BOULDER — Darrin Chiaverini , who enjoyed a stellar career at the University of Colorado as a receiver in the late 1990s, will return to his alma mater as co-offensive coordinator, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, head coach Mike MacIntyre announced Tuesday.

Chiaverini will join the CU staff from Texas Tech, where he spent the last two seasons as the Red Raiders' special teams coordinator and outside receivers coach. He replaces Troy Walters , who left the CU staff after three years to become offensive coordinator at the University of Central Florida on December 4. Walters coached the receivers and also coordinated recruiting.

“Darrin brings an excellent expertise in the passing game to us from Texas Tech,” MacIntyre said. “Tech has a prolific passing offense, second only to Washington State in the NCAA, and we can draw upon what he did in Lubbock. He is an excellent recruiter and he's passionate about the University of Colorado. We're really excited to have him here, and I firmly believe he should help us improve.

“He was a former captain and a terrific player here, so it will be great to have a Buff on the staff.”

“It's unbelievable, it's something that's been burning inside me and is obviously close to my heart,” Chiaverini said. “I can't really put into words how excited I am to come back to a place I call home. Working my way up through the coaching ranks, it's something I've always had my eye on to return to Colorado.

“I wanted to be a part of the program when I was younger, watching CU games in California growing up,” he added. “The stars just aligned to make a dream come true a second time.” He will become the 26th former CU player to return to the Buffs as an assistant coach.

One of new head coach Rick Neuheisel's first commitments in Colorado's 1995 recruiting class, Chiaverini earned four letters from 1995-98. He caught 97 passes for 1,199 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 12.4 yards per reception in his career, exiting at the time as CU's seventh all-time receiver (he remains in the top 15 in both catches and yards). He led the team as a senior with 52 catches for 630 yards and five scores. He was a member of three CU bowl champion teams (Cotton, Holiday and Aloha), with 10 additional catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns, one a 72-yard bomb from his best friend, quarterback Mike Moschetti against Oregon in the Aloha Bowl.

He was a fifth-round selection by the Cleveland Browns in the 1999 National Football League Draft, and went on to set the club's rookie receiving record with 44 catches for 487 yards and four touchdowns. He spent four years in the NFL, also playing for Dallas and Atlanta. He then finished his professional playing days with the Austin Wranglers in the Arena Football League.

He then turned his attention to coaching, tutoring the receivers at Mt. San Antonio College in 2007 and was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2008. In 2009, he rejoined his college coach, Neuheisel, as the assistant special teams coach at UCLA. He helped pilot one of the top units in the Pac-10 and the Bruins captured the Eagle Bank Bowl with a 30-21 win over Temple.

He returned to the junior college ranks for the next four seasons (2010-13) at Riverside (Calif.) City College, where he was the associate head coach, co-offensive and special teams coordinator in addition to being in charge of recruiting. Riverside was 40-5 in the four years there and produced 15 Division I players, three of whom would head to his next stop, Texas Tech.

Chiaverini graduated from CU in 1999 with his bachelor's degree in Communications, and earned his master's degree in Human Performance and Sports Sciences from New Mexico Highlands University in 2007.

Brian Lindgren has served as offensive coordinator for all three seasons under MacIntyre at Colorado, as well as coaching the quarterbacks. But the CU head coach said this should not be viewed in a negative light toward Lindgren that he will now share the coordinator duties.

“Brian will still call the plays, but this will give him more time to focus on coaching the quarterbacks,” MacIntyre said. “With Chiv bringing the experience from coaching in a different offense, I believe the two will work well together in advancing what our offense will be able to accomplish.”

Chiaverini will remain with Texas Tech through its bowl game and coach the Red Raiders' against Louisiana State in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl on December 29. At Tech, he recruiting Dallas, Houston and the Southern California areas, and one of his players, Jakeem Grant, earned second-team All-America honors at kick returner this past season.