BOULDER — University of Colorado head football coach Mel Tucker has announced some additional hires to his first Buffalo staff, including two more assistant coaches as well as some in the administrative area.
Travares Tillman has been hired as CU’s defensive backs coach and Al Pupunu as the Buffaloes’ tight ends coach.
Tillman, 41, comes to CU after spending three seasons (2016-18) at the University of Georgia working under Tucker. He was a graduate assistant working with the defensive backs the first two years before transitioning into a quality control role with the defense last season. After Tucker accepted the CU job, he helped the Bulldogs defensive backs prepare for their Sugar Bowl matchup against Texas.
“He is a great teacher and has played the game at a high level in college and professionally,” Tucker said. “He relates well to the players and is very knowledgeable about the game. He’s also an excellent recruiter and really brings a lot to the table.”
From 2012-15, Tillman served as the defensive backs and head track coach for four years (2012-15) at Calvary Day School in Savannah, Ga.; he helped coach the team to a 41-8 record over those four seasons, advancing to the state quarterfinals all four years, the state semifinals twice and in the state championship game in 2013. Eight players earned collegiate football scholarships during his time there.
In 2013, Tillman was a recipient of the NFL’s Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship. He spent that summer working with the defensive backs at training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles under its first-year head coach Chip Kelly.
Tillman was a four-year letterman and two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference performer at Georgia Tech playing defensive back, starting three years at safety and cornerback from 1996-99.
The Buffalo Bills selected him in the second round of the 2000 National Football League Draft (the 58th player selected overall). He played two seasons with the Bills, primarily at free safety. After sitting out the 2002 season, he joined the Carolina Panthers for two years (2003-04), helping the team to the 2003 NFC championship by defeating Philadelphia and gain a berth opposite New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII. He then signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Miami Dolphins (2005-07), where he would finish as a pro after a second knee injury ultimately ended his career.
He then returned to Georgia Tech to finish up his degree, graduating in 2010 with a bachelor’s in Business Management.
“I am thrilled to be at Colorado, it’s a beautiful place, and I am really excited to continue to work with Coach Tucker, who I have the most respect for, both as a coach and a person,” Tillman said. “I’m looking forward to doing what I can do to add to the football tradition at Colorado.”
Pupunu, 49, has spent the previous two seasons (2017-18) at his alma mater, Weber State. WSU was 10-3 and reached the FCS quarterfinals in 2018, winning one playoff game after earning a first round bye. During his first season there, he helped lead the Wildcats to a historic season: in addition to winning a school record 11 games, they captured the Big Sky title, won two games to reach the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs and finished the season ranked fifth in the nation, the highest in school history.
“He is a veteran coach who was an outstanding player who played for several years in the NFL,” Tucker said. “He, too, is an excellent teacher and relates well to the student-athlete. His strong ties to the west coast will be vital in recruiting. He has great energy and is a straight shooter, and he’ll be creative in utilizing the tight end in our offense, both in blocking and receiving.
He was the tight ends coach at the University of Idaho for seven seasons (2010-16). In his last season in Moscow, Pupunu helped lead the Vandals to a 9-4 record in 2016, including a 61-50 win over Colorado State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The nine wins tied the most in school history and it was also the second-best ever for UI.
As a senior at Weber State in 1991, Pupunu had one of the best years in Big Sky Conference history. Playing alongside Walter Payton Trophy winner, quarterback Jamie Martin, Pupunu set a Division I-AA (now FCS) record with 93 receptions for 1,204 yards and 12 touchdowns, helping Weber State to an 8-4 record and a trip to the NCAA playoffs. The 93 catches still rank as the most receptions in a season in Weber State history, and the second most ever in a season by an FCS tight end. He earned All-American and All-Big Sky Conference honors that season.
He signed as a free agent with San Diego in the National Football League in 1992, the start of a nine-year professional career that he would spend with the Chargers (1992-97, 1999), Kansas City (1997), New York Giants (1998) and Detroit (2000). After his professional career, his first taste of coaching was at Alta High School in Sandy, Utah, where he spent four years (2002-05). He then became an intern at the University of Utah under Kyle Whittingham for two seasons (2006-07). Unable to earn his degree at Weber State because he went into the NFL, while interning at Utah he earned his bachelor’s in Sociology and Criminology in 2006.
He attained his first full-time coaching position in 2008, when he was named the running backs and tight ends coach at Southern Utah University. He was in Cedar City for two years before moving on to Idaho for the next seven seasons.
I’m overwhelmed, totally excited to join Coach Tucker at Colorado,” Pupunu said. “I really believe there will be a lot of good things we can accomplish and it’s going to be awesome. Tight ends can be a big part of our offense, and when they’re utilized to both block and be flexed out, you can really create mismatches on the line of scrimmage.”
In addition to the two new position coaches, Tucker has also named Cymone George as CU’s recruiting coordinator and Geoffrey Martzen as the director of player personnel.
George graduated from Georgia Southern in 2012 and has been working in the Eagles athletic department ever since, most recently as the director of football operations for the last two seasons. She got her start as a graduate assistant working with football recruiting, and then shifted into the director of on-campus recruiting in 2015 and then coordinated business development between Learfield and GSU.
Martzen served in the same capacity last season under Chip Kelly at UCLA, but this will be a homecoming of sorts as he had held the same position at Colorado State the previous three seasons (2015-17). He also served in the same role at BYU in 2014 after working in recruiting at Boise State and Alabama after graduating from Fresno State.
There is one more assistant coach position yet to be filled; Tucker indicated that likely will happen prior to the second signing day, which is February 6. Spring practices won’t start until March 18.
