FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -Colorado State officials haven’t publicly said they want Sonny Lubick to resign, but they have offered the longtime football coach another job, as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador.
The 70-year-old Lubick is expected to announce Tuesday whether he’ll step down after 15 seasons coach of the Rams.
School officials have said they want the 70-year-old Lubick to stick around, but as an associate athletic director, not head coach.
“No one knows better than Sonny Lubick how critical it is that we dramatically improve donor and booster support for our team, and he is in a unique position to make that happen,” athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said in a written statement Monday.
Kowalczyk said he hopes Lubick will stay in “a prominent leadership role at the university.”
Lubick is the most successful coach in school history, leading the Rams to nine bowl games and at least a share of conference titles in six different seasons. He’s 108-74 with Colorado State.
However, the Rams have stumbled on hard times. Colorado State had lost 13 in a row dating back to last season before beating UNLV on Oct. 20.
Colorado State went 3-9 this season and hasn’t had a winning record since 2003.
If Lubick has coached his last game for the Rams, the team sent him out with a victory, 36-28 against Wyoming in the season finale at Sonny Lubick Field on Friday.
Kowalczyk said the school has offered to pay Lubick, who makes $530,000 annually, his base coaching salary for the remaining two years on a contract extension he signed before last season. He said Lubick’s assistants would receive compensation for the next three months or until they find other jobs.
School president Larry Penley said he too wants Lubick to remain with the school in some capacity.
“It is in no one’s interest for Sonny to end his head coaching career feeling anything less than honored and valued for all he has done for our students and Rams athletics,” Penley said.
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