Boulder – College football teams understand that a new coach has prerogative in bringing in his own staff, but that didn’t prevent some CU players from feeling sad after learning third-year strength and conditioning coach Greg Finnegan was leaving.
Coach Dan Hawkins told the team this week that Boise State’s Jeff Pitman would replace Finnegan.
A native of Melba, Idaho, Pitman served seven seasons as strength and conditioning coach at his alma mater. Hawkins was a Boise State assistant during Pitman’s first two seasons and head coach for the past five.
“Dealing with change is always hard,” senior cornerback Lorenzo Sims said Thursday. “Coach Finnegan is one of the last of the coaches (from the Gary Barnett regime) and we were really hoping that he’d stay. It’s just something we have to deal with and move on.”
The only members of Barnett’s coaching staff who remain are linebackers coach Brian Cabral and wide receivers coach Darian Hagan.
Hawkins said the change was made only because he wanted his own guy in the job.
Footnotes
Today’s scrimmage is expected to be about 45 to 50 plays, Hawkins said. It begins at 5 p.m. and is open to the public.
