Colorado fire football coach Karl Dorrell, DC Chris Wilson
The Colorado football program is hitting the reset button yet again.
Following Saturday’s 43-20 loss at Arizona, athletic director Rick George has announced that CU has fired head coach Karl Dorrell and defensive coordinator Chris Wilson.
Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Sanford has named defensive line coach Gerald Chatman as the defensive coordinator and tight ends coach Clay Patterson as the offensive coordinator.
“I want to thank Karl for his hard work in leading our program since 2020,” George said in a press release. “Ultimately, however, the results on the field just did not measure up to our expectations and standards, which made it necessary for us to make this change at this time. It was an extremely difficult decision and I wish Karl all of the best in his future endeavors.”
Dorrell is in the third year of a five-year contract, while Wilson is in the second year of a three-year deal.
Dorrell went 8-15 with the Buffaloes, including 0-5 this season. CU and in-state rival Colorado State (0-4) are the only remaining winless teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. It is just the fourth 0-5 start in CU history.
“I fully support Rick in making this difficult decision to dismiss coach Dorrell,” said chancellor Philip DiStefano in a press release. “The football team is an important part of the university and I know our students, alumni, and fans have high expectations for a winning product on the field. I thank coach Dorrell for his dedication to CU Boulder and his unwavering commitment to our student-athletes.”
CU is the fourth school from the Football Bowl Subdivision to fire its head coach this season, following Nebraska, Arizona State and Georgia Tech.
Per the terms of his contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2024, Dorrell is entitled to claim the entirety of his remaining salary, which is roughly $8.7 million. Dorrell has a “duty to obtain new employment to mitigate” the costs of the buyout. If Dorrell obtains a coaching job over the next two years, his salary would reduce the amount CU owes him.
Wilson is making $600,000 this year and is slated to make $650,000 next year. He can claim 80% of his remaining salary, which would be roughly $600,000.
In addition, eight other assistants are under contract through at least the 2023 season, including Sanford, who is under contract through 2024. It could cost CU as much as $3.7 million to buy out the other eight assistants. That cost could also be mitigated by their future employment opportunities.
Per CU’s press release, a national search for a full-time head coach will begin immediately.
Hired in February of 2020, Dorrell successfully navigated the Buffs through the COVID pandemic. CU started 4-0 in that shortened season of 2020 and finished 4-2, with a trip to the Valero Alamo Bowl – one of only two bowl appearances for the program in the last 15 years. The 4-0 start helped Dorrell land Pac-12 coach of the year honors.
Since then, however, CU is 4-15, with 14 of those losses by 15 points or more. The Buffs followed their 55-23 loss to Texas in the 2020 Alamo Bowl with a dismal 4-8 record in 2021. Dorrell changed 60 percent of his full-time assistant staff in an effort to make this year better.
Instead, the decline continued. CU was the first Power 5 conference team in 65 years to open its season with four consecutive losses by 25-plus points. The Buffs barely ended that streak with a 23-point loss on Saturday.
After having one of the worst offenses in the country a year ago (18.8 points per game, 257.6 yards per game), the Buffs have been worse this season, despite four new coaches on that side of the ball. CU ranks 128th out of 131 teams with 13.4 points per game and 124th with 277.0 yards per game
Defensively, the Buffs have been abysmal this season, ranking 129th in points allowed (43.2 per game) and yards allowed (508.8 per game). They are last against the run, allowing 294.20 yards per game.
On Saturday, Arizona racked up 673 yards – the fourth-most ever allowed by a CU defense. Wildcats quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 484 yards and six touchdowns, tying the record for most passing yards by an opposing quarterback.
Despite dealing with several injuries, the Buffs had respectable numbers on defense last year, giving up 26.7 points per game (72nd) and 420.8 yards per game (98th).
Hired as defensive line coach in 2020, Wilson was promoted to coordinator in 2021. Last offseason, Wilson switched from coaching defensive line to outside linebackers. For Wilson, this was his second stint at CU. He coached the Buffs’ defensive line from 2000-04.
This was Dorrell’s third go-round at CU. He coached the receivers from 1992-93 and after a year at ASU returned as offensive coordinator/receivers coach from 1995-98.
Dorrell has a career record of 43-42 as a head coach, including five seasons (2003-07) at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to five bowl appearances. Between his tenures at UCLA and CU, he spent 11 of those 12 seasons as an NFL assistant, with 2014 the only exception. He was the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt that year.
CU has had three different full-time head coaches in the last five years.
With one game to play in the 2018 season, CU fired Mike MacIntyre and settled on a $7.238 million buyout.
Mel Tucker coached the Buffs in 2019, but abruptly left in February of 2020 to take the head coaching job at Michigan State. That opened the door for Dorrell, who was the receivers coach of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins when he was hired by CU.