Colorado promotes Bryan Cook to Tight Ends coach

The Colorado Buffaloes have filled another vacancy in the coaching staff, this time promoting Bryan Cook to tight ends coach, according to Brian Howell.

As Brian mentioned in the tweet, Cook was previously the director of quality control for the Buffaloes. He joined the staff when Mel Tucker took over in 2019, as Cook has previous connections with former defensive coordinator Tyson Summers from their time at Georgia Southern. Those coaches are both gone, but Karl Dorrell has seen value in keeping him in Boulder.

Cook has decades more experience than his predecessor, Taylor Embree, who left to become the running backs coach for the New York Jets. While Embree was a talented recruiter with a footprint in Southern California, Cook is more of a coaching type. (Feels dumb to say this coach is a coaching type, but you know what I mean.)

His most significant experience was working on Paul Johnson’s staff at Georgia Tech, first as a graduate assistant from 2001 to 2003, then as the QB and B-Backs coach from 2013 to 2016 (when he coached the delightful Justin Thomas), and finally as a defensive quality control assistant in 2018 and 2019. Those tenures were mostly successful, as the Yellow Jackets reached seven bowl games in nine seasons, all of which were led by high-scoring offenses.

It may be reductive to assume he’s going to teach his tight ends how to block, considering his experience in the triple option offense. That’s probably what CU needs anyway, as we saw the position group struggle when Brady Russell was injured. It will be important to develop the talents of Caleb Fauria and Louis Passarello, both of whom have four years left to play.

Welcome, Coach Cook!