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Black and Gold Again: Darrin Chiaverini

The Buffs replaced Troy Walters with a fantastic hire.

By Jack Barsch
Brian Bahr/Getty Images

The Buffs replaced Troy Walters with a fantastic hire.

After Kent Baer and Andy Larussa left last year to coach at UNLV, many Buff fans wondered how HCMM would fill those positions. He wasn't happy with the defense, and he wanted a change in attitude. Well, any worries were put to rest when the names were announced. After some deft twitter stalking by the fan base showed some new connections to Joe Tumpkin, many were worried that the former Central Michigan defensive coordinator would jump straight to be being the Buffs' man in charge. Then pretty much everybody cheered when he was announced... as safeties coach. Could it be that the Buffs are acting like they belong with the big boys again, plucking young and dynamic coaches and putting them in a position to succeed? But there was still the DC job. Who would take that? Well, pretty much everyone's wildest expectations were met and then some when Jim Leavitt joined the staff. They were looked at as solid hires then, but now, after going through the 2015 campaign and watching the recruiting trail, both Leavitt and Tumpkin are absolute home runs. Coach Mac and Rick George did fantastically well. And it looks they struck (black and) gold again with Darrin Chiaverini.

Taking over for the departed Troy Walters as WR coach, Chiv brings experience from the spread offense at Texas Tech and a bevy of recruiting connections in the Lone Star State. He also recruits Southern California HARD, and actually beat out the Buffs for a WR named Tony Brown just last cycle. He has worked as a ST coordinator at every single coaching stop so it stands to reason that he can help the Buffs with some of their woes there. Here's the kicker (pun totally intended) - Coach MacIntyre also hired him as co-OC with Brian Lindgren, presumably tasked with bringing some of TT's spread concepts to the Rocky Mountains. It's a step up for an up-and-coming coach, and just might pay huge dividends for CU next year. Simply put, Darrin Chiaverini answers a lot of Colorado fans' questions heading into next year, and he's just getting started.

Take a look at his resume:

"He then turned his attention to coaching, tutoring the receivers at Mt. San Antonio College in 2007 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2008.  In 2009, he rejoined his college coach, Neuheisel, as the assistant special teams coach at UCLA.  He helped pilot one of the top units in the Pac-10 and the Bruins captured the Eagle Bank Bowl with a 30-21 win over Temple.

He returned to the junior college ranks for the next four seasons (2010-13) at Riverside (Calif.) City College, where he was the associated head coach, co-offensive and special teams coordinator in addition to being in charge of recruiting.  Riverside was 40-5 in the four years there and produced 15 Division I players, three of whom would head to his next stop, Texas Tech."

(from this article)

What intrigues me most, even more than his time at Texas Tech, is his time at Riverside City College, one of the biggest farms for D1 talent in the west. He wore many hats there (not as many as Les Miles), and based on his hire directly to a Power 5 program, did a great job there. He held the same co-OC title there, and it seems like everywhere he's been, he has had a very successful passing offense. That's a very important connection for the Buffs to have, and one that should pay almost immediate dividends. Obviously, his time at Texas Tech is the most immediately relevant to his position here. Tech has had a very successful offense, partly because of scheme and partly because of talent, both of which he should have a hand in while in Boulder. Trailing only Baylor at 595 yards per game, the Red Raiders were prolific on that side of the ball, and if Chiaverini can bring even a little bit of that success to CU, Buff fans will be happy. I'm excited to see how he shapes his WR unit, as he has shown a clear preference towards big wide-outs, something I am very partial to. Give me Dorial-Green Beckham every day over D'Anthony Thomas. Darrin should also channel his playing days and draw up a lot more crossing routes and general utilization of the middle of the field, something that may have been lacking recently.

Here's some of his tweets from the day his hire was announced:

Chiaverini is just what the doctor ordered for this team, and fits the holes in his staff almost perfectly. He recruits in the two areas that the Buffs have had the most historical success, Southern California and Texas, and he has the necessary connections there to be successful for CU. He brings experience with the spread offense that could really open up the weapons that the coaches have stockpiled over the years. Most importantly, he wants to be in Boulder, and he wants to help the team win. Chiv is another win in Coach Mac's recruiting cap, and Mac has shown a great ability to fill the open spots on his staff. With Jim Leavitt and Darrin in the fold, this is definitely the most energetic staff in the nation, and I can't wait to see what they do in the spring and summer. There's going to be a lot more coaching news coming out of the Champions Center in the coming months, as a new strength and conditioning coach is needed and Coach Mac presumably still hasn't finished his staff evaluations. Stay tuned, but for the first swing, it sure looks like Coach Mac hit a home run.

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