Karl Dorrell Introductory Press Conference Quotes

Chancellor Phil DiStefano

Opening Statement
"Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of the University of Colorado system president, Mark Kennedy, and myself, I commend Rick George for his leadership and recruiting an outstanding coach who can accelerate the building momentum of our football program. Rick conducted a successful national search on a short timeline. I'm thrilled to welcome coach Karl Dorrell back to the Buffs family. I know Karl from his past stints at the University of Colorado. I know his character, his experience and passion for leading student athletes that makes him the right fit, at the right time, for our program. I'm thankful he decided to join us and I'm excited to watch him get to work. I also want to thank our student athletes for their dedication to the program during two coaching changes in the past 15 months. They are fine representatives of our university and I know their character and enthusiasm will mesh well with Coach Dorrell as he leads them toward reestablishing our football team as a top tier contender and competitor in our conference and nationally. As I noted before, the successful football program raises the profile of the university as a whole, elevating the visibility of all of our achievements. Our student athletes often serve as ambassadors in this regard, juggling their classroom endeavors with all the rigors of being in the spotlight as division one athletes and they've done so admirably. Athletics department wide, our student athletes are currently carrying their second highest cumulative GPA ever and our NCAA graduation success rate is 91%. Rick George stated last week that our football program is in better shape now than it was 15 months ago, and I wholeheartedly agree. We are on the cusp of something great. Coach Dorrell's history at CU and high integrity gives me great confidence that he knows how to guide the success to which we aspire, both on and off the field, while shaping young men who live our campus imperatives of leading, innovating and positively impacting humanity. We will do all we can as the administration to support him and our program in these endeavors."

Athletic Director Rick George

Opening Statement
"Long time no see, for some of you. Welcome back and thanks for coming out today. I want to thank Coach (Darrin) Chiaverini for leading the program on an interim basis over the past two weeks, and ensuring that our student athletes were taken care of. Darrin is a great Buff who cares deeply about our program. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him. I also see some of our former football players here. Barry (Remington), Dave (Thistle), Conley Smith, it's great that you're here. Coach (Tad) Boyle is here. It's about family, and it's about us taking care of each other. I also would be remiss if I didn't thank Lance Carl, who was my partner in crime on this to be able to get somebody like Karl Dorrell here. I couldn't be more excited about that and also Eastman & Beaudine and their support through this process."

"It gives me great pride to introduce Karl Dorrell as the 27th head football coach at the University of Colorado. When I sat here with a lot of you 12 days ago, I told you that we would work efficiently and effectively to find the very best head coach for the University of Colorado. I said that I wanted a coach who shared the same commitment and passion that I do for our student athletes and this great university and football program. Karl shares that passion. I also said that I wanted a coach that had the same commitment that I do but also that had the same expectations that I do for our student athletes, winning in the classroom, winning in the community, and winning on the football field. Karl is that guy. You'll get to know Karl but what I've learned about Karl is he's someone that has impeccable character. He's got a maturity level that I think is important for our student athletes. He's got integrity, he's got this quiet, confident passion for young people, and he has great experience at the collegiate and professional level. He's got contacts in the west coast and in the PAC-12 having been here. Most importantly, he knows the history and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes. Again, I said that I wanted to share this search to have someone that shared the same passion for Colorado football that I do and who believes that we can win championships with the resources we have."

"Karl coached here during a period when this program was a perennial top 25 team. He worked for Bill McCartney in '92 and '93 with a lot of the talent that Lance and I recruited, just saying. He was also the offensive coordinator for Rick Neuheisel from '95-'98. He was a key part of our success at a time period when Colorado football was relevant and when people came in here and knew that they were going to play a tough football team. He knows it can be done and knows what kind of resources we have that we didn't have then."

"He and his wife, Kim Durrell, built a new house a year and a half ago that I knew nothing about until Thursday. As you know, they love this community. They love this university. That's one of the reasons why he's here. His daughter, Lauren, played volleyball here last year. Both children were born here. Chandler, glad you're here as well."

