FORT COLLINS — A major reason coach Mike Bobo was in the Colorado State team auditorium Wednesday, , was that he did not inherit a program in shambles.
If that had been the state of things in Fort Collins in late 2014, Bobo — by then on the hot list of search firms — might have continued to bide his time at Georgia or ended up somewhere other than CSU. The Rams went 10-2 in a terrific and perhaps even overachieving third season under Jim McElwain, with a third loss coming in the Las Vegas Bowl after McElwain’s understandable but gracelessly handled departure for Florida. The on-campus stadium project finally had been approved with a 2017 opening planned.
In came Bobo. Now, after back-to-back 7-6 seasons closed out with losses to undistinguished opponents in lackluster bowls, Bobo this fall will be coaching a roster that still is a mix of McElwain recruits and his own.
McElwain’s exit season was his third at CSU, and this will be Bobo’s third.
McElwain was adept at embracing holdover players from the Steve Fairchild regime — at least the ones that deserved it — and winning with them. At the outset of that 2014 season, 15 of the Rams’ projected starters had been in the Fairchild program in 2011, either playing or redshirting. I still remember pointing that out in a question to McElwain as the Rocky Mountain Showdown approached, and the coach asking without disingenuousness: “Really?”
This is no excuse, but reality: McElwain had at least one undistinguished recruiting class, and it has affected Bobo’s record.
When I asked Bobo Wednesday about whether he feels he is putting his stamp on the program, he was emphatic.
“There’s no question,” he said. “There was change. You might do some things similar, but ultimately you’re different. Your philosophies are a little bit different, the culture you set is a little bit different. I’ve said it from day one, I might not have recruited every player that was sitting in the seats, but they became my family when I became the head coach.
“But over time, you’re going to recruit guys that are more like you and have the same vision and the passion you have. To me, it’s guys that are family-oriented and want to be great and love to compete. That’s what we’re trying to build here.”
Most important, McElwain nudged expectations and ambitions back up and for that he deserves to be saluted, not derided for leaving. That 2014 season was remarkable, until the finish.
The makeover, though, at least in terms of identity, was inevitable.
Last season, during the team’s slow start, when I asked Bobo if he ever glanced toward the nearby stadium construction site and looked ahead, Bobo scoffed. To paraphrase, his response was, well, yeah, but if he didn’t win football games, he wouldn’t be coaching in the new stadium.
Bobo is one of the few coaches I’ve ever been around who I could picture sitting in the stands, booing the playcalling. Even when close friend Mark Richt was under pressure at Georgia — foreshadowing his firing — I was amazed at how accepting of the madness Bobo was. Hey, they got into this business, and they knew what to expect. (The major difference, of course, in this era is that firings usually come with absurd golden parachutes/buyouts.)
As his third season approaches, Bobo continues to be defiant about his ambition.
“I’m going to go for the best players in the country, bottom line,” he said. “And we got some. We’re going to get one one year and we’re going to get two one year and then we’re going to be where we want to be as a program. … How are you going to know if you’re ever going to get one of those players if you don’t try? I believe I’m one of the best coaches in the country, I believe this is one of the best universities in the country, I believe we have one of the best coaching staffs in the country. I’m going to sell that.”
This fall, we’ll find out if enough difference-makers have bought it.
