Well, this is an article I didn’t think I would have to write after that blowout win against Fresno State last week, least of all this soon. However, after another uncompetitive loss, this time at home to a now bowl-bound Hawaii Rainbow Warriors squad, Colorado State figured that it was about time to pull the plug once and for all.
This afternoon, Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports reported that after three and a half seasons, an 18-26 record, and a single bowl appearance where they lost by 26 points, Jay
Norvell has officially been fired as the head coach of the Colorado State Rams. An interim coach has yet to be announced.
Colorado State has greatly disappointed any expectations the school and its fans had in their last season of Mountain West Conference play. Their 2-5 season began with a competitive, yet still somewhat concerning loss to Washington in Seattle. The next week, things completely fell of the rails with a should-have-been loss to in-state FCS foe Northern Colorado, if not for questionable officiating on UNC’s would-be game winning TD, they would have lost. For reference, Northern Colorado’s current 3-4 record constitutes their most wins in a season since 2021.
The Rams followed that up with a home loss to UTSA, a team notorious for their inability to win away from the Alamodome. The game’s deciding moment was when the Roadrunners jumped offsides on CSU’s game-tying extra point with under 30 seconds left. Norvell then made the dubious decision to take the penalty and go for 2 to win the game, doing so with the inexperienced thrower Tahj Bullock at QB instead of the hot hand with Jackson Brousseau, where Bullock waited too long to unleash a pass, leading to a game-losing incompletion.
After another offensively inept loss to Washington State, the Rams were blown out by a San Diego State team that is now fully revealed to be the best team in the conference. At the time, that was seen as the likely last straw, but CSU gave Norvell another game against fellow conference contender Fresno State, who the Rams destroyed in a blowout.
That’s what made this decision more surprising than it probably should have been. After all, Florida just fired Billy Napier after a win. Like Napier with the Gators, Norvell’s downfall was having all the resources he could want to play with, but being fully unable to maximize the potential of transfer add-ons and recruiting classes.
Questionable decisions were at the forefront of Norvell’s tenure, not just on the field as in the UTSA loss, but off the field as well. My biggest offseason issue was CSU’s massive change to bring in an Air Raid offensive attack, yet seemingly doing nothing to acquire the weapons needed to make an Air Raid work without graduating star Tory Horton, as their receiving additions have been largely stagnant so far aside from Tay Lanier, who has shown some promise in recent weeks.
But it simply was not enough to save Norvell. The coach that lauded Colorado State’s resources while trashing those of his former school spent his entire time in Fort Collins wasting them. Colorado State has ranked in the top five in annual football spending every year of Norvell’s tenure, yet aside from 2024, where they largely benefited from an easy schedule, Norvell failed to finish with a winning record in the other two and a half seasons of his tenure.
While no interim coach has been announced as of yet, you have to imagine that defensive coordinator Tyson Summers, recently the head coach at Western Kentucky, would get a look for the role. Aside from their putrid performance against San Diego State, which looks better and better in hindsight, Summers’ unit has been the lone consistent bright spot for Colorado State this season.
