Chaffey College Hires UCLA Analyst Darrin Chiaverini as Head Coach
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A year after he came to Westwood, a top staff member is leaving the program for a new gig.
UCLA football offensive analyst Darrin Chiaverini is taking over as the head coach at Chaffey College, Chiaverini announced Monday afternoon on Twitter. Chiaverini was previously the offensive coordinator at Colorado – his alma mater.
Chiaverini started his coaching career at the community college level, and now he will return to it following a decade in the FBS.
Chiaverini was a receiver for the Buffaloes from 1995 to 1998, first breaking onto the scene in the 1996 Holiday Bowl when he racked up 97 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. Chiaverini became a regular starter as a junior in 1997, then put up 630 yards, 52 catches and five touchdowns his senior year in 1998.
The four years Chiaverini spent as a student-athlete in Boulder lined up with Rick Neuheisel's four years as the Buffaloes' head coach, a decade before he became UCLA's head coach in 2008.
Chiaverini was scooped up by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 1999 NFL Draft. After recording 487 yards and four touchdowns on 44 receptions as a rookie, Chiaverini's numbers started to fall off and injuries hampered his career. He eventually wound up playing for the Austin Wranglers of the Arena Football League after brief stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons.
When his playing career was over, Chiaverini took a job as the wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator for Mt. San Antonio College before making his way to UCLA as a special teams assistant in 2009. Chiaverini then went to Riverside City College as the co-offensive coordinator for four seasons, which led to his two-year stint as the special teams coordinator at Texas Tech under Kliff Kingsbury.
Chiaverini moved on to become Colorado's co-offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Mike MacIntyre from 2016 to 2018. Mel Tucker retained Chiaverini in 2019, but replaced his co-offensive coordinator title with an assistant head coach designation.
Chiaverini was named interim coach when Tucker left for Michigan State in 2020. When another former UCLA coach in Karl Dorrell arrived, he too kept Chiaverini around to be the lone offensive coordinator and receivers coach.
Things went well for the Buffaloes' offense that season, as running back Jarek Broussard earned Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and safety-turned-quarterback Sam Noyer was named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team, but they took a major step back in 2021.
Colorado averaged 18.8 points per game in Chiaverini's second season calling the shots, which ranked No. 121 in the nation and stood out as the program's worst showing since 1964. Broussard went from averaging 160 yards from scrimmage per game in 2020 to 67.5 in 2021, and redshirt freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis was at the bottom of every Pac-12 passing leaderboard.
Chiaverini was fired in November 2021, and UCLA brought him in as an analyst in Feb. 2022. The Bruins' offense, run primarily by coach Chip Kelly, ranked No. 8 in the country with 39.2 points per game.
Chaffey sent out a job posting for the head football coaching job earlier this spring, with the listing saying interviews were to be held on May 8 or May 9. The expected salary supposedly started at $8,283 a month for an 11-month contract with the Panthers in Rancho Cucamonga, California.
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