Football
Reinert, Chris
vs
Houston
Sep 12 (Fri)
5:30 PM
Chris Reinert
- Title:
- Director of Quality Control/Special Teams
Christopher Reinert is in his first season as the special teams coach, elevated to that position by interim head coach Mike Sanford on Oct. 4, 2022. He is in his third year overall, previously joining Karl Dorrell’s staff on March 9, 2020 in quality control for special teams. Originally a quality control analyst, his title was changed to director of quality control for special teams in February 2021.
Reinert, 36, came to Colorado from Arizona State University, where he served as the special teams analyst for head coach Herm Edwards and coordinator Shawn Slocum for the 2019 season. He has overseen CU’s entire special teams operation, which was one of the team’s bright spots in 2021. The combined units were nationally ranked by both ESPN (third) and Pro Football Focus (PFF, fifth). The four units were all ranked in the top four of the Pac-12: kickoff return (28.7 avg., second); punt return (14.4 avg., third), net kickoff (40.32, fourth) and net punting (40.3, fourth). The kickoff and punt return units were also ranked fifth and ninth, respectfully, in the nation.
In addition, freshman Cole Becker made 39-of-45 placekicks and a conference-best three field goals of 50 yards or longer as PFF named him its first-team All-Pac-12 kicker. Josh Watts was sixth nationally in gross punting average (47.8), Brenden Rice was 14th nationally in kickoff return average (27.6) and Trevor Woods was the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week for the Arizona game when he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.
In Reinert’s first year on the CU staff, the punt return unit was ninth nationally (15.6 avg.), with Jaylon Jackson named second-team All-Pac-12 for a special teams performer other than a kicker/returner. In two seasons with Reinert, the Buffaloes have three blocked kicks and three return scores, including the 12th 100-yard play in school history when Nikko Reed returned a kickoff that distance at Utah in 2021.
At Arizona State, three special teams performers, receiver/returner Brandon Aiyuk, punter Michael Turk and contributor Case Hatch, earned postseason honors. Aiyuk, a first round selection by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2020 National Football League draft, finished third in the nation in both kickoff and punt return averages and was a second-team All-American (first-team All-Pac-12). ASU defeated Florida State in the Sun Bowl to cap an 8-5 season.
Prior to joining the Arizona State staff, he was the wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator for the Arizona Hotshots in the inaugural season of the AAF (Alliance of American Football League). He joined coach Rick Neuheisel’s staff in 2018 in preparation for the 2019 season; he had coached with Neuheisel at UCLA seven years earlier. The Hotshots opened with a 5-3 record and was leading the Western Conference when the league suspended operations in early April.
In 2016, Reinert had a second stint at UCLA, working as a special teams analyst for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and toward the end of 2017, was promoted to the Bruins’ special teams coordinator. That year, the Bruins earned a bid to the Cactus Bowl against Kansas State. That followed two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at Washington State University under head coach Mike Leach, where he was on the defensive staff working with the defensive backs and special teams in 2014 and then switched to the offensive side of the ball for 2015, where he worked with the quarterbacks and helped tutor All-Pac-12 quarterback Luke Falk. He also assisted Leach in game planning as he gained additional responsibilities as the special assistant to the head coach, with the Cougars leading the nation in passing and red zone offense and would go on to beat Miami (Fla.) in the Sun Bowl.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2009 from Vanderbilt University. He lettered four times at wide receiver for the Commodores (2005-09) under coach Bobby Johnson. He was a five-time member of the Academic All-Southeastern Conference team, and was Vanderbilt’s Football Dedication Award winner as a senior (the school’s most prestigious honor), when he was the SEC’s special teams player of the week against Georgia. He was the team’s holder that season, returning from a leg fracture that cut his junior season short after two games. He was a member of Vanderbilt’s Music City Bowl champion team (a 16-14 win over Boston College), the school’s first bowl game since 1982.
Reinert returned to where he grew up in southern California for his first job after graduation, serving as the defensive backs coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City for the 2010 season. He then joined Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA for the 2011 season, working that year as a defensive intern for the Bruins, who would win the first Pac-12 Conference South Division title after the league expanded. Jim Mora, Jr., was named head coach ahead of the 2012 season, and retained Reinert as a graduate assistant for the defense for the 2012-13 seasons. In 2013, he was part of a Bruin staff that produced a defense that finished among the top three in the Pac-12 in pass defense, passing touchdowns allowed and third down defense. As a member of the UCLA staff, he coached in three bowl games: 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger (vs. Illinois), 2012 Holiday (vs. Baylor) and 2013 Sun (vs. Virginia Tech).
He was born November 9, 1985 in Sarasota, Fla., and graduated from Servite High School (Anaheim, Calif.) where he lettered in football and track and field. His hobbies include golf, skiing and fishing. He is married to the former Emily Tyson, an instructor, trainer and development Jazzercise specialist. An older brother, Matthew, was a wide receiver at the University of Pennsylvania; a younger sister, Rachel Reinert, is a country music artist; a former member of the band Gloriana, in March 2020 she released her first solo album, Into The Blue.
