New Colorado defensive coordinator Robert Livingston is ready to take on the challenge of turning around the CU defense. With spring football closing in Livingston sat down for an exclusive interview with our Uncle Neely to explain what his approach will be.
“I think our job as leaders is, is when you come into a new spot, you take a 30,000 foot view of who are we? What can our players do? And then let’s adapt. I will do what the players do well. And that’s kind of our rallying cry here. Let’s look in let’s see what we can become and and we’ll grow that you know kind of brick by brick with Coach Prime,” Livingston said.
Livingston comes over from the Cincinnati Bengals, where he coached the last eight seasons, the last six being in charge of the secondary. Prior to coaching Livingston was a member of the scouting department. He leans on that particular skill set to craft his defense around his player’s abilities.
“I think it’s easy to go to a new job and just take your last playbook. Because of the scouting background, I think I look at things differently and I can say, you know, maybe what we were doing in Cincinnati in 2023, maybe we don’t have those guys. But we got the guys that we can do what we did in 2021 or 2019. So let’s put the best players we have in positions to be successful,” he said.
As a former secondary coach, Livingston is still getting accustomed to working with the greatest cornerback in NFL history.
“You know, he says things every day in terms of DB play that you kind of just nod your head and then you leave the room. Like golly, how come I never thought about that? You know, just little things. And obviously, when you play the position and have a helmet on, you know the intricacies and all that stuff. And he was such a great player for so long and to not use his phenomenal background and wisdom whether it’s to play man or zone, I’d be an idiot not to use it.”
