Colorado University Athletics
Taylor Embree Coaching At Colorado Was 'Meant To Be'
March 18, 2020 | Football, Neill Woelk
Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles on the new additions to head coach Karl Dorrell's CU coaching staff:
BOULDER — There are some things that are simply meant to be. Taylor Embree coaching at Colorado might be the very definition.
Embree has been a Buffalo at heart for as long as he can remember. The son of former Colorado tight end Jon Embree — who went on to serve as an assistant at CU, then as head coach — Taylor Embree grew up believing in black and gold.
"I remember when I was in second grade, my teacher asked me to lead the class in the Pledge of Allegiance," Embree recalls. "I told my teacher, 'I don't know all of the Pledge of Allegiance, but I do know the CU fight song.' So I taught the class the words and led the whole class in the CU fight song. That was my Pledge of Allegiance."
But that was by no means the last connection to CU for Colorado's new tight ends coach. He grew up watching players like Christian Fauria and Dan Graham play the position for the Buffs while his father served as an assistant. He remembers when Colorado was among the nation's elite.
Those memories still burn brightly.
"All I knew was college football — I wasn't much of an NFL guy," he said. "To me, football was Big 12 football. It was Colorado-Nebraska, Colorado-Oklahoma. I grew up going to those games, watching Colorado play in the Big 12 championship … I watched guys like Chev (current CU offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini), Dan Graham, Christian Fauria. Now I get to coach Christian Fauria's son (CU freshman tight end Caleb Fauria)."
But there are even more connections that brought Taylor Embree back to his football roots.
As a high schooler in Overland Park, Kan., when his father was coaching with the Kansas City Chiefs, he was recruited by former CU assistant and then-UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell. Jon Embree and Karl Dorrell had coached together at CU and then at UCLA before Jon went on to the Chiefs, and Taylor accepted a UCLA scholarship offer.
By the time Taylor signed with UCLA, the Bruins had made a coaching change, so he never played for Dorrell. But he still had a successful career at UCLA, then followed his father's footsteps in the coaching profession.
Meanwhile, he kept a close eye on Dorrell's career as well and stayed in touch.
Then all the roads and connections from his past suddenly merged. When CU suddenly needed a new head coach in February, Dorrell was hired. He contacted Taylor, who was working as a quality control coach with the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers, where Jon works as assistant head coach/tight ends.
It was an easy sell for both parties.
Now, Taylor Embree has an office in CU's Champions Center, with a window overlooking Folsom Field.
"I always dreamed of playing at Colorado but never got the opportunity," Taylor said. "But as a kid, running around down there on Folsom Field, I always felt something special. There was just this feeling I had when I was in this stadium. To me, it was a higher power, whoever it may be, telling me that my career is coaching and I belong here. This is where I get to start my coaching career — here, at home. This is home. This is where my career starts. I have my own (position) room and there couldn't be a better place to do it. All these things coming together … it was meant to be."
There are, of course, some interesting twists to his new job.
Take, for instance, the position meeting room.
Every position room is adorned with photos of past Buffs greats. Taylor Embree coaches tight ends. Jon Embree still shares the Colorado record with Dan Graham for most catches by a tight end in a single season.
Thus, Jon Embree's photo is rather prominent in the tight end meeting room where Taylor Embree and his players meet.
"It's crazy," Taylor said with a laugh. "We're looking at film, I'm running meetings — and Dad is staring down from the wall at me. That zoned-in, totally focused look. It's like he's watching everything I do."
But what Taylor wants to do now is help return the Buffs to the stature he remembers, when Colorado ran with the big dogs on a regular basis.
"I've seen it at its prime," he said. "I've seen all the greats come through here. You can win here. There's nothing like playing here. The stadium has the most beautiful setting in all of football, the fans are rowdy and it's primed to win again. We'll coach these guys up, we'll get the guys here and we'll get physical like they were back in those Big 12 days."
Then, Embree said with passion, the Buffs will be a program to remember for another generation of young Buffs who will know the "CU Pledge of Allegiance" by heart.
"Teams that come here are going to have problems," he vowed. "This place is a hidden gem. We're going to make sure it's not hidden anymore."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Players Mentioned