"I'm confident that we found the right coach for Colorado, to not only build this program into a championship contender, but having sustained success for a long period of time. Finally, and most importantly, I'm excited for our players, our student athletes, and I really appreciate their resolve and positive attitude over the past couple of weeks. Our seniors have been incredible. They provided the leadership that this program needs on an interim basis. I couldn't be more thankful for them. Our football student athletes are great young men. I know that Coach Dorrell is the right person to help them develop and grow. I truly believe we found a coach who will lead this program to many great times. With that, I'd like to introduce our head football coach Karl Dorrell."

Head Football Coach Karl Dorrell

Opening Statement
"Thank you, Rick. Thank you very much, Chancellor DiStefano, Lance, and the Colorado community. Thank you. This was a unique experience for me. This was a dream come true. You heard the last comments from Rick about how we have a home here. Being an NFL coach and being in the NFL the last 10 years or so, it is a very volatile business where you move around a lot. We decided years ago that Colorado is going to be our home to stay when it was all said and done. I did have that inkling in the back of my mind though that my fondness for this university, and getting a chance to be in this position would be a dream and it came true. I'm very thankful. I'm very thankful to be here. My brother's here and his wife. This is a family program."

"I just want to share my story as to why it is so important to me. I came here as an assistant in 1992 as a wide receiver coach, my first division one job, when I worked for Bill McCartney. I learned so much from a great man, not only from a football standpoint but also just as a person. The one thing that you wouldn't know about Bill McCartney is that you know what he is through and through and what he believes in. He's passionate about people and he was passionate about the sport of football. In his way of teaching me early in my career was, with these players you've got to make sure that when you coach them that they trust you and believe in you. As soon as you get them to where you have a great relationship with them you will get them to do almost anything and make them achieve the goals that they can achieve as players. That's stuck with me for a long time in my career. Being his receiver coach for two years had a lot of success. We know that the foundation of our team, when Bill was the coach, was our defense. Our defense was stellar, to be quite honest, and had great players, players that played in the league and players that made a lot of accolades along the way. They were the cornerstone of the success. As an offensive coach, I knew that the defense was going to get the ball back for us for us to win. There were many moments like that where that was the case in our success in the past. I still believe that. My story of coming here in 1992 and getting a chance to work for a wonderful coach and wonderful players was very instrumental to my makeup as I grew as a coach."

"The unique thing about this whole process is that we all aspire to do great things. I want our players to aspire to do great things. It doesn't necessarily mean it's in the football arena. It can be in life. They can be in a number of different things that they have an interest in. That's why it's so important to know the people that you're dealing with. Our culture is important. I was visiting with our support staff, the coaching staff, and the people that are in and around our program. We have some work to do. We have to understand that with me, and in this position that I'm in, it's important that we really get a chance to know our players and know them on an intimate level and understand how they know what needs to be done to pride them to be successful, both on the field and in the classroom. Also, to be there to love them when they need that, as mentors or father favors, for them in their lives. That's the job of a coach. Our coaches will understand that. The staff that I bring here will have the understanding that we've got to be in the people business. We have to develop the player, but first you have to care deeply about the person. That is when you get the most out of him. I made that point in our meeting earlier this morning how that's relevant. That's what's going to get us to be a championship team. For us to be confident, poised, close knit, confident in the guy that's next to next to you and that we all are going to do our job, which will function into playing great football. Our coaches and culture are going to develop our players to be tough minded, battle tested, smart, to have a love to compete and have passion for the game, to care deeply about each other, and most importantly, have one goal in mind which is to bring a championship. We're going to get that done with our coaching staff. That's part of the vision of our program."

"Our staff will consist of great teachers. I consider myself a teacher. I've been very fortunate in my whole career to be able to be led by a number of people from my coach Terry Donahue. Bill McCartney was an instrumental piece of that and Mike Shanahan was an instrumental piece. There's a number of really great coaches, and legends in the game, that have given me the opportunity to grow and to learn this great game. I'm very thankful for them to be part of my background. Our staff has to be great teachers. That's first and foremost. The number one asset for any university is the students within it. We need to understand that as football coaches. We're going to develop them to be the best person that they can be so that we get the best player on the field. That's our standby. I believe that success can be sustained consistently, year after year, if we're able to get these things done. I know for a fact we can."

