Rip Scherer is the newest hire in Head Coach Jon Embree’s staff additions heading into the 2011-12 CU football season.
Tapped as the quarterbacks coach for the Buffaloes, Scherer returns to the college ranks after spending the past five years in the NFL as a quarterbacks coach, most recently with the Carolina Panthers. He spent four years with the Cleveland Browns before working with the Panthers.
Before his stint in the NFL, he had 30 years of college coaching experience, serving as the head coach at Memphis for five years and FCS James Madison for three, compiling a 51-63 record. He held offensive coordinator jobs at Southern Miss, Kansas, Arizona, Alabama and Georgia Tech. He has also made coaching stops at Virginia, Hawaii, North Carolina State and Penn State.
Mike Tuiasosopo – Defensive line coach
He may not have any Colorado connections, but Tuiasosopo’s name should be familiar to football fans. He comes from a family filled with NFL players and athletes, including his cousin, former quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, who Bronco’s fans might remember from his days with the Oakland Raiders.
Tuiasosopo is no slouch himself. He was a tackle at Pacific Lutheran and won an NAIA Division II title in his junior year. After his playing career, Tuiasosopo coached at several California high schools. There, he met Embree, who at the time was an assistant with CU. Embree made recruiting trips to California and recruited several of Tuiasosopo’s players.
After two internships at the NFL level, Tuiasosopo began his college coaching career as the defensive line coach at Utah State. He went on to coach at Nevada, Utah and alongside Brown at Arizona, where he spent the last seven years before signing with CU.
Bobby Kennedy – Wide receivers coach
For Kennedy, accepting a job at CU is a homecoming. Born and raised in Boulder, he played football and basketball for Boulder High before going on to play quarterback at the University of Northern Colorado.
Kennedy brings 21 years of coaching experience and big game credentials. He spent the last seven years coaching wide receivers at the University of Texas, where he coached in 13 bowl games, including appearances in the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and two BCS National Championships.
Before Texas, Kennedy made coaching stops at Wyoming, Wake Forest, Arizona and Washington. Kennedy should be pivotal in Colorado’s efforts to recruit in talent-rich Texas. Kennedy spent six of his seven years with the Longhorns as their assistant recruiting coordinator.
Kanavis McGhee – Defensive line coach
Another staffer with ties to Texas, former Buffs standout McGhee is one of the rookie coaches on Embree’s staff. While McGhee has coached high school football in his hometown of Houston, and in Amsterdam with NFL Europe, he has no college coaching experience, and so will be learning from and working closely with fellow line coach Tuiasosopo. Tuiasosopo has 22 years of experience.
As a linebacker at CU, McGhee was a finalist for the Dick Butkus award, given to the nation’s top linebacker. He was drafted in the second round by the New York Giants and converted to defensive end before a knee injury derailed his career.
McGhee will try to use his 10 years of Texas high school coaching experience to recruit the area, and past events show that he definitely has an eye for talent. While at Madison High in Houston, McGhee tried to sell then CU assistant Bieniemy on his sophomore quarterback.
Contact CU Independent Sports Writer Mitchell Byars Mitchell.byars@colorado.edu.
