Tag: steve addazio

Report: CSU expected to hire Jim Mora Jr. as next football coach, per ESPN

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Aiming to compete for big-time college football stakes, CSU is prepared to hire a big-time name.

According to an ESPN report late Tuesday night, the Rams are finalizing a deal with University of Connecticut coach Jim Mora Jr.

CSU athletic director John Weber made it clear that his goal is for the Rams to compete for a spot in the college football playoff and that he believes the school has the resources to do so. Weber fired Jay Norvell on Oct. 19 after a disappointing 2-5 start, which saw the football team unable to build on last season’s bowl berth or provide a compelling product.

Mora, 64, brings a wealth of experience in college and the NFL. He revived the UConn program, guiding the Huskies to a 9-3 record this season and a pending third bowl berth in four years. Mora fits the profile in experience and resume CSU sought as it moves into the reshaped Pac-12 next season. Mora coached in the conference for UCLA, compiling a 46-30 record and four bowl berths from 2012-2017.

“This program is primed for significant success, and this university is aligned to achieve it. I set the vision for Colorado State to become the most loved, most watched, most innovative athletics program in the West,” Weber said when explaining the decision to let Norvell go in October. “I look forward to the process that’s about to begin here to identify the leader that is going to be able to capitalize on all the potential that exists here at Colorado State, and I’m going to ensure it happens.”

Mora featured an explosive offense this season with a 1,000-yard rusher (Camryn Edwards), 1,000-yard receiver (Skyler Bell) and an efficient quarterback (Joe Fagnano, 28 touchdowns, one interception). The Huskies finished the season on a four-game winning streak, including victories over Air Force and Duke. Mora is the son of longtime NFL boss Jim Mora, who coached the Saints and Colts. Peyton Manning was his quarterback during his final four seasons in Indianapolis.

The changing college landscape doomed Norvell in Fort Collins. With the school wanting to at least match or improve on last season’s 8-5 season, the Rams sputtered in September as veteran starting quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi slumped. He was eventually benched and later left the school. It did not help Norvell when CSU looked overmatched against future conference opponent Washington State in an ugly 20-3 home loss on Sept. 27.

The hope is that Mora can bring stability and success to a CSU program that wants to reap the rewards of an on-campus stadium that opened in 2017.

Since that time, CSU has had three coaches — Mike Bobo, Steve Addazio, Norvell. All posted losing records, finishing a combined 23 games under .500.

Mora received a four-year, $10-million extension at UConn in December of 2024. Norvell made $1.9 million this season, and was owned a $1.5 million buyout from CSU, per terms of his contract.

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Troy Renck

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November 25, 2025
Keeler: CSU Rams coach Jay Norvell is becoming his own worst enemy in FoCo

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FORT COLLINS — CSU ranks 99th nationally in passing (197.3 yards per game) and No. 1 in throwing stuff against the wall.

Are the Rams a power run team? An Air Raid team? Pro style? Spread? Multiple? All of the above? None of the above?

Jay Norvell, the head coach, needs to re-assign Jay Norvell, the offensive coordinator, before it’s too late. Close games are turning chaotic at Canvas Stadium — only not in a good way. The Rams are tied for 127th out of 136 FBS programs in penalties per game (8.7) and 121st in penalty yards (76.3).

You wait too long to yank a cold hand (Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi) at quarterback against UTSA. You put in a hot hand (Jackson Brousseau), who slings you back into a tie game, 17-17, with 29 seconds left … only to take that tying point off the board and take said “hot hand” out of the contest.

Then you ask your third-string QB, a runner by trade (Tahj Bullock) who hasn’t completed a throw all year, to come off the bench cold, sprint right and pass you to a victory?

“That was one where I felt like that was our best chance to win, right there and right now,” Norvell explained Monday after watching film of CSU’s 17-16 home loss to the Roadrunners. “And so, I don’t regret it. I don’t. We needed to execute it better.”

I don’t know, man.

To be clear: CSU football is in a far, far better place than at this time four years ago. Daz Ball was a disaster from the jump.

It was also, in hindsight, a hysterically low bar to clear. And instead of consolidating the fan base in Year 4, Norvell has become Fort Fun’s Rorschach test.

True, his Rams are a two-point conversion away from being 2-1. A Bullock completion from rolling into a winnable home matchup against Washington State (2-2), coming off two Houdini escapes.

They’re also an absolute refereeing gift vs. Northern Colorado away from being 0-3 and forcing athletic director John Weber to pass the hat among donors at warp speed.

