Breaking: Mike Bobo out at Colorado State

The rumors started swirling on Friday afternoon, following the 31-24 loss to Boise State to close out their 4-8 season, that change was coming at Colorado State.

FootballScoop.com was reporting that AD Joe Parker was prepared to fire head football coach Mike Bobo this weekend. The move became official today, although it was a “mutual agreement to part ways.”

Bobo looked like a strong hire when he took the reigns during the 2015 season coming in from Georgia as the long-time offensive coordinator. He found moderate but consistent success in his first three seasons, guiding the Rams to three straight 7-6 seasons, going 0-3 in bowl games. He signed a contract extension that off-season, increasing his base salary as well as his buyout.

However, the 2018 seemed over before it even got started. Bobo had a health scare (peripheral nueropathy, which causes numbness and needling pain in the feet) just before the first game of the regular season and unfortunately it set the tone for the course of the season. The Rams finished 3-9 as the wheels fell off. Respectably, Bobo refused the $100,000 increase in his salary due to the poor performance.

The preseason 2019 version seemed likely to bounce back at least a bit, but things didn’t quite materialize. The offense looked strong for most of the season but the defense was unable to keep pace, which resulted in a 4-8 campaign.

As alluded to above, the language in Bobo’s contract says he will be paid a buyout of $5.5 million due to being terminated within the 2019 calendar year.

Update:

At Colorado State, Mike Bobo will close out his time with a 28-35 record, including 0-3 in bowl games and an 0-5 record against in-state rival Colorado.

This coaching move now results in three head coaching vacancies in the Mountain West, with New Mexico and UNLV being the other two.