Robert Livingston, the safeties coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, has been appointed by Colorado to be the Buffaloes’ new defensive coordinator, the team announced on Friday. Charles Kelly, who worked for coach Deion Sanders for a single season in Boulder, Colorado, before departing at the end of 2023 to take a position at Auburn, would be replaced by Livingston.
Livingston has been a member of the Bengals for the past nine seasons. His job will be to improve Colorado’s defence, which faltered miserably in Sanders’ debut season as head coach. The Buffaloes finished 4–8 despite giving up 34.8 points per game, which ranks them 124th out of 133 FBS teams.
With his recent success in Cincinnati, there’s reason to think Livingston could quickly change the course of events. As the Bengals advanced to the AFC Championship Game in 2022, he worked closely with a secondary that gave up the third-fewest passing touchdowns in the league. More recently, the Bengals tied for eighth place in the NFL with 17 interceptions in the 2023 campaign.
Livingston’s only prior experience coaching in a college was during the two years between 2010 and 2011. He worked mainly with safeties as a member of the Furman staff in 2010 before taking a job the following year at Vanderbilt as the defensive quality control coach.
