Minnesota has lost its tight ends coach to Colorado.

On Sunday, Colorado announced that it has hired Clay Patterson to be the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator for the Buffaloes. He had been on staff with PJ Fleck and the Golden Gophers for the past 4 seasons.

“Before accepting the position at Minnesota, Clay’s background and experience was well documented in highly productive offenses,” said head coach Karl Dorrell said. “His knowledge with passing game concepts over his career will be a big benefit for us as we build a successful offense here at Colorado.”

Minnesota was Patterson’s first coaching stop at the FBS level. He’s also had stops at Southeastern Oklahoma, Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Trinity Valley CC and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.

“My wife Ashley and I are very thankful for Karl Dorrell and Rick George for the opportunity to come to Boulder and coach at the University of Colorado,” Patterson said.  “Coach Dorrell is an outstanding football coach and man – I am very excited to work for and learn from him.  When the opportunity to continue to work with Mike Sanford (CU’s new offensive coordinator) and build an offense together came up, I was thrilled.  Mike is great to work with and he has an excellent offensive mind.”

Patterson is the second Minnesota staffer to take a job at Colorado. After being let go following the 2021 regular season, Mike Sanford Jr. was named the offensive coordinator for the Buffaloes.