from boy wonder to boy blunder
DESCRIPTION
Josh McDaniels came to Denver as the touted protege of Patriots Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick. But after winning his first six games as Broncos’ coach, the 33-year-old lost his magic and the team stumbled to 17 losses in 22 games.TRANSCRIPT
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Make or break season for AFA hoops coach
Air Force sports history offers a clear lesson to anyone who bothers to pay attention.
It does not take forever to revive an Air Force team.
It takes four years.Jeff Reynolds is in
his fourth season as coach of the bas-ketball team. He’s dropped 31 of his last 32 Mountain West Conference games, and he found a way in November to lose to cross-town rival Colorado College.
But his team is showing signs of finally coming to life. The Falcons dropped Evansville on Sunday in a 57-56 thriller in front of a loud crowd of several hun-dred die-hard loyalists.
The Falcons have won four straight, which is a serious
roll when you con-sider the agony of the past two seasons.
If this awaken-ing stretches into the Mountain West Conference sched-ule that begins next month, Reynolds could save his job.
If Reynolds con-tinues his woes in conference play, the lessons for Air Force yesterdays are boldly
obvious. A coach who can win at the academy reveals himself within four seasons.
Examples: One •� When Ken Hatfield
took over as football coach in 1979, the program was in shambles. The Falcons had lost 40 of 54 games, suffered four straight losing seasons and chased Bill Parcells out
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see ramsey • Page 2
oPinion
david ramseydavid.ramsey@ gazette.com / 476-4895
embree hopes to restore cu’s swagger
BOULDER • Jon Embree believes he’s the perfect fit to unite a frayed family.
A former Colorado standout tight end and one-time assistant, Embree is returning to campus to take over the team and surrounding himself with coaches steeped in the Buffs tra-dition in order to restore the luster to the program as it starts a new chap-ter by joining the soon-to-be Pac-12.
Embree was officially introduced as the new coach Monday after accept-ing a five-year deal that’s worth ap-proximately $1 million a season, not counting incentives.
He steps in for Dan Hawkins, who was fired after going 19-39 during four-plus underachieving seasons.
Joining Embree’s staff will be an-other former Buffs stalwart, Eric Bie-niemy, who will finish out the season as the Minnesota Vikings running backs coach before returning as CU’s offensive coordinator.
Brian Cabral, a longtime Colorado
assistant who served as the interim coach once Hawkins was let go, also will stay on board.
This is all part of uniting a bicker-ing Buffs Nation.
by pat grahamThe Associated Press—
colorado football
Fellow former Buffs star Bieniemy also returning to help alma mater
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sEE EmBREE • PagE 2
Former Colorado standout tight end Jon Embree will try to turn his alma mater’s program around as the Buffs head to the Pac-12.
ThE AssoCiATEd PrEss
Was it true? Yes, it was true.Josh McDaniels, the most unpop-
ular man in Colorado, had been fired.
On Monday at 4:40 p.m., Greg Rodriguez was driving along Mon-tebello Drive when he received a call from his sister, who delivered the news everyone was delivering.
Rodriguez immediately pulled his Mitsubishi Montero to the side of the road, jumped out and cel-ebrated by dancing in the street.
“He’s gone! He’s gone! I can love the Broncos again!” Rodriguez shouted as drivers wondered why he was waving his arms and shaking his hips while roaring to the heavens.
Rodriguez wasn’t the only one rejoicing as dusk settled over Colorado. McDaniels accomplished a remarkable amount in 23 months as the leader of the Broncos.
Unfortunately, his accomplishments were almost exclusively negative. He took
a franchise that was hovering just outside the playoffs and sent it to the bottom of the NFL, and along the way alienated Rodriguez along with thousands of other fans.
He started his bumbling early, instantly clashing with quarter-back Jay Cutler, the team’s future, and shipping him to the Chicago. Cutler and the Bears are 9-3. The Broncos are 3-9. He failed to see running back Peyton Hillis’ im-mense potential and traded him to Cleveland, where he’s collected 970 rushing yards, 53 catches
and 13 touchdowns. He watched from the sideline, seemingly helpless, as the Broncos lost 59-14 in October to the ever-mangy Oakland Raiders. This was the low point in Broncos history.
He chased fans from Invesco Field. For decades, fans loved the Broncos no mat-ter what. The bond seemed unbreakable.
McDaniels, against all odds, busted
that bond. At the end of the Denver’s Nov. 28 loss to the St. Louis Rams, the Broncos remained in contention in a tight, dramatic game. And more than half the crowd had already gone home. This was unthinkable. Thousands of fans had abandoned the Broncos. McDaniels’ journey from Boy Wonder to Boy Blunder happened so fast. Seems like an hour or so ago I walked into a big room at Bron-cos headquarters in Englewood and saw McDaniels, who was being introduced as the Broncos’ coach.
He was 33. He looked 23. He was a
BRONCOS
McDaniels’ firing reason to jump for joy
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Josh McDaniels came to Denver as the touted protege of Patriots Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick. But afterwinning his first six games as Broncos’ coach, the 33-year-old lost his magic and the team stumbled to 17 losses in 22 games.
Mark reiS, the gazette
FROM bOYwOndeR tO bOYblundeR
oPinion
david ramseydavid.ramsey@ gazette.com / 476-4895
mORe •� Broncos all-time coaching records. Page 3 •� What was the worst move by Josh McDaniels as coach of the Broncos? Vote in our poll on gazette.com�.
rumors say calhoun on short list
When Troy Calhoun’s name was being mentioned as Fisher De-Berry’s possible replacement at Air Force in December of 2006, every-one in the Broncos organization spoke highly of Calhoun. They all endorsed him as a great candidate for the Falcons.
Calhoun was with the Broncos for three years, rising to assistant head coach in 2005. He went to the Texans as their offensive coordina-tor in 2006, then came back to Air Force to succeed DeBerry.
by frank [email protected]—
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see calhoun • Page 3