Darian Hagan
Assistant Coach/Running Backs
University of Colorado, 1996
Email Coach Hagan

Darian Hagan, one of the names synonymous with Colorado’s rise to glory in the late 1980s, is in his second season as running backs coach, as he was one of two assistant coaches retained by new CU head coach Dan Hawkins when he was named to the position in December 2005.

Hagan, 37, was named an offensive assistant coach on Gary Barnett’s staff on February 9, 2005, and worked with the skill position players on offense in the spring and fall in his first year as a full-time collegiate assistant.

He had a brief taste of coaching in the spring of 2004 as he subbed as secondary coach when the staff was minus a full-time assistant.  Otherwise, he was the defensive technical intern for the ‘04 season, assuming that role in February of that year.  It marked the third time he has made the University of Colorado his destination of choice.

Hagan made a difference in his first season mentoring the running backs, as CU had three 500-plus yard rushers for just the 10th time in its history.  He also played a role in the development of quarterback Bernard Jackson, as Hagan’s own skills of blending the run and the pass rubbed off on the Buff junior in his first year as a starter.

He starred at quarterback for the Buffaloes between 1988 and 1991, leading the school to its first national championship, and following his professional playing career, returned in the mid-1990s to work as CU’s Alumni C Club Director.

Hagan left CU in the spring of 1998 to work as an area sales manager for the Transit Marketing Group.  Three months into his new position, he was promoted to Southeast Regional Sales Manager.  He remained in that position for over five years until deciding to pursue his dream as a coach and return to his alma mater for the third time.  By working as a technical intern, he learned the intricacies of the profession in a hands-on role in his desire to coach; when a temporary vacancy opened on the staff, he was “activated” as a coach to work with the defensive backs and it added to his penchant for the profession.

Arguably the best all-around athlete in the history of the CU football program, he was an integral part of CU’s run at two national championships in 1989 and 1990.  The Buffs were 11-1 in 1989, losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, but went 11-1-1 in 1990 with a win over the Irish in an Orange Bowl rematch to give CU its first national title in football.  CU was 28-5-2 with him as the starting quarterback for three seasons, including a 20-0-1 mark in Big Eight Conference games as he led the Buffs to three straight league titles in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

In 1989, he became just the sixth player in NCAA history at the time to run and pass for over 1,000 yards in the same season, finishing, as just a sophomore, fifth in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.  He established the school record for total offense with 5,808 yards (broken three years later by Kordell Stewart), and is one of two players ever at CU to amass over 2,000 yards both rushing and passing along with Bobby Anderson.  He was a two-time all-Big Eight performer, and the league’s offensive player of the year for 1989 when he also was afforded various All-America honors.  He still holds several CU records and was the school’s male athlete-of-the-year for the 1991-92 academic year.

In 2002, he was a member of the fourth class to be inducted into CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and his jersey (No. 3) is one of several to have been honored.

Hagan played for Toronto, Las Vegas and Edmonton over the course of five seasons in the Canadian Football League, mostly as a defensive back and special teams performer.  He returned to CU to earn his diploma just prior to his last professional season, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in May 1996.  He was hired later that year (December 1) as the Alumni C Club Director, a position he held for 16 months until leaving for an incredible opportunity in private business.

He was born February 1, 1970 in Lynwood, Calif., and graduated from Los Angeles’ Locke High School in 1988, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track.   He was drafted in two sports, football (by San Francisco in the fourth round in the 1992 NFL Draft) and baseball (selected as a shortstop by both Seattle and Toronto).  He is the father two sons, Darian, Jr. (18) and DeVaughn (15), and a daughter, Danielle (11).

RECORD— He has coached in 25 Division I-A games as a full-time coach, all at Colorado, with a record of 9-16.

   
 

Hagan Coaching History
University of Colorado
Running Backs Coach, 2006-present
Offensive Assistant Coach, 2005
Defensive Technical Intern, 2004

Hagan Playing History
University of Colorado
Quarterback, 1988-91
1990 National Champions
1989, 1990, 1991 Big Eight Champions
CU Athletic Hall of Fame, 2002

San Francisco 49ers
4th Round, 1992 NFL Draft

Toronto Argonauts (CFL)
Quarterback, 1993-94

Las Vegas Posse (CFL)
Quarterback, 1994

Edmonton Eskimos (CFL)
Quarterback, 1995-96