About two months into his new job at Colorado, offensive coordinator Sean Lewis is pleased with his progress.

“I’m getting to know the (players) and teaching them like crazy and enjoying our time and getting to know the lay of the land,” he said. “I can make it to the facility now without using GPS, so I think I’m making strides.”

If he can get his players to toss aside the GPS and learn his offense that quickly this spring and summer, Lewis will be even more pleased.

After five seasons as the head coach at Kent State, where he led one of the fastest offenses in the country, Lewis took the leap this winter to join new CU head coach Deion Sanders in Boulder.

“It was a tremendous opportunity,” the 36-year-old Lewis said. “I knew there’d be great things that were happening here. The work that we had done at Kent State was second to none, and really proud of what we did there. But, I knew that for what I was after, what the opportunity was for my family and everything that this could provide for my family now and in the future, it was something I had to jump at.”

Kent State had produced just three winning seasons in the 40 years (1978-2017) before Lewis arrived as head coach in 2018. Lewis found a new level of success, going 24-31 in his five seasons (22-21 in the last four) with the Golden Flashes, taking them to two bowl games.

While Lewis didn’t have a prior relationship with Sanders, mutual friends got them connected after Sanders took the job with CU in December.

“There was a lot of different moving pieces that, as it came together, making sure that for both of us, it was going to be exactly what we were looking for, and it was,” Lewis said. “It’s been a great marriage, so to speak, ever since. We’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ here and excited to do the work together and to do what we need to do.”

CU is coming off a 1-11 season and has had one of the worst offenses in the country over the last two seasons. There will be several players from last year back in the mix, but the roster has also been overhauled this offseason. Sanders’ son, Shedeur, headlines the group of newcomers as the Buffs’ starting quarterback. He starred at Jackson State the past two seasons.Spring football begins in about three weeks and Lewis and the rest of the offensive staff will hope to use those 15 practices to expedite the learning process. Kent State had an identity with its fast-paced attack and that’s what Lewis will hope to build at CU.

“Just being clear and concise with what our standards and expectations are,” he said of fast-tracking the offensive identity at CU. “We want to define everything as best we can. That’s probably some of my journalism major coming out to where words matter to me, so that when we’re talking about a technique, or a fundamental or a mindset, we’re aligned and we’re thinking about it through the same lens.

“There’s going to be an attitude and a temperament and a mindset and a demeanor every single time we step inside the white lines of what the clear expectations are.”

Lewis’ coaching foundation began during his playing days at Wisconsin. He learned from former Wisconsin coaches Barry Alvarez, Paul Chryst and Bret Bielema. He got his first full-time coaching opportunity at Eastern Illinois with Dino Babers and followed Babers to Bowling Green and Syracuse before taking the head coaching job at Kent State.

“I’m not here if it’s not for coach Babers,” Lewis said.

At CU, Lewis will get another unique opportunity, not only to work with Sanders, but with a veteran staff. Fellow offensive coaches Tim Brewster (tight ends), Gary Harrell (running backs) and Bill O’Boyle (offensive line) have all been head coaches and receivers coach Brett Bartolone is a young coach who played and learned under the late Mike Leach.

Past experiences from Lewis’ career will mesh with new ideas he and others bring to the table as they strive to find success on offense at CU.

“I got scarred from those things (in the past), in a good way,” he said. “I’m proud of those scars, proud of what I learned, proud of how we’ve got to continue to adapt and change and evolve and not just be stagnant with what we were doing. We continue to grow, and learn a lot about that job, and how we had to shape that.

“As we get here, learn a lot about this opportunity and how we’re gonna have to build it, how we’re gonna have to grow it so that we can get the immediate results that we’re after.”