Every Week a Season: A Journey Inside Big-Time College Football

Book by Curtis Brian

CHAPTER 1

After Sonny

Colorado State University

#23 Colorado State vs. Colorado

Fort Collins, Colorado

August 24–30

In the first preseason AP college football poll, Colorado State (CSU) is ranked and Colorado (CU) is not as they prepare to meet in the season opener on August 30th. The game will be played at Invesco Field in Denver, in front of 76,000-plus passionate fans. In recent years, CSU has made the match-up a true rivalry, winning three of the last four games, after being an afterthought for many seasons. CSU returns all-conference quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt and tight end Joel Dreessen. Colorado is unstable at the quarterback position but returns a veteran team that finished first in the Big XII North Division in 2002. Both coaching staffs know that a loss can be devastating to their team’s postseason hopes, not to mention a year’s worth of frustration.

· · ·

“And on the seventh day, he rested.” Apparently, God is no football coach.

It is shortly after noon on Sunday, August 24, when the Colorado State coaching staff assembles in a room on the second floor of the McGraw Building. A wipe board dominates one side of the room. By the middle of the week, it will be filled with columns labeled Run Game, Drop Back Pass, Play Action/Screens—this week’s plan of attack. Above the board, in green and gold letters, is a slogan: “Communication—is the key to success.” Another board lists the names of committed recruits, and next to this list are posters. One is titled “CSU Rates” and numerically lists if a recruit is 1) a great player, 2) a legitimate player, 3) a suspect or rejected player. There are similar rating charts for Grades and Recruitability.

On this hot Sunday afternoon, the staff sits in the air-conditioned room, huddled around a table full of sodas and coffees.

“Okay, so where do we stand with the scout teams?” asks Sonny Lubick, looking at longtime assistant coach and friend Mick Delaney. Lubick’s large presence comes more from the strength of his conviction than his height. His skin is bronzed from many days in the sun and there are a few wrinkles etched into his face. He looks at his staff intently, expecting prompt and detailed responses.

Delaney explains that the scout teams could use a few walk-ons to play wide receiver, running back, and safety. The NCAA limits the number of walk-ons who can practice in preseason, but once classes begin coaches can open the doors. (Of course, most of the students who walk on are quickly disillusioned or lose confidence in their own ability to play at the Division I level.) An axiom in football is, “You are only as good as your scout team.” Having a disciplined, well-prepared scout team is essential in getting starters ready for opponents.

Attention soon turns to the first game of the season: rival Colorado. “This is probably the most even we have ever been headed into the game in Colorado State history,” Lubick states matter-of-factly, alluding to the level of talent at both schools. This is something he couldn’t necessarily say in a press conference. “We should casually get that message across to the players during practice this week.”

Lubick reminds his coaches to watch this week for penalties, poor positioning, and turnovers.

After three grueling weeks of preseason practice, it is pretty clear who the starters are, except for the punter, but all agree to give the candidates until Thursday to prove themselves. Athletic trainer Fred Oglesby walks in and hands every coach an injury report. Luckily, there is nothing major.

A final issue is special teams. Co-offensive coordinator John Benton expresses concern that so many key starters are lined up to cover kickoffs on special teams. Special teams and tight ends coach Darrell Funk, a newcomer to the CSU staff from Northern Illinois, counters that only six or seven starters are on the kickoff team. Lubick quickly interjects that the team’s top four safeties are on special teams. His philosophy is to always have the best players on special teams—starters or not.

The offensive and defensive coaches split up to begin to formulate a game plan for Colorado. This week is a bit unusual. First, it is CSU’s biggest game of the year. Second, it is being played at Invesco Field in Denver, the home of the Denver Broncos—a neutral site. Third, and perhaps most important in terms of preparation, it is the season’s first game. There is no game film to review from a win or loss the day before. No bad morale. No losing streaks. Plenty of time to prepare. In fact, the coaches have been reviewing Colorado film from last season and creating a game plan since spring practice. By the time game week rolls around in late August, much of the scouting, film watching, and game planning has already taken place. But this is football and these are football coaches, so it is done over and over again.

“I was so psyched to come in today, actually,” says co-offensive coordinator Dan Hammerschmidt, “to really get going.”

