A look at Deion Sanders' first coaching staff at Colorado
From the moment he was formally christened as Colorado’s new head football coach, Deion Sanders was not shy about the caliber of coaching staff he believed he could assemble in Boulder.
Nearly two weeks into his tenure, what was once a promise is starting to become something much more concrete.
With a $5 million salary pool at his disposal, Sanders has filled many of the assistant coaching vacancies on his first staff, the group that he and those around the program hope can begin to guide the Buffs back to prominence.
The news of who has been hired for what role has been unrelenting and, frankly, a little overwhelming at times, so we’ve created this document here to list not only the coaches that have been brought aboard, but provide a little biographical information on them. We’ll be updating this as the final openings are filled, so feel free to bookmark this for future reference.
Sean Lewis, offensive coordinator
We took a deeper dive last week into Lewis, who made the relatively surprising decision to join Sanders at Colorado after spending the past five seasons as the head coach at Kent State. His success with the Golden Flashes was largely predicated on an explosive, spread-out offense that has conjured comparisons to Art Briles-era Baylor and Tennessee under Josh Heupel. During the pandemic-altered 2020 season, Kent State was first in both total offense and scoring offense, averaging 606.5 yards per game and 49.8 points per game, respectively. The following year, it finished fifth among Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total offense, averaging 493.4 yards per game.
Lewis, 36, amassed a 24-31 record in his five seasons with the Golden Flashes. Prior to that, he was the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Syracuse from 2016-17, the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Bowling Green in 2015, the wide receivers coach at Bowling Green in 2014 and the wide receivers/tight ends coach at Eastern Illinois from 2012-13. Lewis’ final Syracuse offense ranked 23rd nationally in yards per game.
Charles Kelly, defensive coordinator/safeties
After some initial, and ultimately inaccurate, reports that linked former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer to this role, the Buffs turned to Kelly, who spent the previous four seasons as Alabama’s associate defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Under Kelly and Pete Golding, the Crimson Tide’s defense has consistently been among the sport’s best. During the 2022 season, they ranked 10th in scoring defense (18 points allowed per game) after coming in at 20th in 2021, 13th in 2020 and 15th in 2019.
Prior to arriving in Tuscaloosa, he spent five seasons at Florida State, the last four of which were as defensive coordinator. His final three defenses with the Seminoles each ranked among the top 25 teams nationally in total defense. His 2015 group was ninth in scoring defense, giving up just 17.8 points per game. In 2013, he was the special teams and linebackers coach for a Florida State team that won the national championship.
He coached 10 NFL Draft picks as the Seminoles’ defensive coordinator. For his career, Kelly, 55, has coached 16 all-Americans and been a part of four conference-title-winning staffs.
Nick Williams, defensive line
Williams will take on an on-field coaching role after spending the past two seasons as a defensive analyst at Texas A&M. That’s not to negate the role he had for the Aggies, though. While there, he was a force on the recruiting trail, helping assemble a top-ranked 2022 class that featured six five-star and 20 four-star prospects. While not much came from such a collection of talent in their first year on campus, it’s one of the more impressive single-year recruiting hauls in modern college football history.
Prior to that, Williams worked as a graduate assistant at Georgia, his alma mater, where he had a similar impact on the Bulldogs’ recruiting efforts (and with much better on-field results than Texas A&M has had to this point). He was a central figure in the recruitments of standouts like Lewis Cine and Kelee Ringo. Williams also helped coach the Bulldogs’ defensive line, something that should prepare him for his new role at Colorado.
Bill O’Boyle, offensive line
O’Boyle, 59, comes to Colorado from Kent State, where he spent the past five seasons as the offensive line coach under Lewis. O’Boyle’s offensive lines played an important, often overlooked part in the Golden Flashes posting record-breaking offensive numbers. Last season, Kent State was tied for 48th in the FBS in sacks allowed per game (1.75), though it also gave up 6.5 tackles for loss per game, tied for 95th among 131 FBS teams.
O’Boyle’s coaching career goes far beyond northeast Ohio, with past stops at South Dakota, Southern Illinois, Chadron State, Western Illinois and Colorado Mesa. From 2005-11, he was the head coach at Chadron State, compiling a 57-21 record in that time, which included two trips to the Division II quarterfinals. While at Chadron, he coached future NFL running back Danny Woodhead.
Most importantly, though, the man has an immaculate mustache.
Brett Bartolone, wide receivers
Bartolone was only Jackson State’s offensive coordinator for one season, but he sure made it count. This past season, Bartolone’s first with the program, the Tigers finished eighth among all Football Championship Subdivision teams in scoring offense, averaging 38 points per game. The previous season, Jackson State averaged 27.5 points per game.
He came to Jackson State from Nevada, where he was the assistant quarterbacks coach and an offensive analyst under current Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell. In each of Bartolone’s two seasons there, Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong was named the Mountain West offensive player of the year as the center of his team’s Air Raid offense.
