Mike Bobo: Rams are “going to follow their coach”

Mike Bobo, it seems, has learned all season long being a head coach is a complicated task.

Sure, he’s the face of the football team, he’s the one who calls the shots and will take the criticism when his Colorado State Rams don’t win. But besides what happens on the field, there’s so much more to making a college football program successful. There’s the recruiting side of things, there are the public functions as well as handling his team off the field.

As we wrote earlier in the season, Bobo has already made a special connection with his players, and he knows his leadership by example is key.

“They’re going to follow their coach and their coaches,” Bobo said Monday during his weekly press conference. “We’ve got to set the example of how you attack life, whether things are going good or bad. You come to work and do your job. I think that’s a valuable lesson for all young people.”

Teaching life lessons; it’s one of those off-the-field intangibles that the best coaches seem to find time for. Bobo’s doing well at lending advice to the youngsters on his team, and one way he’s doing that is by stopping football preparation to allow everyone to take a moment and appreciate the Thanksgiving holiday. The Rams will practice early both today and Wednesday, ending before 5 p.m. and have both Thanksgiving and Friday off from usual practices this week.

“If you live in the Denver area, or close and you’ve got a chance to drive home and see your family, that’s why we’re going to practice early,” Bobo explained. “Take a teammate. Take three or four teammates. Make sure everybody enjoys Thanksgiving. Because it’s about family. And we’re a family. And there’s a lot of guys on this team that don’t have the opportunity to be with their immediate family, so they can be with their player family.”

“I’m going down to Denver with Jordon Vaden. That’s my roommate,” junior linebacker Deonte Clyburn said with a smile. “I ain’t cooking nothing.”

There haven’t always been reasons for Colorado State players to be thankful this season. They were down in the dumps at 2-4. But the Rams followed their coach, who hasn’t given up on them, never got down on himself and instead consistently preached the team needs to go back to work after losses. They’ve caught on to that consistency and the players believe in what Bobo brings to the program.

“There’s challenges like with any year,” Bobo explained. “Whether you’re winning games or losing games, there’s a challenge each week to have the same focus and motivation of how you attack each week…I don’t think I’ve varied in my approach from that…Still be demanding, still set expectations, still coach them hard, still have the energy.”

Bobo brings the energy from the sidelines, even late into November, and the players follow their coach.

Due to Bobo’s leadership, Colorado State became bowl eligible last Saturday following their 28-21 win on the road in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It’s a phenomenal feat, even if he was set up with a strong talent pool coming in. This is still his first season as a head coach, his first year in Fort Collins and things could have gone awry in a hurry. But, they didn’t. Because, players follow their coach.

One of the most interesting quotes from Bobo this season came after the 41-10 loss to Boise State which dropped the team to 2-4 overall. “I know how to coach football,” Bobo said, reaffirming his belief in his system, in knowing what he’s doing will eventually work and pay off in wins.

Well, Colorado State has won three straight games and sits at 6-5 overall currently with one game to go this Saturday against the lowly Fresno State Bulldogs (3-8).

The Rams have followed their herder Bobo to the promised land, back to a bowl game for a third straight year.