Chris Marve has CU defense poised to make jump

Chris Marve's return to football after a one year break was initially as Colorado's linebacker coach. Now, he looks to transform the Buffaloes defense as it's coordinator. (Photo via CU Athletics)

With all eyes on offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s “Go-Go” offense, someone needs to stop the other team from scoring.  

Head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders promoted linebackers coach Chris Marve to do just that.

With last year’s defensive coordinator, Rob Livingston, taking a job down U.S. 36 with the Denver Broncos and Marve returning from a year off, the timing worked out for the program.

“He's a teacher, a motivator and a man of great character,” Sanders said about his hire.

Marve was the defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech from 2022-2024, during which he led the Hokies to a top-three ACC scoring defense in 2024.

After taking some time off, Marve has refined his craft.

“I got to really be in the rooms for some innovative coaching, teaching and leading,” Marve said. “I really was able to reinforce some things that I fundamentally believe.”

With the Buffs, Marve has used those innovative techniques to bring his unit together and find starters come week one.

“We track everything,” Marve said. 

He mentioned a win-loss rate against specific players, one-on-one percentages in the pass rush, effort to the ball and number of tackles among other stats. That attention to detail has been the key to helping him push the Buffs’ defense. 

“So we have objective data that says, ‘Hey, either you're getting it done or you aren't,’” Marve said. “Then we show it, and we teach in a way, and we lead in a way to try to get behaviors replicated, right? Because if those behaviors are rewarded, hopefully it permeates the defense and everybody's thinking and doing the same thing.”

With 25 new defensive transfers, Marve and staff have worked to build a cohesive and connected unit.

“I think they're communicating really well. They're playing together,” Marve said. “We preach a lot about violence and aggression, relentless effort. I think that's been pretty visible.”

Colorado spent their first week of fall practice in Fountain, Colorado, working out with athletes from the Air Force Academy. 

“Not a lot of teams are fortunate enough to do this, and it's been great for team building,” fifth-year transfer linebacker Gideon Lampron said. 

Gideon ESPN Lampron tallied 119 tackles at Bowling Green in 2025. (Photo via Gideon Lampron/People Magazine)

“Yeah, I would say it builds community amongst the team. It builds trust,” second-year transfer defensive back Cree Thomas said. “We're sleeping right across from one another. So it really builds that team bond.”

Marve will have plenty of talent in his room, including Lampron, who was named to the Butkus Award Watch List alongside Texas transfer Liona Lefau. The Butkus Award is given to the nation’s top collegiate linebacker. 

These two will be a big part of Marve’s ‘Best 11.’

“We don't necessarily need 11 hands. You don't need 11 sets of eyes. What you need is a functioning unit that can function at a high level consistently,” Marve said. “You can have 11 elite athletes, but if they don't function in tandem or in unison, you don't have an effective unit.”

Last season, Colorado allowed a conference-worst yards per game with a bottom-five scoring defense. Marve has the teaching, the experience and the unit to turn the Buffs’ defense into a respectable unit.

“Our offense does enough that we see a fair amount in fall camp and at practice every day,” Marve said. “It's just about adjusting the chess pieces on the board to make sure that they can do that during the season.”