Steve Addazio out as Colorado State football coach after just 16 games
Steve Addazio’s time as Colorado State football coach is done after 16 games.
The 62-year-old veteran coach is expected to be let go by the school Thursday, less than a week after the Rams ended the 2021 season.
Multiple sources told the Coloradoan that the team had a meeting scheduled with athletic director Joe Parker at 1 p.m. EST, and those sources confirm the staff was pulled off the road recruiting. Football Scoop and ESPN are also reporting he will be fired.
It was the first full season for Addazio leading the Rams after a shortened 2020 due to COVID-19.
CSU went 3-9 in 2021 (2-6 in Mountain West play) and 4-12 overall under Addazio.
He made $1.55 million in 2021, with his salary set to rise to $1.6 million for 2022. He was the second-highest paid coach in the Mountain West (behind Wyoming’s Craig Bohl) in 2021.
Addazio’s buyout was $5 million until Thursday, when it dropped to $3 million.
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CSU athletic director Joe Parker hired Addazio in December 2019, less than two weeks after he was fired after his seventh season leading Boston College.
His career record is now 61-67 in 11 seasons as a head coach at Temple, Boston College and CSU. He’s 32-51 all-time in conference play.
Parker, along with CSU president Joyce McConnell, relied heavily on the input of Urban Meyer (a former CSU assistant) in the search. Addazio was formerly an assistant under Meyer.
The school first reached an agreement with Butch Jones before backing out late in the process due to Title IX concerns from his time at Tennessee.
It was a tumultuous two years for Addazio at CSU. The COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after his hire, and football operations shut down in the middle of his first spring practice early in 2020.
Complaints from members of the football program regarding violations of COVID-19 protocols and racial insensitivity prompted an investigation into the football program and athletic department later in 2020.
The 2020 football season was initially postponed by the Mountain West due to the spread of COVID-19 before the league ultimately opted for a shortened eight-game season. The Rams ended up playing only four games. Three were cancelled due to COVID-19 issues with teams (two due to the opponent and one due to CSU), and the last game was forfeited by Utah State due to a player boycott.
The Rams went 1-3 in the shortened season. CSU opened 2021 with home losses to South Dakota State and Vanderbilt before righting the ship with wins in three of four games, with a close loss at top-10 Iowa in the middle.
The season turned in mid-October, when CSU had a chance to take a lead in the Mountain Division with a win at Utah State. Instead, CSU lost on a chaotic final sequence when the field goal team was unnecessarily rushed on the field and missed a go-ahead kick. Addazio placed the blame on players after the game.
The next week, Addazio banned media from two days of practice availability as criticism around the Utah State finish swirled.
The downward spiral had started. CSU ended up losing its final six games of the season, giving up more points each game than the week before.
It culminated with a 52-10 loss to Nevada at home Nov. 27, when Addazio was ejected in the second quarter. He was just the second FBS head coach in the last five years to be ejected from a game.
The 36,500-seat Canvas Stadium was virtually empty by the end of that game, and social media was aflame with anger from CSU fans.
Addazio replaced Mike Bobo, who went 28-35 in five seasons with the Rams before he was let go after the 2019 season.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State football coach Steve Addazio out after 2 seasons
