Second-year Colorado Buffaloes head coach Mike MacIntyre found out he was not coaching San Jose State anymore last season. In his first year coaching the Buffaloes, he took a beating as coach as the Buffs were outclassed against Pac-12 teams.
In MacIntyre’s first year as the Buffs coach, he had an 4-8 record with an 1-8 conference record. This year will not be any better. The talent is not there to beat Pac-12 teams. The Buffaloes head coach knows it as much as anyone.
MacIntyre knew what he got himself into when he took the Buffaloes coaching job. He was hired to start the rebuilding process, and he took the job knowing he is capable of doing it after what he did at San Jose State by turning a 1-11 program in 2010 into an 11-2 team in 2012. He knew this was going to be a long process.
With this year’s Buffs being the youngest team in the Pac-12, and the tenth youngest in the country, it’s going to take couple of years until we see progress with MacIntyre’s program. By then, his recruits should be players as juniors and seniors. How they develop as players will determine if his program is trending upward.
MacIntyre deserves four or five years to see this through. He inherited a bad program that was run under Dan Hawkins. Jon Embree, who was Hawkins’ successor, never had a chance to succeed in his two years of coaching the football program, and the university decided to be realistic and understand they need a coach who knows how to rebuild from the ground up. Non-winning seasons since eight years ago can do that to a once proud university.
Coaching at Colorado is not an easy job. Good coaches like Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett and Hawkins had hard time winning there. That’s one reason the university could not attract an elite coach or a promising coaching candidate.
For MacIntyre to have success, he has to find a way to recruit the in-state players rather than letting them play in California or Texas. He and his staff also have to develop football players into good ones. They need to put them in a position to succeed.
Once the second-year Buffaloes coach does that, he can get other recruits from around the country. Winning will sell the brand.
Right now, all he can do is preach discipline, hard work and attention to detail to his underclassmen in setting the tone for the program.
One thing going for MacIntyre is the football program will have new facilities and the football stadium will be renovated. Those will be selling points for recruits. It is something that matters for football players. They want proper facilities when they can work out and work with coaches to be the best football players they can be. Colorado State can only look at what Colorado’s new facilities and stadium with envy.
Another thing going for him is he has the patience to handle a rebuilding project. He knows he has a plan, and he is sticking to the course. That’s important for a football coach to get the rebuilding process right. Most times, coaches tend to stray from their plan out of pressure to win games.
Still, MacIntyre knows he won’t have a job for life if he does not win. There can only be so much patience from the university, boosters and fans. He has to show them he is the right guy.
He would love to see his team improve this coming season from 4 wins to 7 wins. That would be a good selling point to Colorado recruits and the fans. He knows patience can only last so long.
MacIntyre has been mentioning his talking points of staying the course and good days are ahead. He has to keep saying it and believing it for this once proud program to get back of track for players to follow his lead. He certainly has the energy and experience for a job like this. It’s going to be needed for a turnaround to happen at Boulder.
No one knows what he is going to do. Even he can’t be so sure since this is the first time he is turning a major program around that is so much different than turning a once-WAC football program around. He is hoping for the best.
The former San Jose State coach wants to see this through in Colorado. He knows he is the right man at the job. He has put the work in trying to make all this work. He would love to do what Bill McCartney did in building that program to excellence.
He can only hope winning and progress can make all of this happen.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro: @LightRodWriter
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
