Longtime Broncos assistant coach Rick Dennison on Tuesday afternoon accepted an offer to become the offensive coordinator on Gary Kubiak’s staff in Houston.
Dennison leaves Denver after being an assistant coach here for 15 years, including the last nine seasons as the offensive line coach.
“It’s one of those things that really tugs at you,” Dennison said. “I’m a Colorado guy – I wasn’t born here, but I’ve spent a lot of my life here. And it’s been a long time with an organization. It’s really, really hard to not be associated with the Broncos.”
The move to Houston reunites him with Kubiak, with whom Dennison was a teammate on the Broncos in the 1980s (Kubiak was a quarterback, Dennison a linebacker) and a fellow assistant under Mike Shanahan. Kubiak tried previously to hire Dennison in Houston, in 2006, but Shanahan denied Kubiak’s request to interview Dennison.
“This opportunity, to get a chance to work with (Texans head coach) Gary (Kubiak), I don’t know how many times something like that is going to come around. I thought I better jump at on it if it’s at all possible and it’s possible,” Dennison said.
Dennison is the first of coach Josh McDaniels’ assistant coaches to formally depart, though running backs coach Bobby Turner — another longtime Shanahan assistant — might not be far behind. An NFL source said Monday that Turner had been offered the title of associate head coach on Shanahan’s new staff in Washington.
Losing Dennison — and possibly Turner, too — could signal a significant shift in the Broncos’ running game philosophy. In McDaniels’ first season, the Broncos tried to blend the Broncos’ old system of zone blocking (with smaller, more athletic offensive linemen) with McDaniels’ preference for a power running game, to mixed results.
Rookie running back Knowshon Moreno finished the season with 947 rushing yards – the third straight season without a 1,000-yard rusher – but McDaniels often placed blame for the running game troubles on the offensive line, especially in the final month of the season.
Dennison replaces Kyle Shanahan, who left the Texans to join his father on the Washington Redskins staff. Dennison also interviewed for the Broncos head coaching job when Josh McDaniels was hired.
“I am very excited about (calling plays), it’s something that’s going to be a big challenge certainly,” Dennison said. “I’m not saying it’s a drop in a bucket by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s something that I’ve hope to do, and it will make me grow, make me stretch.”