Either way, Saturday night against the Cougars has turned into must-see TV locally. Largely because it feels as if Wazzu just became a must-win contest.

It’s a too-darn-early referendum on what Norvell has built. And, more to the point, what he hasn’t.

Norvell’s predecessor, Steve Addazio, routinely embarrassed CSU at a time when the administration didn’t need any more help in that department. As soon as the Daz’s buyout dropped, ex-AD Joe Parker dropped the hammer.

Hires are usually reflections of their predecessors, if not stark contrasts by design. Norvell was poached from Nevada to bring normalcy, decency, an exciting offense and success, not necessarily in that order.

Four years in? That’s a yes, another yes, a not really, and a sort of.

Rams faithful aren’t shy about voting with their wallets. And Weber has to keep Canvas Stadium full — or awfully close. When Norvell boat-raced CSU with his Wolf Pack in late November 2021, Canvas sat half-empty. The Daz’s last three home games averaged 62% of capacity. The writing was on the checkbook.

We’re not there yet. CSU sold out four home games in 2024 and set a single-season home attendance record along the way — buoyed by a slate that featured Deion Sanders’ Fort Fun debut and a visit from rival Wyoming. Two games into 2025, the ledger is OK: Northern Colorado sold out on Sept. 6, while UTSA drew a more-than-respectable 88.8% of capacity (32,061).

Norvell sees this as a lifetime job, not a stepping stone. He wants to build it the right way. He’s committed to FoCo. He’s adjusted to the new normal of NCAA free agency, even hiring staff to handle the stuff he doesn’t particularly like. He’s invested in CSU, and vice versa.

But in a results business, the results on the field have been all over the place. Every silver lining has come with at least a little cloud trailing in its wake.

Last fall, Norvell got CSU to a bowl game for the first time since 2017. Once there, the Rams got obliterated by a MAC team. Clay Millen was the man, until he wasn’t. BFN was the man, until he couldn’t.

Norvell was hired with the idea of becoming another Sonny Lubick — a stable, long-term builder. But the transfer portal opened; House vs. NCAA happened; and Coach Prime turned up in Boulder to suck all the oxygen out of the local news cycle.

None of that is Jay’s fault. Yet with a move to the Pac-12 looming next year, some CSU fans talk about pining for a football version of Niko Medved in their new league. Someone who’ll make a big splash at CSU nationally, even if that means using the Rams as leverage toward a sexier job. And if they’re gone after two seasons for greener, richer Big Ten or SEC pastures, McElwain-style, so be it.

So: Lifetime guy (Norvell) or hot up-and-comer? It’s going to be one archetype or the other.

Norvell’s current contract expires Dec. 31, 2026. Per the term sheet the Rams released during his December 2021 hire, he’s making a base salary of $1.9 million this season and is due to make $2 million in 2026.

CSU can buy that out without cause for $1.5 million from now until New Year’s Eve. It can do so anytime in 2026 for “remaining base pay owed.”

With the remaining undecideds, there’s only one way back. And on this one, Norvell needs to not listen to his inner OC. Or to his gut. He should heed the ghost of one of his mentors, the late Al Davis.

Just win, baby.

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Originally Published: September 23, 2025 at 7:52 PM MDT

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Sean Keeler

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September 23, 2025
Ex-CSU Rams coach Steve Addazio joins ESPN as analyst

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The Daz is joining the Disney family.

Former CSU Rams football coach Steve Addazio, whose Fort Collins tenure was short and tempestuous, is transitioning to television. ESPN announced that Addazio has joined the network as a college football analyst and will start calling games later this month.

Addazio posted a 4-12 record at CSU from 2020-21 and had a 61-67 career record as a head coach with the Rams, Boston College (2013-19) and Temple (2011-12). He was fired at CSU in December 2021, a few days after completing a 3-9 season and after being ejected from a 52-10 home loss to Nevada, then coached by Jay Norvell.

Norvell would replace Addazio as CSU’s coach shortly after.

Addazio spent the 2022 and ’23 seasons as the offensive line coach at Texas A&M under then-coach Jimbo Fisher. He was not retained by new Aggies football coach Mike Elko.

At 16 games, Addazio’s stint as full-time Rams coach was the briefest since George Cassidy posted a 0-5 record in 1910. The longtime former Urban Meyer assistant was also the subject of internal and external investigations during his brief tenure, although a third-party investigation largely absolved Addazio of the accusations that had been levied against him.

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Sean Keeler

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August 3, 2024