Special edition CUI Sports mailbag: What’s wrong with CU football?

Head Coach Jon Embree reacts to a call during the CU-UCLA game at Folsom Field Saturday. The Buffs would lose 42-17. (CU Independent File/Robert R. Denton)

What is wrong with the CU football team?

Caryn Maconi, sports section editor

Much of the reason for hiring current head coach Jon Embree was that he had a long history with the University of Colorado. He was a tight end for the Buffs in the 1980s, and he worked as an assistant on the CU coaching staff for ten years under three different head coaches (Bill McCartney, Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett). When Embree was named head coach in December 2010, Chancellor Phil DiStefano said the new hire embodied CU’s values and that he had a vision to bring the Buffs back to their glory days. But Embree has largely failed in that attempt so far. The athletic department would have been wise to attach itself less to the idea of a former Buff leading the Buffs and more to the idea of hiring the best coach possible, regardless of CU affiliation.

Ryan Sterner, sports section editor 

A strong football team needs the support of an enthusiastic student body, or at least a student body that cares, especially at home games. Why don’t they serve beer at Folsom? If you really want to rally the support of the CU student body, then you need to get them liquored up before, during and after your atrocious loss. It’s tough for 30,000 students to be angry at the seemingly slackjawed simpletons that have been employed to “play” football for CU if they can’t remember any of it.

Joe Wirth, veteran sports columnist  

The CU football team sucks because CU just simply isn’t ready to be a “football school.” It’s not like we don’t want to be, though, what school wouldn’t? We’ll keep building crazy architectural building after Buffed up Rec Center after new stadium until, finally, years down the road, like the rain in Forest Gump’s adventures in Vietnam, the construction will end, and CU’s football team will start winning. It’s not just the buildings and the physical structures of the school that aren’t ready for football, but it’s also the university itself. This town is already so crazy with drunkenness, parties, raccoons and over intoxicated teenagers to the point that if we introduced an SEC-caliber football program there would be pure chaos in the streets of Boulder. It sounds fun, I feel ready, but I’m also a twenty year old that feels too old for this town.

Shay Knolle, veteran sports reporter

Why do the Buffs suck so much? It is simple really, so simple you’d be amazed it’s been overlooked this entire time. It’s not due to just poor coaching on part of Embree and his staff, poor player management or a lack of talent. The answer lies in the uniforms. Yes, the uniforms. What better way to rejuvenate the program than with an overhaul of the jerseys? Like the great Primetime Deion Sanders said, “You look good, you feel good. You feel good, you play good. You play good, they pay good.” At the very least, if we’re going to be blown out by every team remaining on the schedule, let’s go out with some style.

Have something to ask the CUI Sports staff? Tweet us at @cuindependent or @CUISports, and we’ll address your question in next week’s mailbag!

Contact CU Independent Sports Editors Caryn Maconi and Ryan Sterner at Caryn.maconi@colorado.edu and Ryan.sterner@colorado.edu.