Football
Sep 20 (Sat)
TBA
- Title:
- Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers/Recruiting Coordinator
Darrin Chiaverini is entering his sixth year on the Colorado staff, returning to his alma mater on January 1, 2016 from Texas Tech University, where he had spent the previous two seasons on the Red Raiders’ staff.
Chiaverini, 43, was retained by new head coach Karl Dorrell after he assumed the duties on February 23, 2020; he promoted Chiaverini to offensive coordinator in addition to coaching the wide receivers, which he has done since he joined the staff. He was also one of three coaches retained from 2018 by then head coach Mel Tucker; who added the responsibilities of assistant head coach to his duties of coaching the receivers. After Tucker left CU for Michigan State, Chiaverini was appointed interim head coach on February 12, 2020 and served in that role until Dorrell was hired.
He continues to be nationally recognized as a top recruiter; Rivals.com named him one of the top 25 recruiters in the country for the three recruiting classes pre-COVID (2018, 2019 and 2020).
The 2020 Buffaloes, the second time where he called the bulk of the plays (along with the 2018 season), everyone was faced with all kinds of challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite those challenges and mounting injuries, CU showed tremendous improvement in several areas in the shortened six-game season. The Buffs finished in the top five in conference games in 11 major statistical categories for 2020, compared to just three in 2019), most notably second in total offense, scoring offense, rushing offense and sacks allowed, as well as first in third down conversions.
In addition, tailback Jarek Broussard was the first CU player to be named the Pac-12’s offensive player of the year, and Sam Noyer was the first quarterback to earn first- or second-team all-conference honors since Koy Detmer was first-team in 1996 (Noyer was second-team by the league coaches).
Chiaverini served as co-offensive coordinator, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for his three seasons (2016-18) under previous head coach Mike MacIntyre. He had returned to his alma mater where he lettered four times as a wide receiver under head coach Rick Neuheisel from 1995-98. He accepted his new roles on December 15, 2015, but remained with Tech for its bowl game.
In 2016, his first season on the CU staff, he helped guide the Buffalo offense to one of its best years overall in recent memory. Colorado averaged 446.3 yards per game, its best figure in 20 seasons, with the school’s fourth-best conversion rate in the red zone in school history dating back to 1957 at 89.5 percent (51-of-57, with 37 touchdowns). His receiving corps hauled in 199 catches for 2,724 yards (13.7 per) with 19 touchdowns that season, and over the course of his three years, have 653 receptions for 8,208 yards and 49 scores.
In his third year co-coordinating the offense in 2018, the Buffaloes had a surprising historical first, as CU boasted for the first time in the same season a 1,000-yard rusher (1,009 by Travon McMillian) and receiver (1,011 by Laviska Shenault, though he missed three-plus games with a foot injury and still earned first-team All-Pac 12 Conference honors from the league coaches as he led the nation in receptions per game). And for second straight year, quarterback Steven Montez just missed becoming the second player at Colorado to throw for 3,000 yards in a season (2,975 in 2017; 2,849 in 2018).
Chiaverini spent the 2014-15 seasons as the Red Raiders’ special teams coordinator and outside receivers coach. At Tech, he recruited the Dallas, Houston and the Southern California areas, and one of his players, Jakeem Grant, earned second-team All-America honors at kick returner for the 2015 season.
One of new Neuheisel’s first commitments as head coach in Colorado’s 1995 recruiting class, Chiaverini earned four letters from 1995-98 and served as one of the team captains his senior season. He caught 97 passes for 1,199 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 12.4 yards per reception in his career, exiting at the time as CU’s seventh all-time receiver (he remains in the top 15 in both catches and yards). He led the team as a senior with 52 catches for 630 yards and five scores.
He was a member of three CU bowl champion teams (Cotton, Holiday and Aloha), making an additional 10 catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns, one a 72-yard bomb from his best friend, quarterback Mike Moschetti against Oregon in the ’98 Aloha Bowl.
He was a fifth-round selection by the Cleveland Browns in the 1999 National Football League Draft, and went on to set the club’s rookie receiving record with 44 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns. He spent four years in the NFL, also playing for Dallas and Atlanta; he would conclude his NFL career with 62 catches for 662 yards and seven scores. He then finished his professional playing days with the Austin Wranglers in the Arena Football League.
Chiaverini then turned his attention to coaching, tutoring the receivers at Mt. San Antonio College in 2007 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2008. In 2009, he rejoined his college coach, Neuheisel, as the assistant special teams coach at UCLA. He helped pilot one of the top units in the Pac-10 and the Bruins captured the Eagle Bank Bowl with a 30-21 win over Temple.
He returned to the junior college ranks for the next four seasons (2010-13) at Riverside (Calif.) City College, where he was the associated head coach, co-offensive and special teams coordinator in addition to being in charge of recruiting. Riverside was 40-5 in the four years there and produced 15 Division I players, three of whom would head to his next stop, Texas Tech.
His special teams units at Riverside from 2010-13 were some of the best in all of the junior college ranks with an impressive 22 blocked kicks in four seasons. Chiaverini coached the top punt returner in the state of California in 2011 and 2012, while Riverside's offense led California in scoring in 2011 and in total offense in 2013.
He was one of 30 coaches across the country selected to participate in the 2015 NFL and NCAA Coaches Academy. Initiated in 2011, it is a collaborative effort between NCAA Leadership Development and NFL Player Engagement to positively influence diversity numbers in the college game and as a way for talented young football coaches to get exposure.
Chiaverini earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications from CU in 1999, and earned his master’s degree in Human Performance and Sports Sciences from New Mexico Highlands University in 2007.
He was born on October 12, 1977 in Orange, Calif., and graduated from Corona (Calif.) High School where he was a USA Today honorable mention All-American in football and an All-County performer in baseball. He is married to the former Shannon Burchfield, and the couple has two children, Curtis (19), a sophomore wide receiver for the Buffaloes, and Kaylie (16).
AT-A-GLANCE—He has coached in 94 Division I-A (FBS) games as a full-time coach, and has coached in four bowl games (2009 Eagle Bank, 2015 Texas, 2016 Alamo, 2020 Alamo).
| COACHING EXPERIENCE | ||
| 2007 | Mt. San Antonio College | Wide Receivers |
| 2008 | Mt. San Antonio College | Offensive Coordinator / Receivers |
| 2009 | UCLA | Assistant Special Teams Coach |
| 2010-13 | Riverside City College | Associate Head Coach / Co-Offensive & Special Teams Coordinator |
| 2014-15 | Texas Tech | Special Teams Coordinator / Outside Receivers |
| 2016-18 | Colorado | Co-Offensive Coordinator/ Receivers / Recruiting Coordinator |
| 2019 | Colorado | Assistant Head Coach / Receivers |
| 2020- | Colorado | Offensive Coordinator / Receivers |
