Monday press conferences usually feature head coach Mike Bobo in Fort Collins. But, with Bobo hospitalized, Director of Athletics Joe Parker spoke to the media before offensive and defensive coordinators Dave Johnson and John Jancek.
“There’s a few unknowns at the moment of Coach Bobo’s current status,” Parker explained of Bobo’s health, explaining that he remains hospitalized and has been for nine days. “They’re still working through diagnostics at the moment. We’re encouraged by what the medical staff that’s helping him through this is learning.
“There is an expectation that any day now he could be discharged from the hospital,” Parker continued. “I want to make it absolutely clear we have a singular leader of our football program, and that’s Mike Bobo.”
After the team’s second scrimmage of the fall, Colorado State’s head coach was admitted to the hospital due to dealing with numbness in his feet.
On August 15, Bobo tweeted out to everyone about his condition — peripheral neuropathy — explaining that he’s preparing for the team’s season kickoff, this Saturday, by watching film of Hawaii and of his team in practice.
Parker and Johnson both explained that Bobo’s been in constant contact with the team, speaking with the AD “nearly every day.” He’s been watching film of practice from his hospital room and texting and calling the coordinators what he’s seeing. Parker also explained Bobo’s been moved from a hospital here in Fort Collins to one in Denver.
“We certainly all miss Coach Bobo and want him to get back,” defensive coordinator John Jancek explained. “I think he’s going to be in great shape. We’ve been on constant communication. He’s getting the film.
“We just want him back,” Jancek continued. “He’s a great leader, someone that we trust.”
There’s still no definitive word whether or not Bobo will be back in Fort Collins at at Sonny Lubick Field at Canvas Stadium this Saturday to coach his Rams, but that’s the hope from everyone within the organization.
If he can’t get back, Johnson explained they will have to decide who will call the plays on offense, and that will be finalized later in the week. But, without Bobo, coaches are trying to stay consistent in their message to players.
“Message of being diligent,” Johnson said. “Stayin on task. The plan’s in place, to carry it out. To work through it. And to stay unified.”
For a football team with as much turnover as the Rams — returning only 35 percent of their production from last year, which is last in the nation — it was already going to be difficult to stay unified and on the same page. Now, without their organizational leader — as Parker said of Bobo — it could be even tougher to do so.
But, whether Bobo’s in “The Fort” or not this Saturday, his team kicks off their fourth year under him in only five days.
Colorado State hosts Hawaii at 5:30 p.m. MST at Canvas Stadium, the kickoff of not only the Rams season, but college football across the country.
