Buffs Great Cabral Excited About New Role With CU Athletics
July 08, 2019 | Football, Alumni C Club, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Brian Cabral's legacy is no doubt firmly cemented in Colorado football lore.
A standout player and coach, Cabral has left his mark on the Buffaloes over a span of three decades, a career that will be celebrated with his induction into the CU Sports Hall of Fame this year.
Cabral played for Bill Mallory in the 1970s and had a key role on the 1976 team that won a Big Eight title and earned an Orange Bowl berth. He won a Super Bowl ring with the 1986 Chicago Bears as part of a nine year NFL career, then returned to CU to serve 23 years as a full-time assistant coach — the longest tenure of any assistant coach in any sport in Colorado history.
But Cabral isn't finished. Now, after a short-lived retirement, he is back working for his sixth Colorado head coach — but not in the capacity he served in previous years. After discussions with CU head coach Mel Tucker and Athletic Director Rick George over the spring, Cabral has joined Tucker's staff as an adviser/counselor for players and coaches. Instead of teaching linebackers how to tackle on the field, he will help CU student-athletes tackle the ups and downs of everyday life — and prepare for the next step after their playing careers are over.
"My coaching was always about relationships," Cabral said recently. "Football was an avenue in that regard. To be able to come back and work with these kids was a great opportunity. Helping young people develop has always been a passion of mine. They face so many challenges in their everyday lives and I love the thought of helping them navigate those."
As a linebacker and special teams coach with Colorado, Cabral helped develop a long list of Buffs standouts. He coached three first-team All-Americans (linebackers Jordon Dizon and Matt Russell and punt returner Roman Hollowell), one Butkus Award winner (Russell), two Butkus runners-up (Dizon and Ted Johnson), seven All-Big Eight/Big 12 performers and 10 NFL players and/or draft picks.
But equally important was the relationship he developed with all of his players, many of whom still look back at Cabral as a key mentor in their personal and professional development. Cabral hopes to continue that role as a mentor and teacher for current Buffs.
"A critical piece is life after sport," he said. "My forte, my passion, is influencing and impacting young people the way that I was influenced and impacted by a college coach."
Cabral looks back to former CU assistant Dan Stavely — who also served as an academic adviser and unofficial counselor in the athletic department for nearly two decades — as his inspiration.
"He wore a lot of hats and helped a lot of people in a lot of different ways," Cabral said. "He was a tremendous influence and had a big impact on me. He was the reason I got into coaching. I saw the influence and impact he had as a coach and I wanted to have that kind of impact."
Cabral also looks back at Mallory as key influence.
"Tough-nosed, rugged, hard-working, no-nonsense and fair guy," Cabral said. "Honest. Blatantly honest. He was a major influence on helping form who I became and who I am. That's the other side of sports that people don't always recognize — how it develops character. I've learned so much from the game of football."
Cabral has already met with nearly every player on the CU roster. He has recently become more and more involved with the mental health side of sport, and works closely with Buffs4Life, a non-profit group that helps former CU athletes.
"Rick George is far ahead of the curve when it comes to mental health for our athletes," Cabral said. "The Pac-12 has spearheaded the movement and the CU campus is taking big steps in that area. I think university athletic departments are realizing they have to do more to help their athletes prepare for life after sport and I believe I have something to offer."
For the first time in his career, Cabral won't be involved with on-the-field activities. Instead, he will be available for players as a counselor, mentor and sounding board.
"Most men are programmed not to ask for help," Cabral said. "You don't let people know you need something. It's seen as being weak — and that's the fallacy. People need help. Kids need help, and it's hard for a kid to go to a coach who is coaching him. My belief — my hope — is that I will be that guy that kid can go to. I'm not deciding whether they are playing on Saturday, but I've been through it. Hopefully I can develop relationships the same way I did as a coach, but with even more intent and purpose and greater cause."
One thing Cabral hopes to approach with every student-athlete is that there will come a time — sooner or later — when their playing days are over.
"We try to prepare them, but it's hard for them to believe that there will be a point when there is no more football ahead of them," he said. "We want to get them prepared for that and help them with that. Life after football is when the real world hits you in the face. Health issues, family issues, employment issues — even addiction issues — are real. I think I can help the young athlete recognize and begin to focus on what happens after football. I've been through it, and you have to be ready for what happens after you grow up — and I'm going to define growing up as life after football."
Cabral's position may be unique in the world of college athletics today. Thus, there is no real "blueprint" for the job.
"I think it will be a position that evolves," he said. "Schools have character coaches and life coaches, but I think the mental and emotional wellness part of it will be a new piece. Since I left coaching, all that I've learned about those things has been very valuable. It's what Coach Tucker wants and what Rick George wants, and it's something I'm very excited about. The reason I coached was to influence and impact. Now I get to do more of that."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu