Colorado interim head coach Mike Sanford and newly-elevated offensive coordinator Clay Patterson begin the bye week acclimating to their sudden change in responsibilities and navigating how this Buffaloes program will move forward, but from the trials this season and jobs prior, they feel prepared to change the narrative.

Sanford was a head coach previously at Western Kentucky in 2017-18, going 9-16 with the Hilltoppers, going to the Cure Bowl in 2017 before he was fired after a 3-9 follow-up.

Meanwhile, a staff member at Texas A&M-Kingsville called a then-24-year-old Patterson and notified him that the head coach, Keith Baxter, was quitting just a few months before the 2007 season. Patterson became the program OC just like that.

“I have had some very interesting situations where I took over and all the way back, my first [OC] job, I was 24 years old and it was kinda like this,” Patterson said. “I was in a car coming back from Houston … and we got a call that the head coach is quitting.”

Sanford and Patterson -- who worked together the last two seasons at Minnesota as OC and TEs coach, respectively -- bring an open-minded, fun energy to a tough situation, as Tuesday was the first time in quite a long time that the media stepped inside the fences to watch at least a portion of an in-season practice and there was also laughter during the presser.

“The bottom line and what’s crazy about this game is that football sometimes becomes not fun and we want these kids to have fun playing football again,” Patterson said.

Yesterday Sanford met with all the players individually, from 6:45 a.m. to 5:07 p.m., asking how they are really doing. Sanford heard a range of responses from veterans who have been through multiple coaching changes during their careers and down to the freshmen who are adjusting to their first collegiate coaching change.