Although I’m sure he doesn’t miss the smell of the town, Tad Boyle says, “Northern Colorado will always hold a special place in my heart, Greeley is home.”

With all of the Mile High City preparing for the return of Tom Brady in the Sunday Night showdown between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, a different type of return was brewing that afternoon in Boulder. Tad Boyle, the coach of the University of the Colorado was going against his old school, the University of Northern Colorado.

“They gave me my first head coaching opportunity and also my father taught there for 14 years. He was an English professor, and I spent a lot of time as a young boy shooting in Gunner Hall and in the gym of Butler Hancock.”

Did that stop him from bringing that intensity to his old team for the full game? Not at all. He coached the entire game with the mindset as if they were down.

“One of the things we challenged our team at half time was, hey, its 0-0 let’s win the second half; we crushed them by three. This team does not have that type of killer instinct that we need to have.”

And this is the type of coaching that Boyle has been doing this year: Challenging the team in the media as well as on the court, something he stated he would do earlier this year. And it’s all in hopes that it’ll push his team to play harder against teams the teams they should beat.

“I think it is critical that you come out and not give them any hope and punch them in the mouth, so to speak.”

And that’s just what CU did as they beat UNC by a score of 52-82. Still, that didn’t stop Boyle from being irate after giving up a few late baskets and screaming — loud.

So much that it alarmed former Buffalo Chauncey Billups, who also made an appearance at the game.

“Tad is definitely after it this year,” Billups said. “He is yelling at players even being up by 20 points. He is calling timeouts to get the team back on track. He is a lot more vocal this year and you can tell by the results of the games this year that he is focused. I like it.”

Boyle seems to be all in this year, and his vocal approach seems to be different. So far, the results have proven just that.