The CSU Rams will enter their Pac-12 Era with a new football coach.
CSU announced this afternoon that it has fired Jay Norvell, its fourth-year football coach and third coach since 2019. The move comes a day after the Rams lost 31-19 to Hawaii at Canvas Stadium.
Norvell posted an 18-26 record with the Rams, including a 2-5 mark this season after Saturday night’s defeat to the Rainbow Warriors before Canvas-record Homecoming crowd.. It was Norvell’s sixth defeat in his last eight games dating back to the 2024 season.
The decision was initially reported last hour by multiple outlets, including CBSSports.com and ESPN.com. The university announced the dismissal is with immediate effect, and that first-year defensive coordinator Tyson Summers will serve as interim coach. CSU visits rival Wyoming on Saturday in Laramie.
The university owes Norvell, 62, a $1.5 million buyout of his five-year contract, an agreement due to expire on Dec. 31, 2026.
Norvell is the Rams’ third football coach since the university opened Canvas in August 2017 at a reported cost of $220 million.
While all three coaches differed in terms of style and temperament, all three either failed to fill Canvas, failed to win consistently, or, in the case of Steve Addazio, failed at both.
Mike Bobo was let go after the 2019 season, his fifth. Addazio went 4-12 and was fired in December 2021, only to be succeeded by Norvell shortly thereafter.
Norvell leaves CSU with a 51-52 career record as a college head coach, all with programs within the Mountain West. He was 33-26 at his previous stop, Nevada, his first head-coaching opportunity after nearly three decades as a college and NFL assistant coach.
It was partly Norvell’s success with the Wolf Pack, which historically has operated with one of the smallest football budgets in the conference, that attracted the interest of CSU officials four years ago.
The then-Nevada coach, whose resume included stops with the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts and with a Super Bowl-bound Raiders team in 2002, was noted for exciting passing offenses, led by ex-Wolf Pack quarterback Carson Strong.
Norvell’s last game with the Pack was — ironically — the 2021 regular-season finale at CSU. His Nevada team drubbed a Rams squad coached by Addazio, 52-10, before a sparse crowd at Canvas.
Addazio, who had been the subject of a recent CSU investigation, was ejected by MW officials during the loss and fired a few days later.
Norvell was hired away from Nevada as a contrast to the personally tempestuous and offensively conservative Addazio. The Wisconsin native was charged with repairing bridges within the department, campus and community that Addazio had neglected or damaged. He was also charged with providing exciting, winning offensive football that would keep Canvas Stadium at or near capacity.
While Norvell succeeded at the former, the on-field results proved to be frustratingly mixed.
A 3-9 debut season was followed by one that, in hindsight, began to sour some CSU faithful with a series of “almosts.” The Rams went 5-7 but lost four of those games by nine points or fewer — most notably a 43-35 double-overtime loss at rival CU in Deion Sanders’ third game as the Buffs’ coach.
The Rams led that contest against CU 28-17 early in the fourth quarter and 28-20 with just 2 minutes remaining. Then-Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders’ touchdown pass with 36 seconds left forced overtime in one of the most-hyped Rocky Mountain Showdowns ever, after the presence of Coach Prime drew the pregame studio shows from both ESPN and FOX Sports to Boulder.
Sanders and son Shedeur were testy with Norvell during the postgame handshake at Folsom Field, after Norvell commented on Coach Prime’s penchant for wearing sunglasses and a hat during interviews. The game-week fireworks were much quieter before the rematch at FoCo in 2024, but the game wasn’t nearly as competitive. The Rams lost 28-9, much to the disappointment of a record crowd at Canvas.
Norvell’s Rams rallied from that loss to win seven of their next nine games to close out the regular season with an 8-4 record. Those Rams wound up in a tie for second in the Mountain West at 6-1, and locked down the Rams’ first bowl berth since 2017.
After abandoning the Air Raid passing system for a more run-oriented attack, CSU won five in a row, including a victory at Air Force for the first time since 2002 and a rout of rival Wyoming in mid-November at Canvas. It was the first time a CSU team had beaten both in-league rivals in the same season since 2015.
But things began to fray at the edges in December after the regular season ended and the winter transfer portal opened.
The Rams lost linebacker Chase Wilson and defensive linemen Gabe Kirschke and Nuer Gatkuoth, and defensive coordinator Freddie Banks left the program. The Rams were humbled at the Arizona Bowl at the end of the month by Miami of Ohio, 43-17, putting a sour bow on what had otherwise been a successful third season.
Norvell’s only win over the first five weeks of his fourth season, ironically, might have been the last straw for many Rams boosters.
CSU beat FCS neighbor Northern Colorado, 21-17, but the host Rams had to rally to pull it off after trailing 10-0 at halftime. The Rams held on for the victory only after a UNC touchdown catch that would’ve won the game for the Bears was controversially overturned by officials after a review.
Unlike Strong at Nevada, Norvell’s quarterbacks in FoCo never truly took off. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi struggled to start his third season as CSU’s starting QB and appeared to regress. The Texas high school star was even booed by Canvas faithful during a 17-16 loss to UTSA before being benched during the fourth quarter.
Fowler-Nicolosi’s regression raised questions about the staff’s ability to judge and develop the most important offensive player on the field, especially after Norvell had repeatedly defended BFN in recent years despite his up-and-down performances. Norvell benched his first starting QB, Clay Millen, in favor of Fowler-Nicolosi in 2023 and later accused Kansas State of offering a six-figure Name/Image/Likeness arrangement to lure the QB away from Fort Collins.
When the Rams continued to struggle to throw the ball against Waashington State and San Diego State, the writing was on the wall — CSU will join the new-look Pac-12 in July 2026 with a new face leading its football program.
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