Arizona co-defensive coordinator Greg Brown and defensive line coach Mike Tuiasosopo have both accepted coaching positions with the University of Colorado, who will join Arizona in the Pac-12 South next season.

The Denver Post first reported Colorado’s interest in Brown on Tuesday, and the Arizona Daily Star reported Thursday that the moves are indeed official.

Both coaches will be introduced as members of Colorado’s staff on Monday, and neither Brown nor Tuiasosopo will coach in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, on Dec. 29.

Brown just finished up his first season at Arizona, but the move doesn’t come as a big surprise as he grew up in Denver and served as a secondary coach for Colorado from 1991-93 and 2006-09.

Although Brown already had Denver ties, his hiring, along with Tuiasosopo’s, came as a result of Colorado hiring former Washington Redskins tight ends coach Jon Embree, who was announced as head coach on Monday.

The Denver Post reported that Embree contacted Brown before even taking the Colorado job and that Brown was pretty dead set on taking the job. Embree also lured in Tuiasosopo, who signed a contract Thursday morning.

After mulling the decision, Tuiasosopo ultimately chose Colorado due to his close friendship with Embree, who he met 15 years ago when he was head coach at Berkeley High School and Embree was an assistant at Colorado.

“”He recruited a couple of our kids. We stayed friends the entire time,”” Tuiasosopo told the Daily Star. “”We both talked about the opportunity to work together at some point in our lives, and that’s hard to do in this business.””  

Tuiasosopo coached at Arizona for seven seasons while bringing solid recruiting and coaching along the way. What roles the former Wildcat coaches will hold at Colorado are currently unknown, but Brown is expected to be named defensive coordinator.