Ed McCaffrey, former Denver Broncos great, hired as Northern Colorado football coach

Eric Larsen | Fort Collins Coloradoan

Ed McCaffrey, winner of two Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos, has been named head football coach at the University of Northern Colorado.

McCaffrey announced his hiring by the Greeley university Thursday in an Instagram post. Northern Colorado confirmed the hire later Thursday on its athletics website. A public press conference will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at the Campus Commons, 1051 22nd St., Greeley, to formally introduce McCaffrey as UNC's 16th head football coach.

The 51-year-old played 13 years in the NFL and most recently served as head football coach at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch during the past two seasons.

Valor compiled a 24-2 record under McCaffrey, winning Colorado's Class 5A state championship in 2018.

"I am excited to be joining the University of Northern Colorado as their Head Football Coach," McCaffrey said in the Instagram post. "... Let's bring championship football back to UNC!"

In a subsequent Instagram post, he thanked Valor Christian "for all the wonderful memories you helped create for me and my family. Especially in the last two years where I was blessed to coach some of the smartest and hardest working young men in the country. ... I am very excited to bring the same passion to this new opportunity with the UNC Bears."

McCaffrey's hire comes on the heels of Colorado State University's hiring of former Boston College coach Steve Addazio as Mike Bobo's replacement. Bobo, who agreed to leave CSU in early December, has landed as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina.

Northern Colorado fired former coach Earnest Collins Jr. in November after Collins posted a 28-72 record during his nine seasons in Greeley. The Bears finished 2-10 in 2019.

McCaffrey finished his NFL career with three Super Bowl rings. The wide receiver tallied 7,422 yards and 55 touchdowns with the Broncos, San Francisco 49ers and New York Giants.

McCaffrey and his wife, Lisa, have four sons, all of whom play football. Christian McCaffrey is one of the NFL's top players after finishing as a runner-up for the 2015 Heisman Trophy at his father's alma mater, Stanford University. Max McCaffrey is a free agent wide receiver who was cut by the San Francisco 49ers in August.

Dylan McCaffrey is a backup quarterback at Michigan, while the couple's youngest son, Luke, is a quarterback at Nebraska.

Coloradoan editor Eric Larsen can be reached at ericlarsen@coloradoan.com or 970-224-7745. To support local journalism in Fort Collins and help the Coloradoan reach its goal of reaching 20,000 digital subscribers by the end of 2020, visit offers.coloradoan.com/specialoffer.