"Like I said earlier, it's an interesting story about how I got here. Starting way back in my early 20s and getting my first division one job. My kids were born here at Avista hospital right in Louisville. I lived in Lafayette the last time I was here as an assistant and moved back to Lafayette as my homestay, even though I've been in the NFL. Everything is aligned for me to be where I'm at right now, today. It's funny how the Lord gives you those blessings and gives you an opportunity like this that is right there in front of me. Especially for 32 years of hard work that's culminated in an opportunity like this. You're going to get from me, the very best of me. You're going to get a guy that's here for the long haul. I built a home to prove it, prior to getting this job."

"You're going to get an exciting brand of football. I was telling our players earlier in our meeting and I said, 'What we do as a program stays within our program, but what we do on Saturdays will be a sight to be seen.' What we expect our players to do and what they inspire to do this year is they think they can win now. I was encouraged by that in our meeting this morning. So guess what, we're going forward now. We're going to ride their coattails. We're going to ride and drive them to be as good as they need to be. They know that it's going to take hard work. They know that it's going to take a commitment level, accountability, cohesiveness and a connectedness. They know that a lot of those things that we will work on in the process has to be established and built for us to be as good as we need to be. We're going to go for it. We're going to put a great product out there and get it done. We're not going to use any excuses. We're not going to use, 'Because I got hired this late in the process and spring ball is around the corner.' We're not going to use those as excuses. We're going to get it done. That's what we have to do. That's what their expectation is. When young people are inspired to do great things, you don't ever want to detract from that. You want to ride that. You want them to be the best that they can be, and they're telling you, superficially, that they're really, really ready to give you their best."

"I want to thank the coaching staff last year that put together this wonderful class that was I guess ranked 35th or 36th in the nation. That is a great class to get us a boost of energy for what we've already done in the program. I'm very thankful for that. I'm looking forward to building on this process."

"I'm here for the long haul to do that. That's what I want you to know. This is my dream job. This is my dream job. You'll get the best out of me, and I'm sure that it's going to be reflected in the players that you see play on Saturdays. I want to thank you and I want to thank the Boulder community. I'm happy to be back home. It's funny how I was only spending my summers, which is the only time that I would have a chance to spend any time here. In the NFL season, you get the summers off and you get four or five weeks off so I'm usually at my home in Colorado here from mid-June to mid-July, and then I'm gone wherever I'm at. I was at the Jets for the last four years before going to Miami. Now I don't have to make those trips anymore. I'm happy to be home and am very thankful."

On What He Learned During His Five Years As UCLA's Head Coach
"It's a great question because we all learn through the process of a lot of situations and experiences that you go through. My first head coaching experience at UCLA, it was a very rewarding experience to be honest with you. It was a challenge that I think I really embraced to overcome. There were a lot of different things that were in and around the program that were very challenging to fix, and we were able to do. I think from that experience alone, it told me that it's really important that you really build your program with the right coaches and you get to know your players at an intimate level from day one. I think that was something I didn't do early in my career at UCLA, but I think it really expounded in a number of different ways, even as an assistant coach, how it's helped elevate everyone's level of coaching and of the product that you get from your players. The biggest thing I would say is, like I've expressed today, our players are our number one asset. Everything goes through them for their success, and I'm at an academic institution which provides the players with the resources to do the things well in the classroom and on the playing field. So, those things go hand in hand and it's really the main important factor of everything that we've done."