Hammerschmidt is joined in the offensive meeting by Delaney, Funk, and wide receivers coach Matt Lubick, the head coach’s son. Benton retreats to his office to work on a strategy for combating CU blitzes. Hammerschmidt asks about Dexter Wynn, a stunningly quick and athletic cornerback who had played a little with the offense in preseason. Because he is slowed by a hip injury, the coaches decide to limit Wynn to eight plays on offense in the upcoming practice.
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John Benton was a graduate assistant (GA) at CSU in the late 1980s and remembers drives to Boulder, an hour away. In those days, the only place in Colorado that could develop the game and practice film used by coaches was in Boulder, so every day at the end of practice he would race to the shop to get the film developed. Air Force and Colorado were using the same shop, so if he showed up after them, the wait could be hours. He would return to Fort Collins, mission completed, where the coaches would be waiting.

But the new millennium means computers, and the reliability, expediency, and accessibility of the new technology have changed the game for coaches. Now the standard system can spit out cut-up clips in a matter of seconds. Without much trouble, a coach can make a tape consisting only of plays from the 40-yard line on third down on the right hash at night on grass when his team is trailing. The computers can get that specific. The computers are hooked up to projection screens and the images are controlled by remote.

“Beware,” Lubick says, “we can’t get too reliant on technology. You still have to go out there and coach the team and relate to them.”

But Sundays are all about film. As the offensive staff watches clips of the Colorado defense from the 2002 season, including the loss to CSU, they search for tendencies and weaknesses. Perhaps there’s a short cornerback who could be a good match-up for a CSU receiver; maybe a defensive end is small compared to his line mates so CSU could run to his side; perhaps Colorado likes to play tight man-to-man on second down. Colorado State puts in a new offensive package for the game, learning a lesson from last season when TCU and New Mexico had success playing a combination of man-to-man and zone defenses against Colorado State. They want to get standout tight end Joel Dreessen the ball and get running back Marcus Houston outside.

“This is the first game, so we try to keep things simple,” Hammerschmidt acknowledges.

Benton adds, “We have had a long preparation for this game, so at this point we are just tweaking.”

A few feet away in the defensive coaches’ meeting room, they, too, are watching film. They’re reviewing clips of the Colorado offense at work in 2002 against Oklahoma, UCLA, and, yes, Colorado State. Although the words “Keep It Simple” are posted clearly above a wipe board at one end of the room, defensive strategies are anything but. Like their offensive counterparts, the staff looks for tendencies. Lubick is a defensive guy, focusing mainly on the secondary. He spends very little time with the offense, trusting Hammerschmidt and Benton to get it done and he makes no offensive calls during games, though he may occasionally chime in through his headset, “Are we doing okay, guys?” Joining Lubick in the meeting are defensive coordinator Steve Stanard, in his first year at CSU, defensive backs coach James Ward, and defensive line coaches Jesse Williams and Tom Ehlers.

“We need to watch for backs bumping our guys outside,” Lubick comments. “We should watch for trick plays like tight end or tackle eligible stuff.”

That comment leads to a lengthy discussion about how CSU would counter. Sitting in a strategy meeting is like landing in a foreign country with no comprehension of the language. Terms fly across the room: China, Boston, Black, Zeke, Zoro, Buzz, Under Pirate 57, Over 8. The coaches throw out terms as they talk about players watching the angle of the fullback’s first steps to determine if the play is a pass or a run or to call out switches so smoothly that, as Lubick points out, “It is as nice and smooth as an orchestra.”

Eventually, the staff has a preliminary game plan. One board lists the numerous offensive formations that Colorado runs under columns headed “21,” “22,” and “10.” These numbers represent the offensive personnel groups, with the first number indicating the number of backs and the second representing the number of tight ends. For each of these groups, the CSU coaches come up with a list of defensive plays that they believe will work best against the personnel groups. As the coaches debate, discuss, and decide, Lubick asks if they will have time to put all of the sets in during practice this week, to which the assistants unanimously say yes. Near the conclusion of the meeting, around 5:00 p.m., Lubick stands up and says, “We don’t give a hoot what they do, we’re as good as them.”

The coaches all stay and work longer. The offensive staff takes a dinner break and then resumes work at 6:00 p.m., knowing they will probably be there until 10:00. On Monday morning, the entire staff will regroup at 8:00 a.m. to plan practice for the week and to meet yet again as offense and defense. After months of planning, scouting, watching film, and practicing, CSU is finally in a game week. But have they prepared enough? Have they covered every possible scenario?

