Dorrell deserves “pass” from CU Buffs fans in Year 1, Fowler says
No Laviska Shenault. No Steven Montez. No spring practice.
Even before the coronavirus shook his best-laid plans like a snow globe, new CU football coach Karl Dorrell was pushing a boulder in Boulder upslope, against the wind.
“With any new coach, the jury’s out until you see,” Chris Fowler, the esteemed ESPN host and CU alum, told The Post on Tuesday. “But I will say this: Any new coaching staff has to be given a bit of a pass in their first season after COVID-19.”
Dorrell and his staff, especially. Hired on Feb. 23 to replace Midnight Mel Tucker, the man’s honeymoon lasted about six hours before COVID19 blew in and reset the chess board.
“Every coach I talked to has said (this spring), ‘At least we have an established staff,’ ” Fowler continued.
“Or, ‘At least we don’t have to put in a new offense or defense with live reps during this incredibly unorthodox, uncomfortable offseason program.’ ”
If it wasn’t for bad luck, Dorrell wouldn’t have any luck at all.
At least, until Tuesday. Some of the clouds finally parted when CU chancellor Phil DiStefano announced that on-campus learning will return in August, clearing a major hurdle for football to do the same. Another ray of hope? DiStefano and his Pac-12 peers voted to allow voluntary, in-person workouts on conference campuses starting June 15.
“I love the word ‘voluntary,’ ” Fowler chuckled.
“The one thing you know about college football is, there’s nothing ‘voluntary’ about it. If any player views that as voluntary, they weren’t paying attention. Or they don’t value their starting job that much.”
On the flip side, Dorrell still doesn’t have a starting quarterback. Or a first-team left tackle. Or a nice, leisurely cupcake stroll into league play.
“The quarterback competition is another one of those (concerns),” Fowler said. “You don’t know who the guy is, so he can’t really be a leader throughout the summer, because he’s not established yet. If Montez had another year, he could get his receivers together (in the summer) and say, ‘OK, we’re going to throw on our own.’
“If you’re not the guy, if you haven’t demonstrated on the practice field what you can do, that’s a challenge.”
So is the slate. Especially early. Assuming the rest of the pieces line up as planned — and that’s a weekly throw of the dice given the potential for players and staff to contract COVID — have you looked at the dance card?
CU visits Fort Collins in
Week 1 without Mike Bobo to kick around anymore. A trip to Texas A&M looms two weeks later, followed by the Pac-12 opener at Folsom on Sept. 26 against Oregon.
“If, and that’s a big ‘if,’ they’re playing football in the fall, it’s going to be a rush to the first tee to be ready,” Fowler stressed.
“And CU will not be in as advantageous position as coaches who had their systems and staff in place.
“It’s a young team, new leadership, new staff, new offensive and defensive system. You check every box. The reality is, if you were going to be patient before, now you have to be even more patient with the new staff.
“Things can be overcome. But I think people have to understand that a lot of the difficulties we’re dealing with as a society will have a lot more impact on CU football and will create challenges.”
New coach. New system. New (ish) offensive coordinator. New quarterback. New pandemic. No wonder William Hill sportsbooks a few weeks ago slapped the Buffs with 150-to-1 odds to win the Pac-12, the highest in the conference and twice that of Oregon State’s 75/1.
Among Power 5 schools, only Vanderbilt (1,000/1), Arkansas (750/1), Rutgers (500/1), Maryland (300/1), Mizzou (300/1), Boston College (200/1) and Kansas (200/1) are longer shots for a conference title. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
Sean Keeler: 303-954-1516, skeeler@denverpost.com or @seankeeler