Kurt Roper Hired as QB Coach

Mike MacIntyre had a rough year last year as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. CU missed a bowl and opened up plenty of questions about the team that were silenced after a magical 2016. Then, the first coaching change took place when Brian Lindgren left for Oregon State. This left an opening at OC and QB coach. The OC position was filled from within when MacIntyre elevated Darrin Chiaverini to play-caller. Now, MacIntyre has reached into his roots to hire Kurt Roper as a QB coach.

I am a fan of this hire. Roper checks almost all the boxes for me. He has extensive experience coaching QBs, going all the way back to Eli Manning at Ole Miss. He coached two Duke QBs, Thad Lewis and Sean Renfree, that made it to the NFL and he has had success in every stop he’s been in...until he hitched his wagon to Will Muschamp. He was offensive coordinator at Duke from 2008-2013, where he was very successful, but since then he has been OC for Florida and South Carolina, both with Will Muschamp. The offenses have stagnated, partially because of the glacial pace of play, and partially due to the conservative nature of the team. Prior to these last few years, he coached up some great QBs and was in charge of some explosive offenses.

To hire someone with that much high level experience, at OC and QB coach, to a more reserved role as QB coach only is a win. He also has ties to Texas, having graduated from Rice. Finally, he is familiar with MacIntyre, as both are from the David Cutcliffe coaching tree. There is a trust there that should help him hit the ground running. A good hire that should immediately make all our quarterbacks better at the position (at the very least). Plus, and this is more of my preference, he is an experienced coach that can get thrown into the meeting room and provide some guidance. The other offensive coaches are Klayton Adams, Darrin Chiaverini, Darian Hagan, and Gary Bernardi. None of them have been coordinators before, so Roper can Obi-Wan Kenobi the staff if they have questions and free some weight off of MacIntyre’s shoulders. A good hire for the Buffs.