All In The Family

Homecoming is coming a few months early to Boulder. The folks on in The Republic tabbed one of their own, Jon Embree, to become the new football coach.

He won't be just a "normal" football hire either. He'll be charged with leading the Buffs back to a bowl game after their longest non-bowling stretch in nearly three decades. He'll lead the Buffs into a new conference, one that currently boasts the nation's top ranked team, a tradition rich program in LA, a new power in Utah, and some of the most picteresque locales in college football. He'll need to galvanize a disgruntled alumni base, a disenchanted group of former players, and the casual football fan along the Front Range who only pays attention to Boulder when a ranked opponent stops by. He'll be the first minority coach in the program's history. He'll need to assemble staff from the pieces of a staff that span back one, two, three, even four head coach's back. He'll have to re-establish his Colorado High Schools ties from his days in Colorado that date back to the Cherry Creek powers of the 80s. And he'll have to gain the trust of the existing team who have never tasted success.

So that's all. Sounds easy enough.

Embree doesn't have the sizzle of the big names or hot coordinators. He can't talk all Zen and yell and scream like the last coach. He's never been a head coach. He could be the next Karl Dorrell. But he does have one thing and that's Black and Gold flowing through his veins. He's knows traditon, the greats before, and he knows Colorado. And lately Colroado hasn't known much other than losing.

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