Colorado State athletic director Paul Kowalczyk is hearing from unhappy Rams fans, and that issue will be addressed in the standard postseason review with football coach Steve Fairchild.
“People are expressing disappointment, and I certainly understand that,” Kowalczyk said Monday after a second consecutive 3-9 season. “Everyone associated with the program is disappointed in how we finished the end of this year.”
The Rams ended with losses to BYU and Wyoming by a combined 93-10 score. Earlier, Fairchild said he thought the team would be good by the end of the year.
“That’s something Steve and I are going to have to look at and address with his staff — what they thought the situation was, what went wrong and how they are going to correct it going forward,” Kowalczyk said.
Fairchild was unavailable Monday. At his final weekly news conference a week ago, he said he did not anticipate making any staff changes.
Postseason evaluations by athletic directors are standard.
“I will sit down with Steve and talk about the program, the direction of the program and what he sees, what he likes, what he dislikes. We’ll talk about all those things,” Kowalczyk said.
Fairchild has two years remaining on his original five-year contract. Just two weeks ago, Colorado bought out fifth-year coach Dan Hawkins, who had received an extension during his tenure.
“I’m not going to publicly discuss anything regarding contracts,” Kowalczyk said.
As for desired improvements?
“It’s pretty fundamental for everybody. You want to see more wins than losses,” Kowalczyk said. “You want to see a program illustrate progress it’s making by having wins.”
There are other indicators including academics, NCAA compliance and citizenship. However, “we expect to see more success out on the playing field,” Kowalczyk said.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
