Jon Embree

Jon William Embree (born October 15, 1965) is an American football coach and former player who is the tight ends coach for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He is a former head coach at Colorado. Prior to that, he was the tight ends coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. As a player, he spent two seasons in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams as a tight end until an injury ended his career. He was selected in the sixth round of the 1987 NFL Draft (166th overall) by the Rams, after playing college football at Colorado.

Embree previously coached for three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, three with UCLA, one with the Cleveland Browns and ten at Colorado.After his playing career ended, Embree entered television broadcasting, then was asked to volunteer coach in 1991 for the Buffaloes by head coach Bill McCartney. Embree was a member of McCartney's first recruiting class as head coach in 1983.

Embree was named the Buffaloes head coach on December 6, 2010, succeeding Dan Hawkins. He is only the third CU alumnus to head coach the football team and the first in nearly a half century.On November 25, 2012, he was terminated after compiling a 4-21 record including 1-11 in his final year, the worst year in the history of Colorado Buffaloes football.

Embree attended Compton CC in Los Angeles.

• 6 bowl wins in 10 seasons on the CU staff.
• In his final season at UCLA working as its Passing Game Coordinator, the Bruins finished 10–2 with the #7 offense in the country.
• Coached 2 Mackey Award winners in college and in the NFL he coached Tony Gonzalez to his only back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons.
• Coached 2-time Pro-Bowler George (People’s TE) Kittle, single season record holder for receiving yards by TE totaling 1,377 yards, highest PFF rating for a TE (95), PFF’s best rated player in NFL in 2019.

Notable players recruited

Daniel Graham, Tyler Brayton, Andre Gurode, Victor Rogers, Cedric Cormier, Justin Bannan, Mark Fenton, Sean Tufts, Hannibal Navies, Donald Strickland, Damen Wheeler, Rashidi Barnes, and Ben Kelly.

Notable players coached

Christian Fauria (All-Big 8), Matt Lepsis (All-Big 8 2nd team), Daniel Graham (2001 John Mackey Award Winner), Marcedes Lewis (2005 John Mackey Award Winner), Tony Gonzalez (Pro Bowl all 3 seasons under Embree with his best 3-year statistical stretch of his career despite entering his 30s), Chris Cooley (39 receptions through 8 games in 2010). Jordan Cameron was #2 in the NFL in tight end production in 2013.George Kittle, People’s Tight-end, creator of National TE day, single season TE receiving record of 1,377 yards in 2018, Led NFL with 737 YAC in 2018, two time pro-bowl, highest PFF rating ever for TE of 95, best overall PFF in NFL in 2019.

Embree signed a five-year contract in 2011 starting at $725,000 annually plus incentives.The guaranteed portion was $250,000 base, $200,000 media, $200,000 sponsorship, and $75,000 for football camps. Bonuses were for team development (on and off-field) and team performance. Had he been terminated in 2011, Embree would have been paid $750,000. The contract stated he was to be paid $500,000 for being fired in 2012.Had he been terminated in 2013, he would have been paid $250,000. CU was to give no money if he had been fired in 2014 or 2015.

Embree is the son of former NFL player John Embree, who played flanker/wide receiver for the Denver Broncos in 1969 and 1970. Born in Los Angeles, Embree grew up in Colorado and graduated from Cherry Creek High School in suburban Denver in 1983. Jon and his wife Natalyn have three children, Hannah, Taylor, a wide receiver at UCLA, and Connor, a wide receiver at UNLV.