After being named to Rivals' Top 25 Recruiters list for the 2019 class and cycle, Buffaloes assistant head coach / receivers coach Darrin Chiaverini picked up exactly where he left off for the Class of 2020.
Statistically speaking, of all the players who now, with a few new additions here on National Signing Day have formally joined the Buffaloes' Class of 2020, Chiaverini served as primary recruiter for approximately 32% of CU's entire recruiting class.
In other words, eight of the 25 players signed to CU's 2020 class were recruited mainly by Chiaverini.
Chiaverini led the recruiting charge on Montana Lemonious-Craig, Toren Pittman, Louis Passarello, Caleb Fauria, Chris Carpenter and Keith Miller III.
Notably, he was the primary recruiter for two of the three four-star recruits to sign in Colorado's Class of 2020: Brenden Rice and Christian Gonzalez.
“I think this is a really strong class," Chiaverini said. "We hit a lot of needs. With coach Tucker, our staff and how we recruit every day — we hit a lot of the needs that we had to hit in this class. Overall, from offense to defense, from size to speed to length; the safety position, corner, receiver, quarterback, offensive line, defensive line, tight end — I think we’re addressing the needs that we need to compete for a Pac-12 Championship."
Looking back at December of 2018, when Tucker was hired as the Buffaloes' head coach following the dismissal of Mike MacIntyre, Chiaverini wound up being one of three coaches from MacIntyre's staff that Tucker chose to retain, along with ILBs coach Ross Els and RBs coach Darian Hagan.
Chiaverini said he went into his initial meetings with Tucker without presuming anything and with the goal of proving he was the man for the job when it came to staying at Colorado, continuing to oversee the wide receivers, and helping Tucker get the football program at CU back to national prominence.
"I just went into it like it was a job interview," Chiaverini said. "I tried to show (Tucker) what I’d done in the past, guys I’d recruited; I’d been offensive coordinator, I had called plays and I wanted to stay at Colorado. I’m a Buff, my son was there (and) I wanted to help (Tucker) build a great program."
"I just really thought that the more I got to be around coach Tucker — he’s a genuine guy who cares about people and about families. He’s also passionate about recruiting. I looked at his resume, his background and where he’d been. I was impressed and wanted to be a part of this staff. More importantly, I’m a Buff and I love Colorado. I want to see us back in the Pac-12 Championship game like we were in 2016, and this time win it. There are things that are deeper than just a job. It’s very personal to me."
Of course, it wouldn't do justice in recapping Chiaverini's successes on the recruiting trail this cycle without discussing Rice and Gonzalez at length.
Rice was the No. 5 overall player in the state of Arizona for the 2020 class and Gonzalez had nearly 40 offers in total. In the case of recruiting both players, Chiaverini stuck to his philosophical guns and relentlessly pursued them. It paid off.
“It always comes down to relationships," Chiaverini said. "The one thing that I try to focus on as a coach is just developing a relationship...It’s more than just football. It’s about building those relationships and the long term effect. That’s important. That’s why players sign (with me) at Colorado: because of the relationship I’ve built up with them over the course of a year, maybe two years."
Chiaverini was able to make good on his relationship-building approach to recruiting. His personality and appreciation for treating high school recruits as young men, not just assets on the gridiron, played a big role in the Buffaloes flipping Gonzalez from a Purdue verbal commitment and Miller III away from Kansas.
"Even when a guy commits, I don’t stop recruiting them," he said. I think sometimes, people stop recruiting a guy when he commits but, until they sign their NLI, I don’t stop. I haven’t always won those battles — there’s players I’ve lost in the past, but to this day, even the players I’ve lost, they’re still reach out to me and say ‘hey coach Chev, I hope you and the family are doing well.’"
"Look at someone like Christian Gonzalez. We were (his) first offer, and even when he committed to Purdue, I kept recruiting him. Same thing with Keith. It comes down to having those relationships with not just the prospect, but also the family. What about mom, or dad, grandma, brother and sisters? Football is what we’re doing, but I also want (my guys) to be good men, good fathers, good husbands — that’s part of what we’re doing at Colorado. We’re not just building good football players. We’re building young men that can be successful in life.”
This past summer, Tucker announced that Chiaverini was being promoted to assistant head coach, in addition to continuing his oversight of the WR corps at CU. Chiaverini became just the 13th coach at CU to be elevated to assistant head coach in the football program's history.
For Chiaverini, that gesture signaled his boss' respect for him, something that the former certainly reciprocates.
"When he promoted me to assistant head coach, (it was something) I had a ton of respect for. I have a ton of respect for coach Tucker and I want to see him be a great coach at the University of Colorado.”
The Buffaloes have recorded their highest ranked recruiting class since 2008. It doesn't take much observation to appreciate the extent to which Chiaverini's fingerprints are all over this batch of recruits.
All in all, it lends continuous credence to the fact that Tucker's decision to keep Chiaverini in Boulder and let him continue to do what he does best played a major role in crafting such a talent-filled class in here in 2020.
