Nate Tomlinson left Colorado a few years ago to spread his wings in the coaching profession.

He returns to Boulder hoping to repeat something he achieved as a player with the Buffaloes by helping to author a program turnaround.

Last month, CU men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle announced the re-hiring of Tomlinson, a former player and one-time staff member under Boyle.

“I’ve had the chance to come home,” Tomlinson said. “Where I was at, and where coach Boyle’s at in his career, I’m just really, really motivated and excited more than anything to get back. I think with the new landscape in college basketball, college athletics, I think we’re in a good spot to take the next jump as a program. And really, that’s where my motivation lies, right now. There’s no place like home.”

Tomlinson returns to CU on the heels of a 14-21 campaign that was by far the worst in 14 seasons under Boyle, and marked just the eighth 20-loss season in program history. Yet Tomlinson has experience in helping to pull the Buffs out of such depths.

Recruited by former coach Jeff Bzdelik, Tomlinson was a true freshman the previous time the Buffs lost 20 games, posting a 9-22 mark in 2008-09. CU improved to 15-16 the following season, but Bzdelik left Boulder for Wake Forest, opening the door for Boyle.

Tomlinson played a key role in the electric first two seasons of the Boyle era, as the Buffs went 24-14 in 2010-11 while turning an NCAA Tournament snub into a run to the NIT Final Four.

The following year, Tomlinson’s senior season, the Buffs went 24-12 and won the Pac-12 Conference tournament before defeating UNLV in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Thirteen years after he last suited up for the Buffs, Tomlinson remains tied for seventh in program history in assists (405) and also is seventh in career starts (112) and tied for ninth in games played (129). Between unfettered free agency via the transfer portal and the advent of the revenue sharing era enacted by the finalization of the House Settlement, college basketball is a much different world than the one Tomlinson encountered when he first arrived at CU as a recruit out of Australia.

Yet having had an opportunity to work on the East Coast, first at George Mason and then at Providence, has Tomlinson confident his coaching chops can help get the Buffs back on track, just as his playing chops once did.

“Obviously playing two years with Tad was huge in my development, not only as a player freshly overseas. A lot of his principles and core values and principles, so to speak, were etched in my brain and in my core,” Tomlinson said. “That’s still who I am as a coach today. Being able to branch out and spend some time as a professional with different coaches, every opportunity I’ve gotten to learn something new, I’ve always jumped at.”

Tomlinson began his coaching career with three seasons on Boyle’s staff, serving as a coaching intern before spending the next two seasons as CU’s Director of Player Development. Following the Buffs’ 2021 NCAA Tournament appearance, Tomlinson joined the staff of former CU assistant Kim English at George Mason, spending two seasons there before following English to Providence.

That relationship still will have an influence on the upcoming campaign, as Tomlinson and English finalized a home-and-home series between Providence and the Buffs that begins on Nov. 14 at the Events Center. The timing also is fortuitous for Tomlinson, who will enjoy a trip home when the Buffs embark on a four-game exhibition trip through Australia on July 23.

“For high school recruiting, a lot of the networks and relationships I was able to build in Atlantic 10 recruiting up and down the East Coast, and then obviously in the Big East and going up against some of the coaches in that league, it speaks for itself,” Tomlinson said. “I really enjoyed my time. I feel like I’ve learned a lot of the last four years. Now I’m ready to bring it back and pour it into our guys at Colorado.”