FORT COLLINS — If he needs to make changes, Colorado State head coach Steve Fairchild doesn’t shy away from it. This year, he has needed it.
A total of six wins the past two seasons meant things had to change. And boy, did they. Fairchild shook up his coaching staff.
“People outside of the program might not think they were big changes, but they were,” CSU quarterback Pete Thomas said. “I think it was a real good change by Coach and it’s going to help us out a lot.”
Five assistant coaches were either moved from one position to another or had their duties altered. One coach was hired — Bernard Clark to oversee linebackers. That freed up defensive coordinator Larry Kerr, who had doubled as linebackers coach, to be just the defensive coordinator. And with that now his sole responsibility, Kerr also moves from the sideline on game days to the coaches booth in the press box.
“I felt like it’s worked out good,” Fairchild said. “I thought we needed a fresh start in some areas. I wasn’t going to move people just to move them. But I felt as I analyzed it and looked at it, I thought this could help us.
“You’re never sure when you make the decision, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. And then coming out of spring football, I knew it was a positive for our program. I think the coaches liked it. The players liked it. . . . I felt it was needed after the way we finished last year.”
Fairchild also sought expertise from outside the program. Through a connection with offensive coordinator Pat Meyer, CSU brought in San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers during the spring for an intensive session with offensive coaches to brainstorm different concepts. Also, former Utah and Florida coach Urban Meyer was on campus in the spring to observe and advise.
On the players’ side, Fairchild revamped how the offseason conditioning program was run, changed the practice schedule from afternoons to mornings in the spring and during the preseason, and started a players’ counsel. The group of 12 players meets a couple times a month.
“It’s helping bridge a communication gap and helping players have a bigger say in the program they play for,” Fairchild said.
“It’s going good,” said senior linebacker Mychal Sisson, one of the players on the panel. “It gives a chance for the team to have a say. They come through us. We discuss things we feel as a team need to be done, how things are going and how we are feeling.
“I really feel like that’s been one of the main causes for our team to turn around. We just needed more say in what we do and having more input. (Fairchild) listens to everything we say and takes heed to everything we say. It’s listening and seeing what our players want and see how we’re feeling about different situations.”
Said Fairchild: “There’s a pretty good exchange of ideas on a wide variety of topics. It’s even like the assistants: The more they feel like their voice is heard, the more they occasionally get something changed in their mind that makes it better, then we all take ownership and we’re all a little more responsible for it.”
Chris Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com
