Updated

Colorado has hired San Jose State's Mike MacIntyre to fill its vacant head football coaching position, the university announced on Monday.

MacIntyre comes to the Buffaloes after spending the last three seasons at San Jose State, where he engineered a dramatic turnaround of the program during his tenure.

The Spartans were 1-12 in his first season and 5-7 in 2011, but this year's squad finished 10-2 and earned the school's first postseason berth since 2006 with an invitation to the upcoming Military Bowl in Washington, DC.

Both of San Jose State's defeats came to teams currently ranked nationally. The Spartans lost by three points to eventual Pac-12 champion Stanford in August and later fell to No. 18 Utah State.

The 47-year-old will now attempt to rebuild a Colorado program that's fallen on hard times in recent years and hit rock bottom with a 1-11 finish in 2012, which triggered the dismissal of Jon Embree last month.

The Buffaloes went just 4-21 in two seasons under Embree and haven't registered a winning mark since 2005 under Gary Barnett.

MacIntyre, who had signed a contract extension through 2017 with San Jose State in January, spent two years as Duke's defensive coordinator before taking over the Spartans. He was also an assistant for four seasons at Ole Miss from 1999-2002 before moving to the NFL, serving as defensive backs coach for both Dallas (2003-06) and the New York Jets (2007).

MacIntyre is not expected to coach San Jose State in the Military Bowl, which takes place Dec. 27 against Bowling Green. A statement released by Spartans athletic director Gene Bleymaier said the school will name an interim replacement within the next two days.