Long hours required in coaching aren’t for everyone, and Warren Sapp certainly didn’t think it would suit him.

A year into his coaching career, however, the Pro Football Hall of Famer said he is “addicted” to this new phase of life.

“I never thought I wanted this job,” said Sapp, 52, an assistant defensive line coach with the Colorado Buffaloes. “I never thought I’d want to be here the amount of hours I’m here, but oh my God, do I love it and the babies react to it. And we’re having fun.

“Trust me, I wake up every morning and drive over Table Mesa and look at them mountains and I get my motivation. It’s magical to me every morning I get to drive over that thing and come in and do what I do. I’m enjoying it.”

One of the best defensive tackles to ever play the game, Sapp was an All-American at the University of Miami in 1993 and 1994, while winning the Lombardi Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

In 1995, he was the 12th pick in the NFL Draft and played nine years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before four seasons with the Oakland Raiders. He was the 1999 NFL defensive player of the year, a seven-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl champion.

Coaching was never on his radar, though, until CU head coach Deion Sanders — also a Hall of Famer — enticed him to join the staff last year. Now, Sapp is fully enjoying mentoring the young men in CU’s program.

“The kids are really attentive, because they understand that what we’re teaching is for the betterment of them,” Sapp said. “We want them at the next level, because that’s our reputation. I tell them all the time, my (Hall of Fame) bust in Ohio doesn’t get chipped, my gold jacket don’t get dirty. None of that happens to any of that. No, I’m here for you. So whatever you need me to do for you, I’m willing to do for you and meet you more than halfway.”

If players — Sapp calls them his “babies” want to meet and watch film at 6 a.m., Sapp said he’ll show up at 5:45.

“I think my babies understand I’m just here for them,” he said.

“I’m here strictly for them and Prime (Sanders) over the top of it. So let’s go.”

It hasn’t always been easy. Tawfiq Thomas, one of several seniors in the defensive line room, has challenged Sapp as a coach.

“Oh my God, he drove me crazy,” Sapp said.

“Just lit me up every day. Every day he’s doing this, he’s doing that, doing that.”

Sapp didn’t give up on Thomas, though. Instead, he adjusted and learned to coach him a different way.

“I said, ‘All right, son, I’m gonna stop trying to teach you what I know, and I’m gonna go with what you know, because that seems to work for you,’” Sapp said.

“‘But what I need from you is to be disciplined, not offsides, getting off that ball, in the backfield, penetrating. If you can do that, then you can do all that other stuff you like.’ And we took off from that point on. He was not coming over to my side, so I had to come over to his side.”

Sapp then laughed and said of Thomas, “He’s the one nut I let go crazy. The rest of them, you will conform.”A year ago, Sapp meshed well with Buffs defensive line coach Damione Lewis and edge coach Vincent Dancy. Lewis, who also played at Miami, is now coaching with the Hurricanes, while Dancy is at Mississippi State.

This spring, Sapp is working with new defensive line coach Domata Peko, a 15-year NFL veteran, and new edge coach George Helow.

“Those two dudes have as much intensity and love for this game as I do,” Sapp said.

“We play off each other because we all got a different message but we’re saying the same thing, just in a different voice. I’m a little more rough then they are. They’re a little nicer guys than me, but it’s the same message, it’s the same intensity.

“It’s the same process that we’re gonna go through. The standard don’t change, so we’re going.”

Going every day is what fuels coach Sapp, who said his players are buying into his message.

“They don’t have a choice,” he said with a laugh. “You don’t gotta like it, but you gotta do it. I’m here for the betterment of you. If you’re telling me I don’t know how to play this position, then you’re a fool and only a fool coaches himself.

“My babies are really bought into what we’re doing, because I’m consistent with what I’m teaching. I’m consistent in the everyday I come in here with the energy.”