FORT COLLINS — In a surprise move, Colorado State fired women’s basketball coach Jen Warden on Wednesday. Prior to the Mountain West Conference Tournament, athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said Warden would be back despite an 0-16 conference record.
He fired her after not being convinced Warden had the right plan to turn the program around.
“As Jen and I sat down and assessed the program, I just felt like all we’re doing is talking about the past. Not just us but everyone is focusing on the lack of accomplishment, all the concerns with the record, etc., etc.,” Kowalczyk said. “As we talked about the future I just didn’t think it was going to work.”
The CSU coach will be paid the remaining two years of her contract at $123,200 per year. First-year assistant Kristen Holt was immediately elevated to head coach with a one-year contract at $115,000.
After going winless in MWC play, the Rams pulled two upsets in the conference tournament, including knocking off No. 12 Utah. CSU then lost to New Mexico to finish 4-28, the worst mark in school history.
Warden, hired from Boise State, leaves with a 21-69 record. She could not be reached for comment.
The athletic director met with the players and said they did not appear to be surprised. Warden’s predecessor, Chris Denker, who saw the program slide from NCAA contention, was removed after an all-out player mutiny in 2005.
Holt barely had time to absorb the changes after spending Easter weekend with her parents in Ohio.
“I left my house this morning not thinking I’d be sitting here (as head coach) right now,” she said.
She was an interim coach at Radford in 2002, when she was named Big South coach of the year.
Holt met with the team Wednesday after the announcement.
“We had a positive response. . . . We’ve got things to do to make changes going into next year, get better and improve.”
