Bob Lopez - Football Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

TCU

Oct 4 (Sat)

5:30 p.m.

Bob Lopez

Title:
General Manager
Email:
footballscouting@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-9793

        Bob Lopez, a veteran sports administrator and football coach, joined the Colorado football staff as the director of player personnel on February 28, 2020, one of the first hires by new CU head coach Karl Dorrell which reunited the pair from their time together at UCLA. On July 1, 2021, he was promoted to the newly created position of general manager.

        In this relatively new position in college football, the role includes supporting the head coach and program overall in areas of strategic planning, hiring, oversight, management and relationship building. It also encompasses supervision of the player personnel and creative services staff while overseeing recruiting functions, including scouting, communications and on-campus recruiting.

        Lopez, 67, has enjoyed a professional career that has spanned over 40 years and includes significant football coaching experience. On the administrative side, he has been an athletic director, a head coach, a director of football operations, coordinated student-athlete services, enrollment and admissions, and has worked on several levels of college administration with 16 different sports overall during his career.

        He was the director of football operations for five-plus years at UCLA (2003-08), where Dorrell had hired him to be on his first staff as a head coach. The two also were together on the Northern Arizona staff in 1990-91.

        Lopez came to CU from the University of Delaware, where he was the associate athletic director for sport administration and student services since November 2017. He was heavily involved in all sports throughout the Blue Hens athletic department, including team planning and operations, student-athlete engagement, as well as working closely with the school’s fledgling BLUE initiative (Building Leaders Utilizing Education), a four-year educational leadership program that focused on student health & wellness, personal success, community engagement, diversity and inclusion and career preparation.

       He spent the previous six-plus years at the University of Michigan, joining the Wolverines’ staff in January 2011 as the director of football operations. He then served as the assistant athletic director for football from May 2013 through December 2014, which overlapped with sports administrator duties from June 2014 until he accepted the Delaware position. In his final role at UM, he worked directly with several sports, including men's and women's cross country and track & field, men's basketball, women’s field hockey, men's gymnastics, and men's and women's tennis. Prior to working at Michigan, he was the director of football operations at San Diego State for three years (2008-11).

        Lopez has crossed paths with CU a few times in his career, last while he was at Michigan when the Wolverines rallied for a 45-28 win over the Buffaloes in 2016. His first game as the ops director at UCLA in 2003 was in Boulder, a game CU rallied to win, 16-14. He has been involved in bowl game preparations for nine games, five at UCLA (2003 Silicon Valley, 2004 Las Vegas, 2005 Sun, 2006 Emerald, 2007 Las Vegas), one at San Diego State (2010 Poinsettia) and three at Michigan (2012 Sugar, 2013 Outback, 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings).

        He spent 12 years coaching football at the college and high school levels, including stops as the head coach at Fort Scott (Kan.) Community College (1983-87) and assistant roles at Arizona Western College (1981-83) and Northern Arizona University (1987-91). He also served as Fort Scott’s athletic director almost the entire time he was also the football coach for the Greyhounds, and was also NAU’s recruiting coordinator during his time in Flagstaff.

        His first job in coaching was a football assistant at the Loyola Academy (Wilmette, Ill.) a private school just north of Chicago’s downtown. He was also a language arts teacher at the school, where he worked two for two years (1979-81). At various times, he also worked in the admissions fields at Northern Arizona, Peru State College and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire before permanently staying in the field of athletics.

         Lopez lettered four years at quarterback at Illinois State University (1973-76), where he was team’s most valuable player as a senior under coach Gerry Hart. A team captain as a junior and senior, he set the school record at the time for season passing yards his senior year. The Redbirds competed on the Division I-AA level, now known as the FCS.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in Health and Physical Education from Illinois State in 1977, where he also received his Master’s in Educational Administration in 1979.

        Lopez was born March 19, 1955 in Tacoma, Wash., but his family moved to Illinois when he was a youngster; he graduated from Mendel Catholic Prep (Chicago, Ill.), where he lettered in football and basketball. One of his favorite hobbies is playing golf. He is married to the former Nancy Leek (a retired teacher) and is father of two adult sons, Tyler and Daniel; they have five grandchildren.