Amidst various expected college football firings on Sunday, Colorado State decided to part ways with coach Jay Norvell after a 2-5 start to the season, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported.
Colorado State is coming off a 31-19 loss to Hawaii on Saturday. The Rams' defensive coordinator Tyson Summers will take over as interim coach moving forward.
Norvell was in the middle of his fourth season with the Rams. He ends his stint at Colorado State with an 18-26 overall record and one bowl appearance (a loss in the Arizona Bowl last year).
Before landing with Colorado State in 2022, Norvell coached Nevada for the five seasons, posting a 33-26 record there. At Nevada, Norvell led the team to four bowl appearances and two bowl wins.
In the team's press conference upon Norvell's firing, Colorado State athletic director John Weber listed the program's upcoming move to the Pac-12 next season as a big reason why they made the coaching chance.
"My admiration for Jay and appreciation for his integrity make this decision that much more difficult," Weber said. "However, as we prepare to join the Pac-12 Conference next year, we need to position our program to compete at the highest level. While we've seen progress, a change in leadership is necessary to achieve the sustained excellence our program requires. We are continuing to invest and work hard to ensure that the football program and the next head coach have the resources needed to capitalize on this historic opportunity."
Revisiting Norvell's beef with Colorado coach Deion Sanders
Norvell's tenure with Colorado State may be remembered most by the feud he had with Colorado coach Deion Sanders back in 2023. The two coaches traded barbs about each other when speaking to media that year, adding fuel to the fire in regards to the already intense Colorado–Colorado State rivalry.
As a reminder, Norvell first criticized Sanders for wearing hats and sunglasses indoors. The feud intensified after Jay Norvell’s wife, Kim, blasted Sanders's son Shedeur for “acting like a B” during a postgame interaction on Sept. 16 involving Deion Sanders and Jay Norvell, posting her now-deleted tweet shortly after the Coach Prime docuseries aired. Sanders then met Kim last year and seemingly squashed any bad blood. Norvell also later clarified that his comments about Sanders were meant to motivate his Rams and not criticize the Sanders family.
Colorado and Colorado State are not slated to face each other this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Colorado State Fires Coach Jay Norvell After 2-5 Start to Season.
