Nearly every football coach in the country has a wall of pictures with former players in NFL uniforms, usually signed “Thanks, Coach.” Colorado State’s Sonny Lubick has one from former Ram Joel Dreessen inscribed: “I wish I could play for you forever.”
Through most of Sonny Lubick’s 14-year career, most everyone associated with the program hoped the school’s icon would indeed coach forever.
But as he approaches his 70th birthday, there is an elephant in the room. The coach who has won six league championships and compiled a 105-65 record at CSU is just 14-21 over the past three seasons, including a seven-game season ending tailspin.
The contract he signed last spring runs through 2009.
“I don’t want to stay too long. If I wanted to, I think I could go the length of the contract,” Lubick said in his office a week ago. “CSU has honored their end.”
But Lubick, never given to precise answers about anything, won’t emphatically state he’s coming back for a 15th season.
He gives every indication he wants to at least get the program pointed in the right direction. Last week he sounded enthusiastic about getting recruiting underway. He also would like to spend more time with his grandsons, ages 5 and 3. He’s also expecting a third grandchild in the spring.
“I’ve always said one year at a time for the last three or four years,” Lubick said. “I will do something on my own time. When it is, I don’t know.”
It has been a much-chronicled grueling time for the Lubick family since late February when his youngest son, Marc, the receivers coach, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His latest tests were clean. Lubick has always said he didn’t want his son’s treatment or the loss of offensive coordinator Dan Hammerschmidt’s wife to cancer to be an excuse for what transpired on the field.
When it comes time to make a decision, Lubick said: “It’s about my love for Colorado State. It’s just not one deal. Decisions do not affect just me.
“Times change, things change. I’m not looking back. I want the program to be good. Everyone wants to do good. I’m coaching for the players and the coaches. The only things that are important are your family, your coaches and your players.”
Lubick knows it could be tougher to get back on top of the Mountain West Conference, given the success of Brigham Young, Utah and Texas Christian.
“We have to look at ourselves,” he said. “We have to coach better and the players have to play better.”
While the offense suffered through the lowest production of his tenure, the defense improved over a year ago when the focus was on a dismal 115th national ranking against the run.
There’s no question the same attention will be applied to the offense, along with the hope franchise running back Kyle Bell will return from a knee injury suffered a few days before the opener.
CSU will have 10 returning defensive starters, eight returning offensive starters and the fervent hope Bell returns close to his 2005 form of 1,288 yards (CSU had only 918 yards this season). Half of the projected starters will be seniors.
After the season-ending 17-6 loss at San Diego State on Saturday, Lubick said: “Things change from year to year. Chemistry changes. I’m not going to say the future is great just because we have a lot of guys coming back.”
Usually given to quoting other coaches’ gems of wisdom, Lubick cited his own player, running back Nnamdi Ohaeri. “It’s like Nnamdi said, ‘The only things about the game of life is it’s very unpredictable.”‘
Lubick ignores the rants on the Ramnation.com fan message board. If there’s one solace, it’s a stack of gift certificates for coffee. The java addict always said he’d know it would be time to hang it up when he didn’t get free coffee every morning. When the saga hit the newspaper of the new manager at the convenience store charging for his morning cup, Lubick said several fans sent coffee gift cards.
That’s not the kind of fan base anyone wants to retire from.
Staff writer Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
