Dead period news

New head football coach Mike MacIntyre was introduced to the crowd Friday night during the first half of the men’s basketball blowout of Northern Arizona. He was given a nice ovation, got a pat on the butt by Askia Booker, and told the crowd he wanted to bring a Pac-12 football championship to Boulder as soon as possible-great, me too, so did Embree, so did Hawkins, rah rah.  He also interviewed with Mark Johnson on the radio during halftime, but really didn’t say anything of substance. He is stiiiiiillll “evaluating” possible assistants.

Although there is no recent news on the assistant front, and even though it is a "dead period" with only phone contact allowed with recruits, coach MacIntyre has been at work on the lines with prospects.  It is being reported that 3-star OLB prospect Stephen Van Hooks, who has been verbally committed to Fresno State and highlighted as one of the stars of its class, was offered by Colorado on Friday and that he is seriously considering it.

John Henderson of the Denver Post reports that MacIntyre won’t announce the entire staff January 2^nd.  How it shakes out will definitely depend on how Ron Caragher’s new staff at San Jose St. rounds out after their bowl game next Thursday.  All indications are that coordinators Brian Lindgren (offense) and Kent Baer are on their way to Boulder, but as Baer said, “You never know until you get on the airplane.” (And then even…other opportunities could still arise.) 

It is also assumed that D-line coach Jim Jeffcoat is also coming to Boulder, with some speculation that secondary coach Charles Clark is also on his way, while offensive line coach Gary Bernardi might stay on at SJSU.

Jashon Sykes posted that he has indeed been let go as Director of football operations, and is the first official announcement in the department house cleaning, er…fumigating, that Alfred Williams tweeted about earlier this week, even though everyone close to the program has tried to deny it, without ever actually denying it…“integrity, honest, commitment” right?

There are rumors that Husker fans are calling for Bo Pelini to hire soon-to-be-former CU LB coach Brian Cabral.  At one point, I had heard a rumor that Cabral might be having some medical issues, but I have never seen it substantiated anywhere.

Henderson also said that SJSU receivers coach and recruiting coordinator (I thought Jeffcoat was but…?) Terry Malley might stay on there, which would allow Bobby Kennedy to possibly be the lone holdover at CU.  This could help keep 3-star receiver prospect and verbal commit Bryce Bobo in the Colorado fold.  Might be the case with Devin Ross as well.

Although they called it “really solid”, CBS Sports ranked MacIntyre’s hire as only the 23^rd best of 26 in terms of efficiency this offseason, just as underwhelming as the original announcement was, when it finally came out, and after the snafu with Butch.

As everyone knows by now, MacIntyre and soon-to-be-announced OC Brian Lindgren will run the Pistol offense. Basically, Nevada’s Chris Ault developed the formation to get the best of both worlds: QB under center and QB in shotgun formation.  In the Pistol, the QB lines up a few yards behind center, rather than a full seven yards.  John Henderson also breaks it down for us: http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_22248170/cu-buffs-coach-mike-macintyre-expects-utilize-pistol  “The pistol is designed to add a power running game to a spread offense. Putting the quarterback closer to the line of scrimmage allows him to see the defense better and puts the running back 2 to 3 yards closer to the line on a handoff…The quarterback gets the ball quicker so he can throw quicker passes to receivers in space.”  This allows the QB to better see the field and defense than under center, but still allows the RB to line up directly behind the QB, instead of off to the side in traditional shotgun, which can limit the offense.  It also “hides” the ball a little and, with a mobile QB, the bootleg can be very effective, although we might not see much of that next season with the current roster of QBs.  Offenses that line up in this formation can still use any type of offensive approach or system, run the ball, spread out, zone-option read; CU will likely do just that, run a variety of formations and play calls with the QB in the Pistol.  When Neuheisel tried to run it his last miserable season at UCLA, he didn’t have the right personnel, especially at QB, nor did he have one of the coaches that have developed and utilized it successfully (like Lindgren has).

Kudos to Barry Alvarez and Wisconsin, who plucked everyone’s darling at the beginning of the coaching carousel, Utah State’s Gary Anderson, to succeed the SEC-bound Bret Bielema.  Anderson had (allegedly) previously turned down overtures from both CU and Cal, maybe others, to take a healthy pay-raise to stay in Utah and watch his kids graduate.  But Alvarez is big-time, what any AD should aspire to be, and he quietly went out and got his guy, not settling for his third or fourth choice, like some others might have done, making a national mockery out of themselves and their universities.

The discussion of donations, the Buff Club and direction of the program are hot topics on the Buff forums around the internet.  There are only around 6,000 members in the Buff Club, almost all of which are probably members because you have to ne to be a season ticket holder.  Besides throwing a few luncheons, the Buff Club doesn’t appear to do much else, and only really for folks who live in-state.  Here’s a bunch of people’s takes and Stuart’s synopsis: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/to-buffclub-or-not-to-buffclub/  Now, the group is now making a big push for money, but that money is going to basically go straight to the Bohnhead to spend, and that is just not “fiscally responsible”, seeing as he still owes millions to coaches no longer here, not to mention $5M a year for the coaches who aren’t here yet.  I can only imagine how plans, delays and misappropriations will drag on any renovation of CU football facilities.  They are hoping that they will get a whole bunch of giant donations, which is unrealistic, but they haven’t really done anything to encourage middle level spending from middle class donors where they could go for some volume; however, they also have not done much to give confidence that the money would be used well. 

Best questions from an AllBuffs forum about possible questions for Reed Marks and his interview with Coach MacIntyre:

Thoughts on the blue demon horse of DIA?  Did legal ganja have anything to do with his decision? What did you score on the Wonderlick? If you were given a red sweater as a Christmas gift, would you cut it up with a bowie knife or light it on fire with blow torch, or just say thank you? What will he do to boost the cheerleader talent level?  Have you been to Liquormart yet? Pretty rad, huh? And last, but widely acknowledged on AllBuffs as the best: The daughter of the last CU "coach Mac" was knocked up by a player during the school year (not to mention two others later). As the father of a daughter, are you willing to make a similar commitment?

I guess MacIntyre also has a son who plays QB in high school and many are wondering if he will get recruited by CU?  This might be just as bad of a joke as the last question above.