No one without a direct hand in the daily operations of the Colorado men’s basketball program knows more about the annual routine than Ann Boyle, the wife of longtime CU head coach Tad Boyle.
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As the Buffaloes’ coach was walking out the door early Wednesday morning, she offered a farewell message to her husband that could’ve been addressed to every CU basketball fan.
“When I left the house this morning, my wife said, ‘Welcome to year 17,’” Tad Boyle said.
The Buffs’ 17th preseason under Boyle officially tipped off Wednesday, as CU held the first practice of the nearly six-week lead-up to the opener at home Nov. 2 against Abilene Christian. It’s a new-look roster for the Buffs with 10 newcomers — and possibly 11, depending on the final eligibility ruling regarding forward transfer Iaroslav Niagu — yet the same old Boyle, who embarks on his 17th season at CU having already crushed the program records for games coached (549) and wins (329).
At a time when college athletics resembles nothing like the NCAA of 2010 when Boyle arrived in Boulder, CU’s veteran coach begins Year 17 with the same message he shared when the 2025-26 season sputtered to an end at 17-16 overall. The end of the line might be drawing closer for Boyle, but he’s not ready to trade his whistle for lazy days on the golf course just yet.
“I feel as excited today on the first day of practice as I felt 17 years ago,” Boyle said. “I get asked about it a lot. It’s starting to come up in recruiting some. All I can say is I love what I do. I have the energy to do it. I’m healthy, knock on wood, enough to do it. And I’m going to do it as long as I can and I’ve got the energy.
“And when I don’t, I owe it to the university, I owe it to our players, I owe it to the program to say, hey, it’s time for somebody else to take the reins. But I don’t feel that coming any time soon. I don’t have a crystal ball, so I’m not putting a timeframe on it, but I feel like Forrest Gump sometimes — I’m going to keep running until I feel like stopping running.”
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The Buffs return just four scholarship players from last year — fifth-year point guard Barrington Hargress, in addition to the second-year trio of Jalin Holland, Ian Inman and Josiah Sanders — and CU begins the preseason with a couple of personnel question marks.
Most pressing is the status of forward David Gomez, a transfer from Charlotte who missed all but two games last year due to an early-season foot injury. Still recovering, Gomez didn’t practice all summer and remained sidelined Wednesday as the Buffs opened the preseason.
Asked if he expected Gomez, a native of Spain, to possibly be dealing with the foot issue five months after he committed to CU in April, Boyle didn’t respond directly but did say Gomez has been cleared for workouts.
“I listen to our doctors, I listen to our training staff,” Boyle said. “Most doctors and training staffs in this day and age are very conservative. According to them he’s fine, he’s ready to go. But David doesn’t think he is. He’s got some pain there, so he’s not practicing. All I can do is deal with the guys that are there and healthy and ready to play.”
The 7-foot-1 Niagu was a late addition to the roster in part because of Gomez’s slow recovery from the foot injury, but his status remains up in the air amid the legal quagmire of fifth-year eligibility rulings. A Russian national who began his collegiate career at USC before transferring to Jacksonville State, Niagu originally was granted a fifth season but that ruling was left in limbo last month when the 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals granted a stay of an earlier eligibility ruling for fifth-year petitioners.
“It’s difficult for him, it’s difficult for me and our staff just now knowing what the future holds,” Boyle said. “We’ve been really, really honest and open and transparent with him in terms of what could happen, what could not happen. But it’s good to have him at practice. I’m not expecting anything, I’m hoping.”
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