Brooks: McGhee Pumped For His Return To Boulder

BOULDER - Kanavis McGhee hasn't spent many falls without football, but 2010 was an exception. This was the first year in the past 13 that he's been out of coaching, instead devoting his time to starting a business program, then teaching classes in it, at a college preparatory school in his hometown of Houston.

Being briefly out of football hasn't diminished his knowledge of the game or his contact list. Rest assured that he's still more than marginally connected to the high school football scene in Texas' largest city. Over the years, he's quite sure he made a memorable impression on coaches in the area.

"Yeah, I think there's enough people who still know me," he chuckled as we talked during a recent telephone conversation. "How could they forget? I'm big as all outdoors and my name is Kanavis. I'm a Texas native. You work with guys, you keep in contact with them. When I got this job, right away I had calls from coaches saying, 'Just wanted you to know I'm over here now.' Yeah, they remember me."

But McGhee's immediate goal is to have the high school folks in Houston remember Colorado - CU to be specific. Once a must-stop for the Buffaloes recruiters, Houston somehow slipped off the radar. That baffles McGhee, who last week was named to new CU coach Jon Embree's staff and returns to Boulder the first week in January.

"I'm looking forward to making Colorado a household name down here," McGhee said. "They're going to know we're interested. In the past four or five years, I saw a lot of (coaches) from Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas . . . I said to myself, 'What's happened? Where's Colorado?' I want high school coaches to roll that name out of their mouths and off their lips."

McGhee, who will coach the Buffs' defensive ends/outside linebackers, spent 10 years as either an assistant or high school head coach in the Houston area. Five of those seasons (2000-04) were spent at Madison High School, where a gangly 10th-grader immediately caught his eye, and soon would catch eyes throughout the football world.

McGhee telephoned Eric Bieniemy, who along with Embree was a CU assistant coach before they both left for UCLA. "Got a kid here I think you guys should take a look at," McGhee told his former Buffs teammate and soon-to-be fellow Buffs staffer.

Bieniemy asked the player's position and McGhee replied, "He's a quarterback, but he could play anywhere. He's the best natural athlete I've ever seen; he's makes everything look so easy."

McGhee said Bieniemy, after checking with his superiors, got back to him and informed him that CU already was stocked at the QB position. A couple of years later, from that same Madison class, the Buffs signed corner Donald Burgs. They passed on the recruitment of Vince Young, who admittedly would have been difficult to pry away from Mack Brown and the Longhorns.

But this is what Embree remembers from that episode: "Kanavis was getting us on Vince Young before Vince Young was being recruited. This was as a sophomore. Those coaches in Houston respect him; he's got a great rapport there. He's going to help us immensely. That's where his (recruiting) impact is going to be."

On the field, McGhee's impact will be coaching and teaching the position he played superbly for CU from 1987-1990. Embree calls him "a heck of a teacher, just an unbelievable teacher. That's why I wanted him. I've worked football camps with him, he's coached in NFL Europe (Amsterdam Admirals, 2006-07). I've been around him and just watched him. He'll have great credibility with these kids around here."

And that, said McGhee, comes from playing at CU, knowing the school and knowing what it means to be a Buffalo: "You like to take things full circle, and that's how I view this opportunity. I have a point of reference; I know the passion and I think I can share it. I know what it means to be an 18-year-old kid who's coming to Boulder to be a CU Buff. That's our common ground. I think it's really, really cool that I have this opportunity.

"I also think I know a little something about the position I'm going to coach. I know about being able to hold the edge and bring pressure from the outside. I think I can teach that."

If there is unfamiliarity, it lies in the players he will coach and some of the coaches he will work alongside. But neither of those unknowns will last long. Studying tape will bring him up to speed on CU's returning defensive ends and outside 'backers, and Embree's defensive staff features a couple of familiar names - inside linebackers coach Brian Cabral and coordinator/secondary coach Greg Brown.

The assistant McGhee will work most closely with is defensive line coach Mike Tuiasosopo, who spent the last seven seasons at Arizona. "I don't know him, but I'm looking forward to working with him," McGhee said. "I know he's got a ton of college experience."

And that's what Embree believes will enhance McGhee's growth as a coach and value to CU's staff. Said Embree: "I know this: All (McGhee) needed was an opportunity, and I guarantee you, him working with 'Tui,' I'm going to have to find a way to fight to keep (McGhee) here in two years. I guarantee you he's going to be highly sought after."

Maybe, but for now, McGhee isn't looking past his arrival date in Boulder and getting re-acclimated to the campus and the football program. Since leaving Boulder, he said the teaching expertise that Embree mentioned might rival any personal growth that he's made.

"I think if you asked the coaches I've played for, the first thing they'd say about me is that I always knew what to do . . . me being able to teach whatever probably wouldn't surprise any of them," said McGhee, who played five years in the NFL (New York Giants, Cincinnati, Houston) and had an internship with the Minnesota Vikings, where Bieniemy is finishing up.

"I got into teaching because of coaching; I get a double dose of teaching through coaching," he said. "It's all about holding the audience's attention, bringing some relevance to a captive audience. As it relates to coaching, once I know players it's about me dissecting it for them, breaking it down and allowing them to do it at a fast pace.

"When I was playing, I asked enough questions to try and keep it simple for me. I try to keep it at that now. It doesn't take me long to identify my audience and how to reach them. The game's X's and O's are simple to me; I think I help (players) see what I see when they're on the field."

I asked McGhee if he was just a little surprised when he got the call from Embree asking him to join CU's staff.

"I didn't know how the process was going there because I hadn't been around it," McGhee said. "Over the years, I'd run into Jon at a couple of places and we were in touch. I wasn't sure if this would ever happen, but I don't know if 'surprised' is the right word.

"But I'm elated and excited that he wants me to be part of a new era in Colorado football."

Boulder is familiar territory for him - and his being a familiar face on the Houston high school football scene won't hurt the Buffs a bit.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU