Jim Mora didn’t take on the rebuilding job at Colorado State looking to make national headlines a month into the season for firing an assistant coach in the middle of a game. Sometimes, stuff just happens.
And sometimes, it needs to.
Something needed to change in Fort Collins after the Rams’ defense completely caved in during two straight losses, both of them lopsided, with CSU surrendering an even 100 points. It’s just that no one expected that change to happen within the very next game, which turned out to be a third straight beatdown.
Mora says he relieved now-former defensive coordinator Tyson Summers of “play-calling duties” in the second quarter of what became the Rams’ 56-26 loss to Oregon State. Summers then elected to turn his in-game demotion into a termination, leaving Canvas Stadium during the game, and leading Mora to call his departure “permanent.”
The two longtime football coaches were a mismatch from the start.
For those not aware of the history, Summers has had one heck of a roller coaster ride as a college football coach in the Centennial State. It began with one season on Mike Bobo’s staff as the defensive coordinator for CSU in 2015 before leaving in December to take the head coaching gig at Georgia Southern. He was there for a season and a half before getting fired after a lopsided mid-season loss to UMass. A short time later, it was a return to the Rocky Mountains, when he joined Mel Tucker’s staff at Colorado in 2019 before ‘Midnight Mel’ bolted for Michigan State. New Buffs coach Karl Dorrell retained him for the hectic COVID season in 2020 before he was let go in Boulder. Summers ended up back in the SEC as an assistant at Florida.
Whew. The life of a college football coach, right?
It wasn’t over for Summers in Colorado. After Jay Norvell hired him to replace Freddie Banks in Fort Collins, Summers began his second stint as the Rams’ DC in time for the 2025 season. Then Norvell was fired after a horrid start, and the experienced Summers became the interim head coach.
He may have gone winless as the Rams’ HC, but interim coaches are in sort of a no-lose situation. There are little to no expectations, and even while everyone – players and coaches – are battling for their next job, there are relationships forming that can be lasting. After the season, there will always be players and fans and maybe even administration folks in the building who want to see the interim guy hang around.
There was no previous history of Mora and Summers having coached together, so someone had to have sold him on Summers. The new Rams’ coach was convinced by a few around the program that Summers was worth retaining. He didn’t have anyone following him from UConn that was up for the gig, so Summers became the only coach retained from Norvell’s staff.
Therein laid the problem. Mora’s coaching background – he’s been a DC in the NFL – meant that his highest expectations were going to be on the defensive side of the ball. Having a guy calling his defense that he’d never worked with before, and probably didn’t know well, was asking for trouble from the start.
That trouble began with a heated sideline interaction in San Antonio the week before, and spilled over last Saturday at Canvas Stadium for the whole country to see.
What matters most now for Mora and CSU is how they respond. Mora could call the defense in the Rams’ next game, a Thursday-nighter against Texas State. Or he could allow young defensive line coach Kenny McClendon to take over… as long as he’s running Mora’s scheme Mora’s way.
As it is in so many other situations, it’s all on the head coach now.
