ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — If there was any doubt that Gary Kubiak would become the next head coach of the Denver Broncos, it was shattered on Monday by photographic evidence.
Around 2 p.m., official Broncos accounts began tweeting images of Kubiak. The images came about five hours after the team put out a press release announcing the Kubiak hire.
And guess who else was there?
It’s no secret that Kubiak has a long history with John Elway and the Broncos. In addition to helping the team win two Super Bowl titles as an offensive coordinator with Elway as his quarterback in 1997 and 1998, Kubiak was also a Broncos player, serving as Elway’s backup from 1983 to 1991.
Kubiak reportedly wasting no time adding coaches to his staff on Monday, according to multiple reports, several of which indicated Kubiak would be adding two Baltimore Ravens’ assistants — quarterbacks coach Rick Dennison and tight ends coach Brian Pariani — to his new staff in Denver.
Dennison is also a former Broncos player and coach. He played for the team in the 1980s along with Kubiak, and he was also on the team’s staff during both 1990s Super Bowl runs along with Kubiak. Dennison was the Broncos’ special teams coach during those Super Bowl seasons.
Kubiak left the Broncos to become head coach of the Houston Texans in 2006, and Dennison joined him there in 2010. When Kubiak was named offensive coordinator in Baltimore last season, Dennison followed him onto that Ravens staff.
Pariani also has Broncos ties, as he was the team’s tight ends coach for the majority of Kubiak’s tenure with the team (1995 to 2004). Also like Dennison, Pariani followed Kubiak to Houston and then to Baltimore before reportedly agreeing to join him in Denver.
Under a Raven’s offense guided by Kubiak, Dennison’s quarterback and Pariani’s tight ends performed well in 2014. Quarterback Joe Flacco put up numbers that were comparable to those he put up in 2012, when the Ravens won the Super Bowl, while Ravens’ tight end Owen Daniels emerged from relatively obscruity to become the team’s third-leading receiver after starting tight end Dennis Pitta went down with a season-ending injury in Week 3.
Dennison was expected to become the Broncos new offensive coordinator, while Pariani was expected to remain a tight ends coach.