Reinert, 36, came to Colorado from Arizona State University, where he served as the special teams analyst for head coach Herm Edwards and coordinator Shawn Slocum for the 2019 season. He has overseen CU’s entire special teams operation, which was one of the team’s bright spots in 2021. The combined units were nationally ranked by both ESPN (third) and Pro Football Focus (PFF, fifth). The four units were all ranked in the top four of the Pac-12: kickoff return (28.7 avg., second); punt return (14.4 avg., third), net kickoff (40.32, fourth) and net punting (40.3, fourth). The kickoff and punt return units were also ranked fifth and ninth, respectfully, in the nation.
In addition, freshman Cole Becker made 39-of-45 placekicks and a conference-best three field goals of 50 yards or longer as PFF named him its first-team All-Pac-12 kicker. Josh Watts was sixth nationally in gross punting average (47.8), Brenden Rice was 14th nationally in kickoff return average (27.6) and Trevor Woods was the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week for the Arizona game when he returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.
In Reinert’s first year on the CU staff, the punt return unit was ninth nationally (15.6 avg.), with Jaylon Jackson named second-team All-Pac-12 for a special teams performer other than a kicker/returner. In two seasons with Reinert, the Buffaloes have three blocked kicks and three return scores, including the 12th 100-yard play in school history when Nikko Reed returned a kickoff that distance at Utah in 2021.
At Arizona State, three special teams performers, receiver/returner Brandon Aiyuk, punter Michael Turk and contributor Case Hatch, earned postseason honors. Aiyuk, a first round selection by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2020 National Football League draft, finished third in the nation in both kickoff and punt return averages and was a second-team All-American (first-team All-Pac-12). ASU defeated Florida State in the Sun Bowl to cap an 8-5 season.
Prior to joining the Arizona State staff, he was the wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator for the Arizona Hotshots in the inaugural season of the AAF (Alliance of American Football League). He joined coach Rick Neuheisel’s staff in 2018 in preparation for the 2019 season; he had coached with Neuheisel at UCLA seven years earlier. The Hotshots opened with a 5-3 record and was leading the Western Conference when the league suspended operations in early April.
In 2016, Reinert had a second stint at UCLA, working as a special teams analyst for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and toward the end of 2017, was promoted to the Bruins’ special teams coordinator. That year, the Bruins earned a bid to the Cactus Bowl against Kansas State. That followed two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at Washington State University under head coach Mike Leach, where he was on the defensive staff working with the defensive backs and special teams in 2014 and then switched to the offensive side of the ball for 2015, where he worked with the quarterbacks and helped tutor All-Pac-12 quarterback Luke Falk. He also assisted Leach in game planning as he gained additional responsibilities as the special assistant to the head coach, with the Cougars leading the nation in passing and red zone offense and would go on to beat Miami (Fla.) in the Sun Bowl.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 2009 from Vanderbilt University. He lettered four times at wide receiver for the Commodores (2005-09) under coach Bobby Johnson. He was a five-time member of the Academic All-Southeastern Conference team, and was Vanderbilt’s Football Dedication Award winner as a senior (the school’s most prestigious honor), when he was the SEC’s special teams player of the week against Georgia. He was the team’s holder that season, returning from a leg fracture that cut his junior season short after two games. He was a member of Vanderbilt’s Music City Bowl champion team (a 16-14 win over Boston College), the school’s first bowl game since 1982.
Reinert returned to where he grew up in southern California for his first job after graduation, serving as the defensive backs coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City for the 2010 season. He then joined Neuheisel’s staff at UCLA for the 2011 season, working that year as a defensive intern for the Bruins, who would win the first Pac-12 Conference South Division title after the league expanded. Jim Mora, Jr., was named head coach ahead of the 2012 season, and retained Reinert as a graduate assistant for the defense for the 2012-13 seasons. In 2013, he was part of a Bruin staff that produced a defense that finished among the top three in the Pac-12 in pass defense, passing touchdowns allowed and third down defense. As a member of the UCLA staff, he coached in three bowl games: 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger (vs. Illinois), 2012 Holiday (vs. Baylor) and 2013 Sun (vs. Virginia Tech).
He was born November 9, 1985 in Sarasota, Fla., and graduated from Servite High School (Anaheim, Calif.) where he lettered in football and track and field. His hobbies include golf, skiing and fishing. He is married to the former Emily Tyson, an instructor, trainer and development Jazzercise specialist. An older brother, Matthew, was a wide receiver at the University of Pennsylvania; a younger sister, Rachel Reinert, is a country music artist; a former member of the band Gloriana, in March 2020 she released her first solo album, Into The Blue.
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