Fort Collins – After 14 seasons of being as reliable as the sunrise, Sonny Lubick’s bottomless cup of coffee has run dry.
And that might be a more telling sign Colorado State football has fallen on hard times than any 24-3 trouncing by Brigham Young, the current four-game losing streak or a stream of taillights as disappointed fans flee the stadium.
“Nothing’s free anymore,” Lubick said Saturday after losing to the Cougars.
Lubick, as homespun and down-home as a sweater made by your grandma’s hands, has measured his popularity as CSU’s football coach in the same way for years.
It’s all about the free coffee.
In a story I’ve heard him tell at least 10 times, Lubick explains he stops at the same local business establishment for a cup of Joe every morning on his way to work.
For years, the coffee was on the house.
And the punch line to his favorite tale never varies. Lubick has long insisted if and when the coffee stopped being free, he would know it was time to think about getting out of coaching.
“The new manager of the store is not giving me coffee. So that’s the bad sign,” Lubick revealed. “There’s chink in the armor. I sense that.”
He is 69 years old, although Lubick could trim a decade off his birth certificate and most strangers would never catch him in the fib.
His current contract as Rams football coach runs through 2009, according to CSU spokesman Gary Ozzello.
Don’t know who would be brash enough to tell Lubick when he needs to retire, but I’m betting it will not be Paul Kowalczyk, in his first year on the job as Colorado State athletic director.
Like Joe Paterno of Penn State, Lubick has earned the right to determine when he wants to call it quits. He has won 105 games in 14 years. In the 11 seasons before his arrival, the Rams won 47 times.
Unlike Florida State, where disgruntled boosters seem intent on duct-taping Bobby Bowden to a rocking chair, football does not inspire the passion at Colorado State that can incite a bloodless coup against a coaching legend.
Nevertheless, Lubick admits the grumbling of restless CSU alums unsettles him.
“Fans get upset. You worry about it. Every coach does. We all say we don’t, but we do,” Lubick said. “We all say we don’t read the newspaper, but we do.”
The place the Rams play their home games is called Sonny Lubick Field. But he does not own it anymore.
This has been a sad year of mostly cloudy days capable of making any football coach feel ancient.
One of Lubick’s grown sons underwent treatment for a frightening illness that often left the coach with nothing to do except pray. CSU offensive coordinator Dan Hammerschmidt lost his wife to cancer. Kyle Bell, who ran for more than 1,200 yards in 2005, tore up his knee four days before the season opener, and the offense has been hobbling since he departed.
“Obviously, starting out 4-1 and going downhill from there was a big shock,” said CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie, facing the prospect of an upcoming road trip to Utah, where these Rams could burden Lubick with his first five-game losing streak since being hired as coach in 1993.
What steels Lubick’s resolve is the knowledge the top talent on his roster, from defensive end Jesse Nading to Hanie to Bell, is expected to return and supply the Rams with a stout senior class in 2007.
“Of course, I’m old enough to remember when John McKay coached at Southern Cal,” said Lubick, launching another trademark bit of self-deprecating humor.
“Every year, USC would beat Oregon State by 50 points. Every year, the Oregon State coach would remind people his team had nine juniors coming back on offense. And, every year, John McKay would respond by saying, ‘That might not be a good thing.’ ”
Why would a 69-year-old man want to fight the slow, steady decline of his program?
Searching for reasons to stay optimistic after being manhandled by BYU, the first words out of Lubick’s mouth were: “You guys will think I’m crazy. That’s nothing new.”
Lubick believes Colorado State football can rise again.
Call him crazy.
And kindly lend him a buck for a cup of coffee.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
