Interview with Chris Kapilovic Part II: Earning the trust of his players

Last week, the University of Colorado football team's Twitter released a short video that centered around head coach Mel Tucker and the team's 2019 motto of "RELENTLESS." In the video, Kapilovic talks about how he personally sets an example that is contingent with Tucker's brand of physical, dominating football.

But how did he get in a position to be able to set that example and inspire confidence with his position players? The first steps to getting to that point were undertaken on day one.

“First of all, I told them that I have to earn my respect and they have to earn mine," he said. "That’s important. I have to be able to show them that I know what I’m doing, that I have answers and ways to fix things. I think that with anything in this business, if the kids know that ‘this guy knows what he’s talking about and can help me get better’ then there’s a huge buy-in factor there."

Kapilovic aimed to earn that respect by showing his guys who he was.

"I gave them my background — from a kid on up, who I am, what I’ve done and where I’ve been," he said. "You just tell your story, be genuine and honest. Kids are smart — they can read through the B.S."

Once that camaraderie had begun to be built, Kapilovic could move onto the first immediate issue that required his attention: bulking up Colorado's offensive linemen.

"The thing for me when I first walked in that room and met with the [offensive linemen] was that we had to get much bigger," he said. "I think [at first] there was 17-19 guys — [out of them] were five guys that were 300 pounds or more. Everyone else was under."

And from there, the work started. Via the weight room, to the intense style of practicing that Kapilovic champions, to switching up diets, a concentrated effort is being made to beef up CU's o-line, with noticeable results."

"I don’t need everybody to be 340, but you like to have guys in that 300-310 range," Kapilovic said. "That was something we had to go to work on in the nutrition world. We’re up to 11 or 12 guys [above 300 pounds] now, so we’re making good progress."

What seems to come with the territory with a new coaching staff and a young program is that at the end of the day, the players on the roster all have to be marching to the same beat and believing in something. In Kapilovic's mind, exactly that has been what he's seen from his guys.

They’ve bought on, which is huge and so that goes a long way," he said. "There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat out there but if everybody’s pulling the same way there’s a chance to be successful.”