Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is bringing his NFL experience to Boulder with his two new hires on the coaching staff.
Robert Livingston was named the new defensive coordinator following the departure of former DC Charles Kelly, who left to become the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Auburn. Pat Shurmur was named the new offensive coordinator after serving last year as an analyst for the Buffs and taking over the offensive play-calling for the final four games of the season.
These hires come with quality NFL experience, each with at least ten years of coaching in the NFL. Livingston is coming out of being the secondary/safeties coach for the Bengals where he held that position for seven years and was a part of the 2022 AFC championship-winning side before making the move to Colorado. Shurmur comes from a football background with his uncle, Fritz Shurmur, being an NFL coach for 24 years with one Super Bowl title and Pat himself being a coach for three different NFL teams.
Livingston rose to the coaching ranks fast with it only taking him three years after college graduation to be on the staff of an NFL team. He started his coaching career at Furman as one of their assistant coaches directly after graduating from Wiliam & Mary where he played safety for three seasons. With only one year of experience under his belt, he got the opportunity to move to the SEC in 2011 where he became the defensive quality control coach at Vanderbilt. Spending yet again only one year at a school, he left Vanderbilt in 2012 to become a pro scout for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.
Spending two years in that role, Livingston established himself within the Cincinnati organization, gaining promotion to defensive quality control & special teams assistant coach in 2015. He maintained that role for a year before gaining yet another promotion to secondary/safeties coach which he held for seven years before joining Prime’s coaching staff.
After coaching in the NFL for 22 years, with three different spells as a head coach, Shurmur joined the Buffaloes as a co-offensive coordinator and offensive analyst in 2022. With a dry spell of offense in the middle of the 2023 season, Coach Prime decided to hand over the play calling to Shurmur with the hope of an offensive boost. Come 2024, Shurmur has been given full possession of play calling as he has been named the Offensive Coordinator for the Buff's upcoming season.
Shurmur began his career attending Michigan State where he was a four-year letterman center for the football team and became a graduate assistant for the team directly after graduating. Spending the next seven years with the Spartans, he would hold the titles of special teams, offensive line, and tight ends coach before taking a position at Stanford as their offensive line coach. With an Impressive first season in Palo Alto, NFL executives started to take note as he would take his first NFL job with the Philadelphia Eagles as the offensive line and tight ends coach.
Shurmur would then bounce around the NFL for the next 20 years where he would be a part of six different teams, serving as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Giants. His last stint in the NFL before joining the Buffs came with the Denver Broncos where he was the offensive coordinator for two seasons.
Come fall, the Buffaloes hope to improve their 2023 record with their newfound NFL coaching veterans controlling the offensive and defensive sides.
Cover photo by CUBuffs.com
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