On What He's Said To The Players And Recruits
"I met with the seniors last night, which I think was really a great idea from both Rick [George] and Lance [Carl] to bring them over for us to meet. Because for them, this is their last hurrah for their career. It was a great statement of support and respect for us to do that the day prior to meeting with the team. They were very appreciative of that and we really had some great discussions. A lot of it is what you would expect kids to talk about, which was that they want to be developed. They want to go for it all, they want to use this year as a milestone for their life. Those are the aspirations that I want young people to have, I want them to reach for the stars. I want them to put themselves out there and go for what they think is attainable. As a supporter of that, I want to give them whatever I can to get them to attain that goal and I think those are really important things. Like I said with the staff, they did a tremendous job of keeping the program moving forward in a strong direction even though this search was going on, and I expressed that with the team as well. Telling them that it takes character for them to do that and not really having any certainty about what's going on and who would be their leader. So, young people are very resilient, as we all know with our own children. They can get through almost anything. There's also the part of me that I know about young people, because I've coached young people in the NFL at the best level of football, and they're still kids. They still want people to instill confidence in them, they want people to believe in them and they want to be coached hard so that they can reach the goals that they aspire to be. That's at the professional level and I know, obviously, that can be done at the college level and that's what our task is as coaches and our coaching staff. We're here to bring out the best in them, both as a player and as a person."

On His Decision To Leave The Miami Dolphins Despite Being Promoted
"That's a good story and I'd like to share this for the Colorado faithful to understand the dynamics of what happened. Rick alluded to it, but I'll go back through it. The NFL Combine is this week, as we speak. We had Friday off, Coach Brian Flores, the head coach with the Miami Dolphins, gave us Friday off to kind of have a weekend off prior to going to work and doing what we do at the combine. I left Thursday night from Miami to come here to have a couple days with my wife, son and family, and I was flying out yesterday to go to the combine in Indianapolis. I get this call on Thursday afternoon about, 'Hey would you be interested in this job?' and that kind of floored me to be honest with you. It really surprised me. I said, 'Absolutely'. Lance [Carl] asked when we could talk and I told Lance on the phone that I was actually flying back to Colorado that Thursday night. Then he went and talked with Rick and got back with me a little bit later that day. They asked if we could meet at my house and I said sure, I understood that we wanted to be discreet, so we set up the meeting. After I was on the phone with both Lance and Rick, I sat back in my chair and I realized I needed to tell Brian Flores what was happening here. Brian's going to be a wonderful head coach. I mean I love him, I've worked with him one year and I feel like we've worked together for 15 or 20 years, but I sat down with him and told him about the conversation and he was very, very supportive. He told me that it was a great opportunity and that he knew I already had a home here, so we shook hands, hugged and when I'm leaving his office he told me how he really didn't want to lose me, but something like this just makes sense. So, I fly home, we have a meeting, I get offered the job and I'm still floored, like 'Wow this is going so fast it's unbelievable.' I tell Kim [Dorrell's wife], and she was shocked by it, we were all giddy about it, so I called Brian and I said, 'Brian I've been offered the job', and he's so excited. Remember, he just promoted me to assistant head coach and I really appreciated that from him because he entrusted me with being responsible for certain aspects of the professional organization, which I was very appreciative to do. They [Miami Dolphins] made it hard because they tried to keep me, but I'll tell you this, I would probably still be there because of where my career was going in the NFL if it was another college job, but because it was Colorado, my home, there was no one that was going to take me away from this job. I know that I'm here for a reason and I know that I've accepted the challenge of leading this program to greatness. I'm going to work tireless hours to do that because this is a place that I believe in. It's a part of my fabric, it's a part of my background, and you guys are going to get the very best of me which is going to be a very good football team."

