Broncos hire Chiefs’ Brock Olivo to be special teams coach

The Broncos have hired away Brock Olivo to be their special-teams coach, a source told The Star on Thursday.

Mike Klis of Denver 9 News reported it first.

Olivo has been the Chiefs’ assistant special teams coach for the last three years. He replaced Kevin O’Dea, who left Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s staff in January 2014 to become the special teams coach in Tampa Bay (and is now serving in the same role with the New Orleans Saints).

Olivo, who grew up in St. Louis and had the third-most rushing yards in Mizzou history with 3,026, played at Missouri from 1994-97. That’s where he became acquainted with Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub, who interviewed for head coach positions with the Broncos and San Diego Chargers this offseason.

Together, Toub and Olivo have directed one of the league’s best special teams units the last three seasons. In Dallas Morning News writer Rick Gosselin’s annual special-teams rankings — which incorporates several different statistics — the Chiefs finished ninth in 2014, third in 2015 and seemed destined for another elite finish in 2016, as Tyreek Hill emerged as an All-Pro, Pro Bowl star with three return touchdowns.

The Chiefs also did not yield or kick- or punt-return touchdown, while punter Dustin Colquitt was recently added to the Pro Bowl roster as a replacement for Pat McAfee of Indianapolis. Kicker Cairo Santos also finished eighth in the league in field-goal accuracy (89 percent in 35 attempts).

Olivo spent five years as a running back in the NFL before playing a year in the Italian Football League. He later became the head coach and offensive coordinator of the Italian national football team and spent some time as a running backs coach with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League.

Olivo joined Coastal Carolina’s staff in 2012 to coach the running backs and assist on special teams, and the Chanticleers rushed for 199.23 yards per game in 2012, which was 25th among FCS teams, and 252.1 in 2013, which was eighth among FCS teams before he was hired by the Chiefs.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Broncos hire Chiefs’ Brock Olivo to be special teams coach."