Lubick is exhausted, but less tired than he was during the dawn to midnight days of the previous weeks. He retreats to his office to sign a few footballs before taking off for home. His office is not large. The walls are covered with pictures of former players who have gone on to the NFL, recent team photos, plaques from charitable foundations, a picture of Lubick throwing out the first ball at a Colorado Rockies game, a Colorado Congressional Record document acknowledging the 2002 win over Colorado. There are pictures of his daughter and two sons, as well as of his grandsons, Matthew and William. Off to the side of his desk sits a bookshelf with dozens of green notebooks full of past year’s practice plans, game plans, and notes. Resting on the upper shelves are books, including Jackie’s Nine by Sharon Robinson, Parseghian and Notre Dame by the legendary coach, They Call Me Coach by John Wooden, Tom Osbourne’s Faith in the Game, Jim Dent’s The Junction Boys, and Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. On his desk is Rick Warren’s New York Times best-seller The Purpose-Driven Life.

The office reveals little about the modest man, and even less about his humble beginnings. His rise to the top of his profession is as unlikely as his escape from a small town.
· · ·

Born and raised in the small enclave of Butte, Montana, Lubick was the son of a miner in a town full of them. Remarkably, Butte has produced some of the great coaches in the game, guys like Jim Sweeney and Sam Jankovich. Louis “Sonny” Lubick, named after Joe Louis and Lou Gehrig, played high school football at Christian Brothers High and played his college ball at Western Montana, where he earned a degree in History in 1960. After high school, Lubick initially worked in the mines but after an injury, he headed off to college. Butte was a blue-collar town, and for Lubick, getting a college degree was an accomplishment. He didn’t want a life working underground.

He was first a high school coach, then was hired in 1970 as an assistant at Montana State while earning a Master’s in Administration. He rapidly rose through the assistant ranks and in 1978 was named the head coach. His first team went 8-2 but things went downhill and, by 1981, the program had slipped to 3-7. Lubick and his staff were fired. He resurfaced a year later at Colorado State as the offensive coordinator under head coach Leon Fuller. In 1985, he joined Jack Elway at Stanford for three seasons, before heading south to Miami and joining Dennis Erickson as defensive coordinator. It was with the Hurricanes that Lubick gained a national following, helping lead Miami to two national championships while playing in four title games. When Colorado State had an opening after Earl Bruce was fired in 1992, Lubick returned to Fort Collins as the head coach. And things have never been the same.

“This is a good sports town with knowledgeable fans,” says Lucky Kerig, a 30-something bar owner in town. “On game days, our place is empty. For away games, it is full.” Kerig continues, “Things changed in this town when Sonny came to CSU. He built things the right way with morality, family, and community. That’s why everyone wants to play for him. There wasn’t much before Sonny.”

Before Sonny. Before Sonny, the football program at CSU rarely won games and tried hard to pack the stadium on game days. Morale was low, losses mounted, and CSU was nowhere near the national radar. The football offices were in cramped quarters in a building next to the basketball arena, with such little space that team meetings had to be held in the bleachers of the basketball arena, sometimes during basketball practice. When the team split into position meetings, some groups were in hallways, some in the locker room, some even outside. Thoughts of a new athletic facility were never taken seriously—and considering the dismal past, the lack of enthusiasm for the football team was not surprising.

But after Lubick arrived, the Rams began winning, and with winning came a window to take the program to the next level. A new athletic center with offices, a weight room, and locker room would cost $12 million. Lubick helped raise an unprecedented $6 million in 18 months, and after the CSU students overwhelmingly passed an “athletic tax” to raise the remaining amount, the center was completed in 1998.

“It never would have happened before Sonny,” notes longtime CSU sports information director (SID) and alum, Gary Ozzello. The result is the state-of-the-art McGraw Athletic Facility, complete with offices for all sports and the athletic administration, the ticket office, and more. It is connected to Moby Arena, where the weight room was tripled in size and the locker rooms revamped.

In 2002, the University raised over $30 million for its general fund-raising campaign—almost three times the amount they raised Before Sonny. The Rams have won six Mountain West titles and gone to seven bowl games. In the 100 years Before Sonny, CSU went to just two bowl games. In the previous 40 years before Lubick’s arrival, they had just 10 winning seasons. Since his arrival in Fort Collins, Colorado State has entered the lexicon of college football, consistently ranked in the polls and appearing on television almost every weekend. He was the National Coach of the Year as named by Sports Illustrated in 1994 and the Rams rank t...