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FORT COLLINS — Colorado State on Monday reached an agreement to name Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo the Rams’ new football coach.
Bobo, 40, will be introduced at a news conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Fort Collins. After making $575,000 at Georgia this season, Bobo’s five-year deal with CSU will include annual raises, and his base salary will average slightly more than $1.5 million.
Bobo will succeed Jim McElwain, who accepted the job at Florida after guiding the Rams to a 10-2 regular-season record in his third season at CSU.
With CSU president Tony Frank involved, final interviews of candidates were conducted Sunday in Las Vegas, the day after the Rams fell 45-10 to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.
The hiring of Bobo, at least on the surface, is going back to a repeat formula — tapping a Southeastern Conference offensive coordinator — as CSU attempts to build on the Rams’ surprising season and move toward finalization of plans for construction of an on-campus stadium to open in 2017.
McElwain was 49 and well-traveled as an assistant, and had spent four seasons as offensive coordinator at Alabama when he took the CSU job in late 2011 with a starting base salary of $1.35 million. His base salary this season, in the first year of a new five-year deal he signed in June, was $1.5 million.
After the Sunday interviews in Las Vegas, CSU closed in on an agreement with Bobo on Monday morning. A deal was closed late in the afternoon, subject to the attorneys’ final scrutiny, and shortly before 9 p.m., the school announced the hire and the Tuesday news conference.
Bobo was the Georgia’s prep player of the year in 1993 at Thomasville High School, near the Georgia-Florida border. He played for his father, George, who was a longtime successful high school coach.
As a Georgia quarterback from 1994-97, Bobo played three seasons with former Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey, and he was a freshman when Terrell Davis was a senior. Bobo ranks third on the Bulldogs’ career passing list, with 6,334 yards.
Bobo has spent all but one season of his coaching career at his alma mater. He was a graduate assistant for two years and was on the Jacksonville State staff for the 2000 season before returning to Georgia as quarterbacks coach under Mark Richt. Bobo was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2007, with Richt relinquishing the play-calling duties. Bobo worked with, among others, quarterbacks David Greene, Aaron Murray of the Kansas City Chiefs and Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions.
Richt often has been under fire despite an excellent overall record. So it’s not surprising that Bobo also has drawn barbed criticism at times from a wing of Georgia fandom, but that has quieted in recent seasons as the transition to a no-huddle, spread approach led to sometimes stunning production.
The Bulldogs, with Murray at quarterback, set school records for points and touchdowns in 2012 and averaged 36.7 points in 2013. This season, the Bulldogs (9-3) are eighth in the nation in scoring, averaging 41.7 points, 13th in rushing (255 yards) and 88th in passing (200 yards), with senior Hutson Mason completing 67.9 percent of his passes 2,019 yards and 15 touchdowns, with only four interceptions.
Georgia faces Louisville in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 30.
“I still coach the same way. I still recruit the same way,” Bobo told Beau Cabell of the Macon Telegraph in May. “Still go about my business the same way, with how we prepare. There’s stuff we do different every year as far as scheme-wise. … But no, I think you’ve got to believe in what you believe in. I think guys that are successful in this business have a plan they believe in, and they stick with it. And kids know that you believe in it, and they buy in and believe, (and) that’s when you have success.”
At CSU, offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin, who oversaw a Rams attack that averaged nearly 500 yards per game in the regular season, was interim head coach after McElwain’s departure.
Although Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost was contacted about the job and since November had been mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed McElwain if he left, it has been clear for weeks that Frost was unlikely to be sold on coming to CSU.
The CSU coaching search had been ongoing since McElwain’s departure, and involved the Chicago-based search firm DHR International as consultants. Executive vice presidents Glenn Sugiyama and Pat Richter, a former NFL receiver and athletic director at Wisconsin, were the original DHR representatives as the firm and CSU worked to screen and vet candidates through initial interviews — including one with Bobo.
Others in the mix during the process included Baldwin; Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash; former Southern California associate coach John Baxter; Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi; Texas defensive coordinator Vance Bedford, a one-time CSU assistant under Earle Bruce; and former CSU players Billy Gonzales, co-offensive coordinator at Mississippi State; and Tony Alford, running backs coach at Notre Dame.
McElwain’s latest contract included annual one-year rollovers that could be triggered by either side, and it called for CSU to get a $7.5 million buyout — officially in “liquidated damages” — if he left. That figure was tied to the value left on his deal, so the figure could go up if he met “achievement” clauses that increased his base salary. CSU eventually agreed to accept $5 million and a $2 million guarantee for a road game at Florida.
After McElwain took the Florida job, CSU interim athletic director John Morris indicated a buyout would be part of the next coach’s deal as well, but he didn’t discuss a specific figure. It’s expected that Bobo’s buyout will be more in line with industry norms — significant and designed to compensate the school left behind, but not so daunting that it potentially could lock in a coach at a school against his wishes at some point.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
Bobo’s résumé
A closer look at Colorado State’s new football coach, Mike Bobo:
• Has been offensive coordinator at Georgia since 2007.
• Has coached several prominent quarterbacks at Georgia, including No. 1 overall draft pick Matthew Stafford.
• As Georgia quarterback, set school record for completion percentage in a season (.650).
• Star player at Thomasville High School; named 1993 Georgia player of the year by USA Today.
• Married to the former Lainie Meshad. They have five children: Drew, 10; triplets Olivia, Jake and Ava Grace, 8; and Kate, 6.
