The University of Colorado officially hire former Jets assistant coach Karl Dorrell as its next head coach on Sunday.
Dorrell will get a five-year, $18 million deal, which is pending approval from Colorado’s Board of Regents, according to a statement released by the school. He will succeed Mel Tucker, who left Colorado to replace Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Dantonio resigned a day before National Signing Day.
Dorrell has ties to the Jets, as he coached the team’s wide receivers from 2015-18 as a member of Todd Bowles’ staff. In 2015, Dorrell oversaw a wide receiver room that included the elite duo of Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. Marshall and Decker both had 1,000-yard seasons, combining for 26 touchdowns and 189 catches.
Dorrell is a former University of Colorado assistant, too. He was the program’s wide receivers coach in 1992 and 1993 and returned to be the offensive coordinator from 1995-98. Now, Dorrell is making his third and presumably final stop in Boulder.
He returns to the Pac-12 after being the head coach at UCLA from 2003-07. There, Dorrell compiled a 35-27 record in five seasons. His teams went to four bowl games.
As a coach, Dorrell has also made college stops at UCF, Northern Arizona, Arizona State, Washington and Vanderbilt. In his most recent college coaching gig as Vanderbilt’s offensive coordinator, Dorrell was fired after just one season, which lead him back to the NFL.
Most recently, Dorrell was the Dolphins assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. He was hired by Brian Flores after the Jets elected to part ways with Bowles and his entire staff.