Pritchard weighs in on Colorado’s return to success

Mike Pritchard is back home again.

This isn’t where he was born (South Carolina) or grew up (Las Vegas), but this is where he became a star, as MVP of the 1990 Colorado Buffaloes, who won a share of the national championship. Pritchard, a former NFL wide receiver and first-round draft pick, moved back to Colorado about a month ago, switching jobs from his sports radio show in Las Vegas to his new morning radio show in Denver.

On Saturday, he’s scheduled to return to his alma mater, where he’ll make an appearance with the Amway Coaches Poll Trophy that is awarded in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Association to the winner of the annual College Football Playoff. The famed crystal football trophy is on a nationwide tour of campuses and this time will make a stop before Colorado’s game against No. 6 Washington.

As part of that appearance, Pritchard, 47, talked with USA TODAY Sports about a wide range of subjects. The Q&A is edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: The Buffs were national contenders and national champs when you played at CU and afterward in the 1990s. They also won the Big 12 Conference championship in 2001 under coach Gary Barnett. But then they had a whole decade of losing from 2006 until last year, when they surprisingly finished 10-4 under coach Mike MacIntyre. Why did they slip for so long ?

A: I think CU lost its identity with the community. When coach Barnett was leaving, and certainty when coach (Dan) Hawkins came in, nobody recognized the program anymore and nobody wanted to support CU football anymore.

I think they just really lost touch with the community. … When coach Macintyre got hired, he really reached out to the community, and he reached out to local athletes.

And he certainly reached out to a lot of athletes that were involved in the program to under- stand what made CU successful for a decade. He tapped back into that.

Q: You played for a lot of well-known coaches: Bill McCartney (Colorado), Jerry Glanville (Atlanta Falcons), Jones (Falcons), Mike Shanahan and Wade Phillips (Denver Broncos), Mike Holmgren and Dennis Erickson (Seattle Seahawks). Who was your favorite?

A: Those were awesome experiences.

By far, Bill McCartney would be my favorite coach out of all them. He was just so influential on my life and my direction playing football.

Q: Can the Buffs beat the Huskies on Saturday night? The Huskies destroyed CU in last year’s Pac-12 Conference championship game 41-10.

A: My prediction is a competitive game. I think the crowd is going to be into it. I’ll give the edge to the Huskies. It’s going to be a competitive game. I think a motivating factor for the Buffs is certainly what happened in the Pac-12 championship game last year.