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Colorado State did the thing everyone knew they were going to do today when they fired head coach Steve Addazio. Recommended to CSU by no less than Urban Meyer, Addazio was 4-12 in two season in Fort Collins, and at no point did the Rams have any momentum towards getting better.
The statement from Colorado State AD Joe Parker:
“The decision we have made today is not one we take lightly,” Parker said. “I am grateful to Steve Addazio and his coaching staff for their steadfast commitment to our student-athletes, both athletically and academically, to developing men of high character, and reinvigorating our locker room with a culture of toughness and accountability. However, after a thorough review of where our program stands today and our outlook for the future, looking at the totality of factors, I felt this was a necessary step.”
”Our expectation is to compete for conference championships and reach bowl eligibility each season. Our student-athletes deserve that, our fans deserve that, our community deserves that, and our University deserves that. We live in one of America’s best cities, serve a world-class university, and I am confident we will find a stalwart leader who can meet those expectations head on.”
Addazio’s tenure finished with but a whimper, as he was ejected from his last game as only the second coach in FBS to be dismissed under the new coaching discipline rules. The last coach to get ejected from a football game and then summarily fired before taking the field again? Ohio State’s Woody Hayes, who hit Clemson’s Charlie Bauman during the 1978 Gator Bowl and never took to a football field in charge again.
Addazio is now 61-67 career as a head coach including his tenures at Temple and Boston College. And it would be tough to see him getting back to the sidelines of an FBS program anytime soon.