Paul Ferraro with Josh Wainwright in 2017
At this Friday night's Gold Dinner, the public learned of the big news that Defensive Coordinator Paul Ferraro is retiring after seven years with the Lions. This is a big loss, as Ferraro's experience and stability consistently produced a vast improvement for CU defensive units over what we had seen for many years before him. I'll publish a top 10 list of the best Lion defensive efforts under Ferraro in the coming days.
While the search is now on for Ferraro's replacement, we also learned that Andrew Kukesh is moving to the open Defensive Backs assistant coaching spot after his one excellent year leading the Defensive Line. Chris West from Delta State is taking over as the new DL coach.
Finally, it was also announced that Justin Woodley '21 is staying with the program and will be the defensive quality control coach. He graduated in December.
A number of fans and alumni are already filling out their wish lists for possible replacements for Ferraro. The name that keeps coming up is that of Jon Poppe, former Defensive Backs coach at Columbia from 2015-17 and currently holding that same title at Harvard.
I have no idea whether Poppe is interested in the position, but I do know he would be a very popular choice among the recently graduated players and some of the long-time fans.
4 comments:
Jake, any further word about where Roussos will be playing football next fall?
TOD HOWARD HAWKS
All I know is Roussos is not returning to Columbia.
Jake -a lot of coaching turnover. Any concerns? New hires seem younger and probably cheaper than those they replaced. Hopefully, no issues with budget.
Ferraro did a great job and will be missed.
Paul Ferraro was key to Bagnoli's success at CU...... Great coach who should have had his own program! Will be sorely missed...
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