CU football
Brewster’s love of the game has carried him to many stops along his coaching journey.
A former tight end at Illinois, Brewster has been an assistant coach at Purdue, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi State, Florida State, Texas A&M, Florida and Jackson State. He also spent five years in the NFL, with the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos before a four-year run (2007-10) as the head coach at the University of Minnesota.
As an assistant at Florida State (2013-17), he met Sanders while recruiting Sanders’ high school team in Texas.
“We just kind of hit it off,” Brewster said. “You have to gravitate to a guy like coach Prime and his personality.”
That connection led Brewster to Jackson State last year and then to Boulder this winter.
Brewster is eager to bring his experience to the table in helping the Buffs rebound from a dismal 1-11 season in 2022.
“I’ve been amazingly blessed to have coached at every level — high school, college, the National Football League; I’ve been a head coach,” he said. “Next season is going to be, I believe, my 37th year as a coach, and it benefits me to having stood before the team, talked to the team (as a head coach). Experience is invaluable, it really is.
“The No. 1 prerequisite
that a coach has to bring, and I think the experience truly helps that, is energy — positive energy on a daily basis. Energy and expertise.”
Nearly four decades of experience has given Brewster the expertise to succeed as a coach, and he’s clearly shown he has the energy, even at 62 years old.
Brewster takes over a tight end group that lost its leader, Brady Russell, to graduation. But, the Buffs added talented transfer Seydou Traore, from Arkansas State.
They also return all the young tight ends that were behind Russell last year: sophomores Caleb Fauria, Erik Olsen, Louis Passarello and Austin Smith and freshman Zach Courtney.
The next step in the process for Brewster and the Buffs is spring practices, which begin March 19.
“We’re all in a real learning phase right now,” Brewster said. “We’re in an absolute deep dive into learning this offense and defense and most importantly, getting to know our players, getting to know these kids, building relationships with these kids, so that they know we genuinely care about them, so that they’re going to give us everything they have when it’s time to step on the field.
“All I know is this: that I, Tim Brewster, am going to pour every ounce of everything I’ve got into making this program great again. And if our players and every other coach responds the same way, we’re gonna win.”