Colorado Hires San Jose State HC Mike MacIntyre

Colorado will announce the hiring of Mike MacIntyre as the program's new head football coach within the next 24 hours, according to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated.

UPDATE: Monday, Dec. 10 at 6:20 p.m. ET by Ben Chodos

Mike MacIntyre's hiring is now official, and he will be handsomely compensated for his services. 

ESPN's Joe Schad reported the following on McIntyre's contract via Twitter: 

"

Colorado announces Mike MacIntyre gets a 5 year deal at $2 million a year

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) December 10, 2012"

McIntyre now has a tough task ahead of him as he will try to earn his wages by turning around the Colorado program. 

---End of Update---

The Buffaloes were heavily involved in the recruitment of Butch Jones before he decided to take the head coaching position at Tennessee. At that point, athletic director Mike Bohn turned his attention elsewhere, with MacIntyre—who currently coaches at San Jose State—becoming the favorite.

Assuming no roadblocks are encountered over the next day, MacIntyre will take over for Jon Embree, who was fired after just two seasons. His 4-21 record, including a 3-15 mark in conference play, led to a quick dismissal.

MacIntyre took over the San Jose State program three years ago and went just 6-19 in his first two seasons. Major progress was made this season, however, as the Spartans won 10 games and cracked the final BCS rankings at No. 24.

It allowed San Jose State to earn a spot in the Military Bowl and was also enough for MacIntyre to get noticed for facilitating the turnaround.

He will be forced to work his magic again in Boulder. The Buffaloes haven't had a winning season since 2005. They are coming off a season in which they ranked 120th in scoring offense and 124th in scoring defense.

The team lost its four games against ranked opponents by a combined score of 206-23, so there's clearly a lot of work ahead of MacIntyre—but he's already proven that he can get a program back on track.

He's not a miracle worker. Fans should understand after watching the team this season that it's going to take some time before signs of improvement are seen, as was the case with MacIntyre at San Jose State.

That said, he's a coach with experience at the NFL level and isn't afraid of a challenge. That bodes well for his chances of success at Colorado—if a deal does in fact get done.