The style in which Warren Sapp coaches isn’t any different now than it was a year ago when he was a rookie coach.
“Oh, it’s still brash and in-your-face and blunt,” the Colorado Buffaloes’ defensive assistant said Tuesday after practice.
That’s no surprise, since it was a brash, in-your-face and blunt approach to the game that led Sapp to a Pro Football Hall of Fame playing career as a defensive tackle.
What is a surprise to the former University of Miami and Tampa Bay Buccaneers star, however, is how much he’s enjoying his role of mentoring young men at CU as he enters his second season under head coach Deion Sanders.
“I never thought I wanted this job ever in my life,” said Sapp, who had never coached before Sanders, also a Hall of Famer, hired him in 2024. “I’m addicted.”
An Orlando native who has lived the majority of his life in Florida, Sapp’s passion pours out as he talks about the daily drive to the CU camps.
“I can’t wait to ride over Table Mesa, see that panoramic view and the school at the bottom,” said Sapp, who is the Buffs’ defensive pass rush coordinator. “I’m rolling. I’m rolling to this place, man.
“There ain’t no better time for me right now. I got my babies all around me. They ready to work. We ready to get to a season.”
Sapp’s babies – CU’s talented, experienced and massive defensive linemen – aren’t far from his mind a lot of times, even when he’s far from Boulder.
Last weekend, he and CU running backs coach Marshall Faulk went to Canton, Ohio, to honor this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. Sapp had coaching in mind as he spoke with several legends.
“I bring them back messages from the great ones, no doubt about it,” Sapp said. “I filmed personal messages from John Randle, Lawrence Taylor, Rickey Jackson, and … (Richard) Dent. I just soak it up from them, and I bring it back to the babies, because just hearing it from me, they hear me all the time.”
Sapp, with passion, of course, added that he’s invited some of his Hall of Fame friends to visit the Buffs in Boulder, too.
“Trust me, we gonna get them right,” Sapp said of the Buffs’ players. “I promise you, we gonna get them right. You can’t be the source of information and not give it to them. I’m gonna give them everything I got.”
Sapp has been doing that since before he even got the job. He was once one of the Hall of Famers visiting Sanders in Boulder before taking a job here. Players would ask him questions and he said he loved sharing his knowledge.
Coaching is different than just sharing knowledge, though, and Sapp has enjoyed the process of coaching each of the Buffs’ linemen, who don’t all learn the same.
“I can’t cookie cut them, so I tell them more jokes and see if I give them a laugh when I’m going at them,” Sapp said. “Just making it a little more fun for them and just make it relative to a lifetime situation, because we’re not just teaching football, we’re teaching life. I want them to be well-rounded young men when they leave here, and they will be, I promise you that.”
Taking his lead from Sanders, Sapp said he’s become a stickler for making sure details are covered, such as no cell phones in certain areas of the building, straight warmup lines on the field, etc.
“We really don’t ask much of them, except let’s go to work,” Sapp said, “and that’s what we’re gonna do, and that’s what I’m gonna implement is (Sanders’) rules.”
It’s ironic, because Sapp joked he’s been one to challenges rules.
“You show me a rule, I’m gonna get right up against it,” he said with a laugh. “So I’m gonna clearly define what (Sanders) has. You get right up against it, just don’t cross it. That’s our rule: just don’t cross it.”
So far, the Buffs have done well, not only with the rules, but on the field. It’s a senior-laden defensive line group, with six of the eight on the roster being in their final season of college football.
With his unique style, Sapp is doing his part to make the group better.
“I’ve got to allow them to be who they are and see if I can mold just a little bit,” he said. “That’s all I’m here to do. Just mold a little bit because they’re good players. They’re good people. We just want them to excel in what we’re asking them to do.”
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