On How He Will Recruit
"We're going to recruit naturally in the areas that have been really productive for us. Obviously, our state is important. We want the foundation of the best players in our state to stay here, so we need to do a great job of taking care of home. That's kind of the heartbeat of your team, right here from home, so we want to keep our best players here. There are some good programs that have really good players here and we need to make sure we take care of that. But California has always been big in our history of having success, Texas has been big, Louisiana, so I would say the western region of the country, which is where our conference is, is probably our main primary base. From my experience in other places, you know I lived in Florida for a while, my son and daughter went to high school there, we have connections there so those would be kind of spot recruiting, not primary areas but connection areas. I think we're going to continue with the path that we have right now. I think that's been very instrumental to our success. The type of player, I think that was the other part of your question, we're going for the best players. We have a lot of proud history of great players from this team and from this program. I've had a couple of great ones, Michael Westbrook, Charles Johnson and Darren Chiaverini. I've coached some really good receivers here and there's been great defensive players and great quarterbacks. We have a good history of talent to display with some of our family about why this place is a special place. We're going to get back to recruiting the best players."

On His Plans For The Current Staff
"That's a good question, we're actually going to start that process this afternoon. I met with everyone just briefly this morning as an introductory meeting, but we'll get right into interviewing the guys that were highly recommended which are the guys that are here. I do need to work fast on building the staff. I feel it's fair for me to get a chance to visit with them first and then we'll kind of go from there. It'll probably be a process of over this week. I want to meet with my players individually as well, so it's going to be a busy time where I'm going to be burning the midnight candle a little bit, but I need to meet with those players individually for a time period as well. So, I want to get that done and there's a number of players to do that with."

On If The Defensive Scheme Will Change And If The Spring Schedule Will Change
"You're way ahead of me here. Yes, and answering the last question about the calendar, we have to be receptive to that because it depends on how quickly I'm able to assemble the staff, but that's something we'll visit with and that's not a problem to do. Our players know that, I expressed that to them as well. One thing about this staff, you have to understand this, I'm going to hire the right people. I'm going to hire teachers that I think are great communicators that care deeply about our student athletes. They have to have these qualities that build up this staff and remember, I told you guys earlier, I'm here for the long haul. I'm not here to quickly piecemeal a staff and then away we go. I want to build it for years to come. So that's going to be a little bit of a process and it might change our spring calendar."

"As to our style of play, I just want to give you a preview of how I envision our team. It really comes from my last experience here. The cornerstone of our program was our defense. I'm an offensive coach, a wide receiver coach, quarterbacks, passing game, all that stuff, but I know from the very heart of hearts that the program came from a cornerstone which was our defense. Whether it was Alfred Williams, Kanavis McGee, Chad Brown, Deon Figures, there's a number of great players that played in this league and played on a professional level, but it was the cornerstone of the team. I still believe in that as an offensive coach because if I had a great defense, they're turning the ball over and giving me more turns on offense. That's what an offensive coach wants is more turns, because you get more points. We didn't have a problem scoring points when we were here offensively. I've had a couple of receivers that, matter of fact, Charles Johnson and Michael Westbrook were a 1000-yard receiver tandem. So, we were able to function well prolifically offensively with the defense being really the cornerstone of who we were. Special teams are critical in today's game, like it is in any game, but I think special teams and game management are really critical pieces to winning the tight games."

"The close games against a great opponent is coming down to the wire, you know there's some execution that needs to be done effectively because it's not just kicking a field goal through the uprights but there's some decisions that need to be made prior to getting to that position, that are going to be important as to why you win those games. So special teams are just that X factor, you want to make sure that area is better than most that you go against. That's kind of my vision, it's going to be led by a tough stellar defense. We're a three-four base right now, we're kind of built for that. Matter of fact, the last time I was here we were a three-four team. I'm good with that because it's a great defense to adjust to with these offensive sets that offensive coaches do. So, I think it's a good foundation for our defense. Offensively, I like balance. We're going to throw the football for sure, but we need to be able to run the football as well. The best it's ever been, and it probably hasn't been that way since, was when we had the Heisman Trophy runner with Rashaan [Salaam] and two prolific receivers outside that he had 2,000 yards rushing and they each had 1,000-yards receiving. I'd say that's a pretty good offense. It just depends on where our strengths are, but I think the goal is that we want to be balanced, we definitely want to have a run threat and be able to run the football, but we're going to be able to throw the ball as good as anybody."

