Mark Richt fired at Georgia: What does it mean for Mike Bobo?

For Colorado State Rams football, it’s a joyous time.

The green and gold finished their regular season yesterday 7-5 with a 34-31 win over Fresno State, and Mike Bobo became the first ever Rams head coach to win seven regular season games in his first season in the position. CSU is heading to their third straight bowl game and it’s clear that Bobo won over the locker room and taught the players about his culture over the course of the season.

It seems, the future of football is bright in Fort Collins with Bobo leading the way.

But, breaking news this morning has Mark Richt being fired at the University of Georgia.

From Georgia's release:
AD Greg McGarity says Georgia and Richt mutually agreed that he would step down as head coach.

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) November 29, 2015

Bobo, of course, came to CSU from Georgia, where he played quarterback from 1993-1997 and then worked his way up the coaching ranks over 14 years to offensive coordinator before accepting the Rams head coach job two days before Christmas last year.

Less than a year after becoming Colorado State’s head coach, could Bobo now be out the door and headed back to Georgia to become their next head coach?

There’s no question he would like to be his alma mater’s head coach, but is this the right time? Would he really want to take over after the man he coached under for 14 seasons has just been fired? It seems unlikely, which is actually good news for CSU, whose fans and players want to see Bobo stick around longer than this first year.

Colorado State knew the risk when hiring Bobo, just like they did when hiring Jim McElwain from Alabama in 2012. McElwain turned CSU around from a perennial 3-9 team to a winner in three seasons, leading them to two bowl games before departing to take the Florida head coaching position before the Rams played in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl and lost.

It’s why there was a buyout clause put into McElwain’s contract and both he and Florida had to pay Colorado State $7 million. Part of that money comes when CSU plays at Florida between 2017 and 2020, which comes with a $2 million check, too. $2 million comes from McElwain’s checking account and the other $3 million comes from Florida.

McElwain’s buyout was the biggest in the history of college football and it’s paying off for Florida. The somewhat quirky former Rams head coach just led his Florida Gators to an improbable 10-2 record this season and they were ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation before losing yesterday to the No. 14 Florida State Seminoles 37-2.

So, after McElwain left his team hanging before their bowl game last year, Colorado State thought it wise to hire Bobo with another massive buyout, this time of $5 million. If Bobo is hired away by Georgia — or any other team for that matter — they will have to play $5 million until the end of 2016. In 2017, the buyout cuts in half to $2.5 million. Then, the buyout decreases to $1 million in 2018 and he’s free to work elsewhere in 2019.

With McElwain, the Rams found success they’d been lacking since the heydays of Sonny Lubick in the 90s. They knew the risk was his being hired away, and when he was, Colorado State took the same gamble on Bobo.

Bobo’s done very well with McElwain’s recruits and using the foundation that was built. Of course, Bobo must be given credit for turning this team — which lost Garrett Grayson and Ty Sambrailo among many others to the NFL and/or graduation — into a winner this season. It was no small feat to input his culture, with his coaches, and win the players over. Bobo did just that; SteveO Michel and Joe Hansley were two seniors in particular telling us how much they loved their new coach mid-way through the season.

And let’s not forget these Rams fell to 2-4 after their 41-10 throttling at the hands of the Mountain West rival Boise State Broncos. The players could have folded up shop and lost faith in Bobo, the season could have gone south and the bowl game dreams would have been lost.

Instead, Bobo rallied the troops, he called them out in his “Come to Jesus” meeting after the loss to the San Diego State Aztecs and the team responded with four straight victories to end the season 7-5.

Bobo has proven over the course of this, his first season, that he’s one helluva head football coach and Colorado State hopes to have him around for years to come. This year, Bobo earned a base salary of $1.35 million and earned $75,000 in bonuses thanks to winning six games ($25,000) and making a bowl game ($50,000). Still, those numbers are tiny compared to what he’d likely make at Georgia in the SEC.

The 41-year old head coach will undoubtedly be considered a candidate for this job, and even if he’s not hired, will be on schools’ radar in the near future. It’s the reality of the position at this moment, but an educated guess says he stays at Colorado State through this coaching change at Georgia.

Not only did he do something special with the team this year, Bobo wants to be in Fort Collins for the unveiling of the new on-campus stadium, which is set to open in 2017. Plus, Richt went 145-51 in his 15 seasons at Georgia, including 9-3 this year before being fired. Does Bobo want that much pressure this early in his head coaching career? The likely answer is “no.”

Will Bobo leave for Georgia following Richt’s firing? While no one can say for sure at the moment, we have a feeling Bobo will continue to be CSU’s head coach next year.

And Ram fans likely hope to see more joyous moments like this:

Mike Bobo's Gatorade shower at the end of 2015 regular season. #CSURams pic.twitter.com/HAhYQKlAwM

— Rich (midnight blue 🌠and sunshine yellow ☀️) (@RichKurtzman) November 29, 2015