Interview with Chris Kapilovic Part I: Taking the job

Before Colorado Buffaloes offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic took the gig at CU and joined Mel Tucker's incoming staff, he had spent seven years (2012-2018) at North Carolina, where his role was largely overseeing the o-line but also blended offensive and run game coordinator duties.

Kapilovic didn't know Tucker personally before accepting a job on his staff, but he was familiar with CU offensive coordinator Jay Johnson — the two worked together at Kansas from 1999-2000 when Kapilovic was a grad assistant and Johnson was coaching the QBs.

"We’ve been friends for 20 years," Kapilovic said. "It just happened to be that guys in the offensive line world that Mel trusted just kind of aligned and recommended me."

And more or less just like that, the wheels began to turn and Kapilovic got himself an interview.

"The funny thing was when this job opened, this was before I knew who was getting it or anything," he said. "I remember telling my wife that this would be the best opportunity because this is obviously a beautiful place to live for my family, brand new facilities, [and] the Pac-12 is open at this point — you don’t have this hierarchy like there used to be. It all came together."

While Kapilovic was at UNC, the Tar Heels averaged over 170 rushing yards per game from 2012-16 and during his overall tenure, North Carolina's offensive line was routinely solid at defending its quarterback as well as run blocking.

His achievements there weren't a fluke or on accident. But rather, in large part to his personal philosophy to coaching — a philosophy that was right on the mark with what Tucker is hoping to bring to Colorado.

"When Mel called me, it really wasn’t a long conversation — and we also played against Georgia when I was at North Carolina so Mel had prepared and seen my work," Kapilovic said. "He wanted a guy who was going to come in here and coach his guys hard and play a physical brand of ball [to] be able to run the ball and establish dominance at the line of scrimmage — that’s the whole goal."

Given Kapilovic and Johnson's long relationship, it will be interesting to see how they coordinate the pass and rush elements to craft a new and improved Colorado offense. Johnson certainly doesn't suffer from a lack of talent at his skill positions, while Kapilovic has had more molding to do with his o-line and troupe of inexperienced tailbacks. Luckily there's another coach on staff and former CU standout who oversees the running backs who knows a thing or two about what makes one good and bad.

"It's [just been] the matter of me and Jay getting together [to] figure out how we wanted to attack the run game," he said. "There’s a lot of similarities in what I’ve done and what Jay’s done so we kind of meshed it all together and so far, so good.”

In Part II of CUSportsNation's interview with Chris Kapilovic, the focus will be on how he got to work with his offensive linemen and built a rapport.