On His Coaching Philosophy
"The first thing that I know as a coach, and I told our players and our support staff as well, is that I have to earn their trust, I really do. I think the foundation of anything we do is that I want the people that are working with me and the players that are working with me to know; what's my fabric, what's important to me, and am I out for his best interest, which I am. I need to express all those things to kind of gain the trust factor of those players to believe in the message that we're sending, and I need my coaches to do the same thing. They have to build that trust level within their respective positions. Again, really spreading that message. I know that universities have restrictions in certain areas and I know that I've dealt with that in my past. There's no perfect scenario. There's no perfect scenario where you're going to have every resource you need to to get the job done. I don't think life is perfect. I've been through enough of those things already as a coach and we all have in everyday life. So, I think the better thing of answering the question is, are we willing to work with each other. Sometimes it might mean that I can't get what I need in this area, but they'll try to do something over here to help improve our situation. I'm very, very grateful and thankful for what I currently have to build my staff. My salary pool is tremendous to me, and they awarded me with that and I'm very, very flattered to be able to work with those numbers. I know that there's academic conditions, there's a lot of things that go on, and I've dealt with those things in the past, but I'm the type of coach that's willing to do what the policy is. And if there's certain things that need to be tweaked or anything like that then we can do that. I feel like we're in really good shape. I feel that Rick and Chancellor DiStefano have really given me a great opportunity to have the resources that we need for recruiting. We have the supplemental areas in and around our football program from dealing with the nutrition and the weight training to the mental health and the academic support, all of those things that we talked about in our meetings, they know how instrumental those things are for me and for our success, and they've addressed those areas. I'm very very pleased."

On His Teaching Style And The Difference Between Teaching And Coaching
"I would say this, I can only do it from my own experience. For example, I'm going to relate it to coaching receivers, which is what I've been doing the last few years. I kind of look into my craft as the coaches. The players are all different sizes and shapes, you know, some are faster, taller, stronger. Some have this X ability and some have this Y ability. They all are different and to me that's like painting a canvas. I view it that way because as a coach I'm drawing and trying to draw the very best in every one of those different profiles. So in doing that, it's not the same message for profile A that you might say for profile B. You have to be clever enough and crafty enough to get the best out of those players given their personality and skill set. Some guys pick up information a lot faster than others. Some need a little more reps than others. That's the beauty of coaching in my opinion. That's what keeps it fresh for us, being passionate about impacting these men to be the best that they can be. Sometimes the method of the teacher changes from just being the general chalkboard method. Maybe I'm at walkthroughs with the guy, or he needs more video time, or maybe I have a smart guy that he gets it mainly by just talking face to face. There's so many different types of learning styles, and that's what staff needs to understand. It's not getting one message that you can get your point across, there's a number of ways to do it, and I think the staff has to be clever enough to understand.

On His Previous Head Coaching Opportunities
"I did have other options or opportunities to look into. My experience at UCLA was a great experience and I've learned quite a few things that I put in my notebooks from that experience. I think it's important at this level to feel like you can can build your program and have the resources to be successful. I think that's been in place here. I don't think there's a lot of places that I was coaching at the professional level, and at that level, there is no limit or lack of resources. I think in college football, you need some certain resources to be successful and to be able to have the ability to hire staff. I think that's an important recruiting piece is having enough in that support area to be successful. Obviously with facilities, this is one of the best I've ever seen, the background of the flatirons here, that's just what drew me to this place back in 1992. There's enough here to kind of get your blood flowing a little bit about how special this place is. I was asked many times by some of these guys that I just mentioned were on my staff, 'Why aren't you back in college?', well I just didn't feel that that opportunity was there and had all the things that I needed to be successful. Then this one came, and me being fond of this area and this school, what its done. I've seen the facility 14 years ago. What they were expressing to me about what they want to become and to bring back, that was a no brainer. And like I said, this was a blessing and something that I think was bound to happen."

Colorado University Athletics

Chancellor Phil DiStefano

Athletic Director Rick George

Head Football Coach Karl Dorrell

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