Bartolone played college football for one season at Washington State under the late Mike Leach before suffering a career-ending shoulder injury. In his lone season, he was an all-Pac-12 honorable mention inclusion.
Dennis Thurman, director of quality control – defense
(Updated Dec. 20) Thurman comes to Boulder with a new role, as he spent each of Sanders’ three seasons at Jackson State as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator. Last season, Jackson State finished second in scoring defense (13.5 points per game), first in passing yards per attempt allowed (five), first in passing yards per game allowed (135.4), first in sacks per game (3.7), ninth in yards per carry allowed (3.2) and 11th in tackles for loss per game (7.5).
That was only the most recent inclusion on a lengthy resume. From 2002-16, Thurman coached in the NFL, a run highlighted by stints as a defensive coordinator for both the New York Jets (2013-14) and Buffalo Bills (2015-16). He also served as a defensive backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2004-07 and the Jets from 2008-12. While with the Ravens, he was Sanders’ position coach from 2004-05. Among the other players he has coached over the course of his career are Darrelle Revis, Troy Polamalu and Stephon Gilmore.
From 1993-2000 he was a defensive backs coach at USC, where he was a two-time consensus all-American and was a member of the school’s 1974 national championship squad.
Gary “Flea” Harrell, assistant head coach/running backs
(Updated Dec. 20) Like other additions to the staff, Harrell comes from Jackson State, where he was the running backs coach in each of Sanders’ three seasons there. Though the Tigers were a pass-first team, they did well enough on the ground, averaging 4.4 yards per carry last season, ranking them 43rd among 143 Football Championship Subdivision teams.
He came to Jackson after one season at Alabama State, but prior to that, he served two years on Lane Kiffin’s staff at Florida Atlantic. Much of his career has been spent at HBCUs, having worked at Bowie State, Florida A&M, Morgan State, Texas Southern and Howard. At Howard, his alma mater, he was the head coach for five seasons, compiling a 20-36 record in that time.
Tim Brewster, tight ends
Brewster’s name should be a familiar one to anyone who has paid somewhat close attention to college football over the past 20 years. Brewster, 62, has been coaching since 1986, with most of that time being spent as a tight ends coach. Most notably, he was the head coach at Minnesota from 2007-10, a time in which he went 15-30 before being fired.
Since then, his career has been spent entirely in the south, as he went from Mississippi State to Florida State to Texas A&M to North Carolina and to Florida before spending last season at Jackson State under Sanders. At Florida, he worked with Kyle Pitts, who won the John Mackey Award as the nation’s top tight end in 2020 before being taken with the fourth overall pick in the NFL Draft the following year.
Over the years, he has developed a reputation as an ace recruiter. In each of his five years at Florida State, the Seminoles brought in a top-10 recruiting class, including a 2016 class that ranked second nationally, with 18 four-star players.
Andre’ Hart, linebackers
At Colorado, Hart will occupy the same role he had the past three seasons at Jackson State. This past season, the Tigers allowed just 2.9 yards per carry, the fourth-best mark among all FCS teams. The previous season, they gave up just 2.8 yards per carry. Jackson State’s star linebacker, Aubrey Miller Jr., was named the SWAC defensive player of the year in 2022.
Before coming to Jackson State, Hart was the head coach at Trinity Christian in suburban Dallas, where Sanders worked as the offensive coordinator for three years while his son, Shedeur, played quarterback. Hart led Trinity Christian to three consecutive Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools championships.
Kevin Mathis, defensive backs
Like Hart, Mathis was with Sanders for each of his three seasons at Jackson State. The Tigers’ secondary caused havoc for opposing offenses last season, giving up an FCS-best 129.5 passing yards per game and 4.7 yards per attempt. In 2021, they were just about as good, allowing 157.1 yards per game, the third-best mark in the FCS.
He, too, coached with Sanders at Trinity Christian. A former defensive back and kickoff returner, Mathis played 115 NFL games from 1997-2006, suiting up for the Cowboys, Saints and Falcons. He and Sanders were teammates in Dallas from 1997-99.
Maurice Sims, strength and conditioning
(Updated Dec. 20) Sims comes to Boulder after one season with Sanders at Jackson State, a time in which the Tigers went 12-1 before losing to North Carolina Central in the Celebration Bowl. Much of Sims' experience, though, has come at the Power Five level. Prior to arriving in Jackson, he spent two season as the associate director of strength and conditioning at Georgia. During his stay, the Bulldogs went 22-3 and won the College Football Playoff in 2022.
He also has experience at North Carolina, where he was the assistant strength and conditioning coach in 2019; Army, where he was on the strength and conditioning staff from 2017-19; and Indiana, where he was an assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2014-15.