Soon, Colorado football players will kick their feet up in a lounge locker room setting, complete with large flat-screen TVs, video games and computers to check e-mail or complete class work. The varsity room on the second floor of the Dal Ward Athletic Center on CU’s campus has already undergone a face-lift that included a few more flat-screens, new paint and carpet, making it an appealing, comfortable eating and meeting area.
At Colorado, the money has begun to flow in for long-awaited facility upgrades.
At Colorado State? Not so much, although a $20 million bond issue for campus-wide improvements, including athletic facilities, was approved in June.
The question for both schools, however, in an era of skyrocketing budgets and a seemingly ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots is whether it’s reasonable to expect to win big without a big budget.
Boise State answered part of that question last season, going undefeated in the regular season and qualifying for the BCS’s Fiesta Bowl, where it beat perennial powerhouse Oklahoma. Its athletic budget last season was about $19 million, about $1 million more than CSU.
But it is more complicated than that.
Fans and alumni of both institutions expect more than flash-in-the pan seasons. CU and CSU have fallen off the national radar after being serious threats to win at least conference championships in the past.
“To be realistic, for a team and a school like Boise and any of those schools, they might do it once, have that Cinderella, magical year,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. “That might happen once. That can happen, I firmly believe that. We’ve won our share, had a couple of 10-win seasons, beat some people. But to be constantly up there to be playing with the Georgias and those kinds of schools, some of those schools have money they don’t know what to do with. So it has to help you.”
A $20 million gift to CSU from the Bohemian Foundation in 2003 included more than $15 million for Hughes Stadium renovations. But since then there has been nothing built, leaving Lubick to wish for things such as an indoor practice facility and new strength-and-conditioning/academic complex.
Colorado made a BCS bowl appearance as recently as 2002, losing to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. Since then, CU has gone 31-33, and was an outclassed competitor in three Big 12 title games, losing those by a combined 141-13.
Athletic director Mike Bohn is hoping that CU’s recent increases in fundraising and improved facilities help improve on-field results, which puts people in the stands, which generates more revenue, which helps him increase the budget.
In addition to the locker room improvements, Colorado’s indoor football practice bubble is ready when needed. All of it means higher expectations on the field.
“I think that as you see new things, expectations are going to rise because I think everybody wants to see a return on their investment,” Bohn said. “We’ve got to deliver. What is that? Being competitive? Absolutely. Being on national TV? You bet. Having a clean program? No question.”
Bohn and football coach Dan Hawkins have cautiously talked national title dreams since the former Boise State coach was hired to head the Buffs in December 2005, and a 2-10 record in Hawkins’ first season quelled that talk.
Lubick said consistent bowl appearances are what he expects from the Rams.
Few around CU and CSU are comfortable talking about championship expectations for programs with resources far below their conference counterparts. But no one believes you need a $100 million plus budget like Ohio State to win big.
“That’s why I don’t think it’s all about that,” Bohn said. “If you won the lottery tonight and walked in here and handed us $100 million cash, it’s not going to guarantee a national championship. Will it be a part of the foundation and a part of the framework? Yes.”
Said Lubick: “Money helps immensely. I really feel it helps with the infrastructure. It gives you extra people, extra academic support help, there’s extra of everything. I think when recruits come in, they see that. But I do believe that tradition is still the most important factor. That’s what players go for.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
