The Denver Broncos continue to overhaul their new coaching staff, with Sean Payton looking to bring nothing but the creme of the crop aboard.
Notably, that’s terrible news for the Northwestern Wildcats, who recently lost CB coach Ryan Smith to the Arizona Cardinals.
Now, they’ve lost an even more valuable asset: RBs coach and Recruiting Coordinator Lou Ayeni is taking his talents to Mile High at Empower Field, according to a report by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Northwestern running backs coach Lou Ayeni is headed to the #Broncos in the same position, per source.
That’s the second assistant off Pat Fitzgerald’s staff to earn an NFL position coach job recently, joining new Cardinals secondary coach Ryan Smith.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 27, 2023
Ayeni has found quite the success with the Wildcats since arriving in 2018.
He had served as an RB coach for the Iowa State Cyclones for 2014-17, also handling Recruiting Game Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach duties.
He also has experience at the collegiate level at Toledo from 2010-13.
Notably, this is a major loss for a program that has been tied to him for quite a while now.
He helped them win the Big Ten championship all the way back in 2000 as a player, shortly before pursuing a career as a safety and linebacker in the NFL before returning as a graduate assistant.
Ayeni was one of the most influential and prominent figures in the program, being touted as one of the highest-rising assistants in the college football scene right now.
The Broncos could use a guy like him to try and bring their struggling offense back to life.
They were one of the most disappointing teams in the league last season by a very long stretch, so they will leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of improvement in 2023.
