One Wild Week

The last week as a CSU fan has been crazy.

The basketball team won three straight and were on Top of the World, then Stanford reminded them about gravity and they came crashing down.

The volleyball team couldn't win the conference tournament title, but still ended up seeded 14th in the NCAA Tournament.

The girls cross country team finished 19th in the nation.

CSU football beat the 'Pokes from up North to finish with a two-game winning streak.

Oh, and there was some little situation with Sonny Lubick, but I haven't heard or read much about that (except when I open my eyes or ears).

Yes, even at a funeral on Thursday I had in-laws, who have never expressed one ounce of energy to me about covering CSU sports for the Collegian, and who are die hard Nebraska fans, asking me about the "big story up there."

After recovering from the shock, I did my best to fill them in on what I knew of the situation, and it turns out I know about as many facts them as I know now. Which isn't very many (but hopefully this will be explained later today).

Here is what I know: - Sonny Lubick says he still wants to coach.

- Paul Kowalczyk (who is hereby referred to as Pauly K to simplify) and Larry Penley obviously feel changes need to be made to the football staff.

- They want Sonny to take a job as s a senior associate athletic director (aka to deal with the booster and fund raise full time) and he gets to keep his salary for the next two years.

- Sonny wants to see his assistants taken care off.

- Joe Glenn should have already learned to shut his mouth (as evidenced here), so I will return the salute to him that he seems so fond of.

- And this situation has been handled poorly on both sides, as Terry Frei pointed out so well.

And then there are all the rumors, which include:
- Pauly K told Sonny that his assistants wouldn't be coming back, and Sonny said he wouldn't coach without them.

- That Sonny just wanted another year.

- That Pauly K bungled the situation and now Penley is "throwing him under the bus," as the kids say.

- That Sonny had agreed to this earlier, but now changed his mind.

- That a deal has been worked out with another coach and now Pauly K has to get rid of Sonny.

And all of this leaves me thoroughly confused:

As I have said all year, Sonny needs to get rid off many of his assistants (Steve Stanard and Dave Arnold) if he wanted another year. From the first reports I got, it seemed that Pauly K and the administration had basically done this, and Sonny said he would rather step down.

Then, I hear that Pauly K didn't offer that chance to Sonny, and has basically forced to resign or to actually fired him

This second situation is very disturbing to me. Sonny did so much for CSU that I hate to think we kicked him out, but the Rams have under preformed for five straight years (yes, Bradlee Van Pelt's 7-5 senior season should have been much better) and Sonny refused to make an significant changes to his staff.

It is hard to say that someone could ever lose their job becasue of their loyaly, but it seems to have been Sonny's downfall.

In the past few season Sonny has been too loyal to coaches, and often his staff has been too loyal to seniors, letting them play over underclassmen who could have sparked the team earlier.

It took Kyle Bell too long to see the field his sophomore year, and this year it was loyalty to Bell that delayed chances for Gartrell Johnson and Mike Myers to shine.

CSU was behind the times.

We refused to adapt to the spread offenses that were running roughshod on us.

We refused to play freshman very often, even though many schools around the nation thrive with freshman playing critical roles right now.

We couldn't afford to fall behind any more.

I wish Sonny had seen this situation coming, and I hope that he puts aside this slight from the administration and stays at the school that loves him.

When Sonny came to CSU in 1993 it was on the heels of a very controversial firing of another fairly successful and legendary coach, Earle Bruce. Sonny managed to pull the CSU community together and led the Rams to unprecedented success on the gridiron.

I hope he again can pull CSU together, by gracefully stepping down and getting behind the new coach.

CSU is forever indebted to Sonny Lubick for the pride he has brought to this campus.

Before Sonny came to the Rams, a record of 3-9 with a win over Wyo and a few heartbreaking losses would have been a good season, as the following year's team might be .500.

Now, this is a terrible season.

If nothing else, thank Sonny for setting his own standards so high.