well.
• The passing game needs work, but nothing schematic, just "guys understanding how to do some things and attacking coverage's."
• But he did say the quarterbacks did a good job running the offense, getting in and out of the huddle and taking care of the ball.
• Defensively, the tackling suffered at times and the Buffs need to be better on the defensive line, but "Conrad Obi played well, he's starting now, he's doing a really good job," and
• "Doug Rippy had a good scrimmage and I saw some good things from him."
• A catch-22, "defensively you don't want to see them run the ball that well, but I'm glad we are running the ball that well."

Video: Colorado's Jon Embree - Pac-10 Blog - ESPN - Ted Miller actually visits the schools in the conference that he covers, including Colorado. Here's a video!

Spring Practice Coverage - CUatthegame.com - all of the after-practice quotes without any of that pesky formatting.

Big Day For Hansen In Second Spring Scrimmage - CUBuffs.com

Tyler Hansen completed 18-of-19 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns in Colorado's 82-play scrimmage on the lower practice fields Saturday. The scrimmage lasted an hour-and-sixteen-minutes and is the Buffs' final scrimmage before the spring game on Saturday, April 9, 6 p.m. at Folsom Field.

The offense scored eight touchdowns, rushing for five in addition to Hansen's three through the air. "He was good knowing where to go with the ball," said coach Jon Embree on Hansen's performance.

"He did a good job of placing the ball; I thought his accuracy was pretty good for the most part. He made a couple good throws on the deep ball."

Hansen's three touchdowns went to Will Jefferson (45 yards), Paul Richardson (58 yards), and Rodney Stewart (six yards). The offense totaled 303 yards and 41 points in 33 plays with Hansen behind center.

Embree is not ready to say that Hansen has locked down the number one quarterback spot, however. "I want to evaluate this all the way through. If at the end of spring it's still like this, then we'll go with Tyler," Embree said. "Nick (Hirschman) still has time to close the gap and if he closes it, then we'll let this thing continue, but I'm not going to play these games like, 'Oh I don't know who's going to do it,' and all that stuff. Believe me, if Tyler continues like he has and Nick doesn't pick it up a little bit, then Tyler will be our number one." 

There's more where this came from, come back tomorrow and see.  Go Buffs!