Chris Kapilovic - Football Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Iowa State

Oct 11 (Sat)

1:30 PM

Chris Kapilovic

Title:
Assistant Coach/Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator
Email:
cufb@colorado.edu
Phone:
303-492-3214

Chris Kapilovic is in first year on the Colorado staff as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator, as he was the third coach hired by new CU head coach Mel Tucker, joining the Buffalo staff on Dec. 13, 2018.

Kapilovic (pronounced kuh-pil-oh-vick) came to Colorado from the University of North Carolina, where he spent the previous seven seasons (2012-18) coaching the offensive line under head coach Larry Fedora. He was also the run game coordinator his first two seasons there, and then was the co-offensive coordinator for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. For his last three seasons on the Tar Heel staff, he was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator along with his offensive line coaching duties.

Kapilovic, 50, was previously hired by Fedora in 2008 when he took the head coaching job at Southern Mississippi. He was at USM for four seasons (2008-11), all four as the offensive line coach with additional duties as the run game coordinator his last two years there before moving on to North Carolina and joining Fedora’s staff in Chapel Hill.

In his seven seasons at UNC, he was part of an offensive unit that established over 60 school records, including points per game (2012, 2014), total offense (2012, 2014), passing yards (2012-13-14-15-16) and first downs (2014-15). North Carolina averaged more than 170 rushing yards per game from 2012 through 2016, the highest five-year average for the Tar Heels since Mack Brown was their head coach some two decades earlier. The 2018 squad allowed just 10 sacks all season, the .91 per game figure seventh best in the nation while the team also averaged 193 rushing yards per game (5.3 per carry) and a healthy 442.1 yards per game, 35th best nationally.

In 2016, Kapilovic’s offense, led by quarterback Mitch Trubisky, set the school passing yards mark for the fifth season in a row, as UNC won eight games and earned a berth opposite Stanford in the Sun Bowl.   Trubisky was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and is currently starring for the Chicago Bears; he was one of 10 Tar Heels to either be drafted or signed by an NFL team.

That came on the heels of an 11-win season in 2015, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division with a perfect 8-0 record and finishing the year with a No. 15 ranking in the national polls; the Tar Heels led the nation in yards per play and was ninth in scoring offense, averaging 40.7 points per game. UNC ascended all the way to No. 8 in the nation before bowing to No. 1 and eventual national runner-up Clemson, 45-37, in the ACC title game.   The Tar Heels were a semifinalist for the 2015 Joe Moore Award, a new trophy which was created to recognize the entire offensive line. Tailback Elijah Hood rushed for 1,453 yards, Carolina averaged a school record 6.0 yards per carry and ranked first in the ACC in the least number of sacks allowed with just 15 in 13 games.

In his first season at UNC (2012), the Tar Heels had one of, if not the best offensive line in the country, as all three senior starters were drafted, led by guard Jonathan Cooper (No. 7 overall by Arizona), along with tackle Brennan Williams (third round by Houston) and guard Travis Bond (seventh round by Minnesota).

At Southern Mississippi (2008-11), his offensive lines paved the way for school records for total offense three times, with a high of 6,459 in his final season there (the Golden Eagles gained over 5,000 in all four seasons, including over 2,000 rushing yards each year). After run game coordinator was added to his O-line duties in 2010, the next year, USM won the Conference USA championship by defeating Houston, 49-28 in the league title game and, and a 24-17 win over Nevada in the Hawai’i Bowl gave USM a 12-2 final record and a No. 20 national ranking for the 2011 season.

After working as a student assistant coach at his alma mater, Missouri State, in 1991, Kapilovic started his professional coaching career at Deer Valley High School in Glendale, Ariz., a suburb northwest of Phoenix. He spent six seasons there as the school’s offensive line coach, and then moved over to Phoenix College where he worked with the offensive line and also served as the school’s strength coach.

He worked as a graduate assistant at Kansas under coach Terry Allen for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, where he worked with CU’s new offensive coordinator, Jay Johnson. His first full-time job in the collegiate ranks soon followed, as he was the offensive line coach for Alabama State the next two years (2001-02), with offensive coordinator duties added to his role for the Hornets for his final three seasons there (2003-05). He returned to Missouri State for a second stint, this time as its run game coordinator and the O-line coach for the 2006-07 seasons.

Kapilovic lettered two years (1989-90) as an offensive tackle at Missouri State University, earning first-team All-Gateway Conference honors as a senior.   The Bears were 19-6 his two seasons on the squad, winning the Gateway Conference title both seasons and qualifying for the Division I-AA playoffs. MSU finished ninth in the final I-AA poll in 1989, and sixth in the 1990 final balloting. He graduated from MSU with a degree in Education in 1990.

He played two seasons at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College prior to transferring to Missouri State.

Kapilovic was born Nov. 11, 1968 in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from Gerard Catholic High School in Phoenix, Ariz., where he lettered in football, basketball and baseball. He is married to the former Fiona Yount, and the couple has two sons, Carsen (15) and Colin (11).

AT-A-GLANCE— He has coached in 141 Division I-A (FBS) games as a full-timer (79-62 record), including eight bowl games (2008 New Orleans, 2009 New Orleans, 2010 Beef O’Brady’s, 2011 Hawai’i, 2013 Belk, 2014 Quick Lane, 2015 Russell Athletic, 2016 Sun)