Coach brings urgency to Buffs’ defense
B O U LDE R » Hired in December by first-year Colorado football coach Mel Tucker to coordinate the Buffaloes defense, Tyson Summers went into the job like just about every other position he’s had in coaching.
The new job, ideally, is one that lasts a while and allows Summers and his family to get settled. The reality profession, however, is that Summers can’t get too comfortable.
“I don’t think you can ever look at a place and not fully intend to be there for a long time,” he said, “and I don’t think you can ever go into it and say, ‘Well, it’s OK to accept (mediocrity) because we’re going to be really good in three years.’ ”
Three years is an eternity in the world of coaching – particularly for assistants. This is Summers’ 11th stop along his coaching journey; seven of the previous 10 lasted one season. None of CU’S previous four defensive coordinators got a third season in Boulder – whether they left by choice or not.
Summers could be at CU for several years, but forget the notion of him coming in with a two- or three-year plan to get his defense rolling.
“You’ve got one year,” inside linebackers coach Ross Els said of the pressure on coaches. “I don’t care how long the contract is; you have one season to get it right and if you don’t do it well and you get to stick around, you’re lucky. There’s a sense of urgency in our profession, no doubt.”
Job security isn’t the main motivation for Summers, however. It’s competitiveness and a desire to succeed that drives him.
“The people who are usually really good at what they do are the people that are self motivated and the people that are able to do the best job of leading other people along the way,” Summers said. “Hopefully our results at the end of the year will be able to show we were able to do that.”
Summers is running a defense for the first time since 2015 at Colorado State. He left the Rams after that season to take the head coaching job at Georgia Southern, but he was fired after a 0-6 start to his second season. He spent last season as a quality control analyst at Georgia — working with Tucker, who was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
That relationship with Tucker paved the way for Summers to land at CU.
“This opportunity and the leadership position at the University of Colorado was unbelievable,” Summers said. “It’s also really cool to be in a place where you have people that you really, really care about and people that you trust. The relationship and trust factor that I feel like coach Tucker and I have, that makes it really easy for us to communicate and really easy to be on the same page and be able to show a lot of oneness when we get on the field.”
A long-time defensive coach, Tucker is sure to be involved on that side of the ball, but Summers has already earned respect from players and coaches for the job he’s done.
“I love him. I think the whole defense loves him,” inside linebacker Jonathan Van Diest said. “He’s rah-rah, rowdy and brings a lot of energy and we get behind that. It’s not that he has to be the motivator for us, but you want to play for him. Also he pushes you to play for each other and step up.”