Colorado State Rams
Encyclopedia
Colorado State University competes in 16 sponsored intercollegiate sports, including 10 for women (cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, indoor track, outdoor track, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, and water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...

) and six for men (football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, indoor track, outdoor track, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

, which is an NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

 Division I conference and sponsors Division I FBS football. The Conference was formed in 1999, splitting from the former 16-member Western Athletic Conference. CSU has won 9 MWC tournament championships and won or shared 11 regular season titles. Rams football teams won or shared the Mountain West title in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

Before 1957, Colorado State University was referred to as Colorado Agriculture and Mechanical College or "Colorado A&M", and athletic teams were referred to as "Aggies". In 1924, an "A" was whitewashed onto the western hillside of Fort Collins in support of the Aggies. The hillside where the "A" is painted is directly adjacent to Hughes Stadium and below Horsetooth Rock. Hughes Stadium
Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium
Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the home field of the Colorado State Rams of the Mountain West Conference....

 (2006 capacity: 34,000) is the current home of Rams football. The field at Hughes Stadium, named "Sonny Lubick Field" after the Rams' well-known coach, underwent a $15.2 million renovation for the fall 2005 season. Moby Arena, originally constructed in 1966 and remodeled in 1996, is home to the men's and women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 teams, as well as the CSU Rams volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 team. Moby seats 9,000 people.

The ram was named the official mascot of Colorado State in 1946. "CAM the Ram" is the current representation of the official mascot. CAM is the 21st official Ram mascot. The first school mascot was introduced in 1947. There have been both live and costumed versions of the mascot. The 2006 version of CAM was a Rambouillet
Rambouillet (sheep)
The Rambouillet is also known as the Rambouillet Merino or the French Merino. The development of the Rambouillet breed started in 1786 when Louis XVI purchased over three hundred Spanish Merinos from his cousin, King Charles III of Spain...

 sheep and the 21st ram to represent the university. CAM was named using an acronym for the former university title "Colorado Agriculture and Mechanical College". CAM runs at the beginning and at half time during home football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 games. Currently, there are eight Ram Handlers that take care of CAM the Ram. Colorado State University became known as the Rams on May 1, 1957. The official school colors are green (usually hunter shade) and gold. The CSU fight song
Colorado State University Fight Song
The Colorado State University Fight Song, as it appears below, has been the official fight song for Colorado State University since 1957 when the school changed from Colorado A&M. Features of its uniqueness include the use of the word "stalwart," meaning unrelenting and full of ardor, and the...

 and Fum's song are two popular school songs.

Colorado State has three major rivalries. The Rams' football team plays the University of Colorado
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...

, often at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, in a game called the "Rocky Mountain Showdown
Rocky Mountain Showdown
The Rocky Mountain Showdown is an an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Colorado Buffaloes football team of the University of Colorado and the Colorado State Rams football team of Colorado State University. The winner of the game receives the Centennial Cup. The series...

." Within the Mountain West
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

, Colorado State has a big rivalry with Air Force
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officer candidates for the United States Air Force. Its campus is located immediately north of Colorado Springs in El Paso County, Colorado, United States...

. The winner of the CSU-Air Force football game receives the Ram-Falcon Trophy. Colorado State also has a conference rivalry with Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...

 (the Border War), with the winner of the annual football game receiving the Bronze Boot
Bronze Boot
The Bronze Boot is awarded to each season's winner of the College football game between the Colorado State University Rams and the University of Wyoming Cowboys. The annual Wyoming–Colorado State football game has evolved into one of the most bitterly contested rivalries in college football...

. Played since 1899, the CSU-Wyoming rivalry is the second oldest interstate rivalry west of the Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, behind only the "Border Showdown" (formerly "Border War") of Missouri
Missouri Tigers
The Missouri Tigers athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports teams of the University of Missouri, located in Columbia, Missouri, United States...

 and Kansas
Kansas Jayhawks
The sports teams at the University of Kansas are known as the Jayhawks. They are one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a member of the Big 12 Conference...

 and just ahead of the "Red River Rivalry
Red River Rivalry
The Red River Rivalry, commonly known as the OU-Texas Game or Texas-OU Game, is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns football team of the University of Texas. The series is considered...

" (formerly "Red River Shootout") of Texas and Oklahoma
Oklahoma Sooners
The University of Oklahoma features 19 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...

 played since 1900.

Notable athletes

Swimmer Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken
Amy Van Dyken is an American swimmer who has six career Olympic gold medals. Four of these gold medals came in the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the first American woman to accomplish such a feat and the most successful athlete at the 1996 Summer Olympics...

, six-time Olympic gold medalist, was an NCAA champion and All-American at CSU. Van Dyken returned to Colorado State to train under current head coach John Mattos for the 2000 Olympics, having won four medals in 1996, the first female athlete in US history to do so in one Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

. Glenn Morris
Glenn Morris
Glenn Edgar Morris was a U.S. track and field athlete. He won a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon in 1936, setting new world and Olympic records....

, a track and football standout at Colorado A&M in 1935, won gold in the decathlon
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...

 at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. Morris was inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...

 in 2007.

Other notable athletes to graduate from CSU include Thurman "Fum" McGraw, CSU's first football consensus All-American in 1948. He led CSU to its first-ever bowl game, the 1949 Raisin Bowl. McGraw would remain at CSU for more than 40 years in various coaching and administrative positions. Bill Green
Bill Green (basketball)
William E. "Bill" Green was an American college basketball standout who played for Colorado State University between 1960–61 and 1962–63. A , 230 lb center, Green was CSU's first-ever NCAA All-American when he was named to the consensus second team in 1963...

, the school's first consensus All-American in basketball in 1962 and 1963, was later a first round draft pick by the Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...

. CSU alum Lonnie Wright
Lonnie Wright
Lonnie Wright is a retired American professional basketball and football player. He was born in Newark, New Jersey.-High school and college:...

 boasted the rare accomplishment of playing professional football and basketball during the same year, with the Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and the Denver Rockets in 1967. During her four years at CSU in the 1990s, basketball star Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon
Rebecca Lynn "Becky" Hammon is a professional basketball player currently under contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.-Early life:...

 scored more points than any male or female player in school history. Hammon went on to become a WNBA all-star.

Football

Colorado State football goes back 115 seasons, and experienced its most successful run under head coach Sonny Lubick
Sonny Lubick
Louis "Sonny" Lubick is a former head football coach at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. In his fourth decade as collegiate football coach, the 2007 season marked Lubick's 15th and final year at the helm of a Colorado State program that he built from virtually the ground up...

. Since Sonny Lubick
Sonny Lubick
Louis "Sonny" Lubick is a former head football coach at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. In his fourth decade as collegiate football coach, the 2007 season marked Lubick's 15th and final year at the helm of a Colorado State program that he built from virtually the ground up...

 took control over the Rams as head coach in 1992, the Rams have made nine bowl appearances. CSU had only two previous bowl appearances. Lubick won nearly 75% of home games in the stadium that would later bear his name, leading the team to six conference titles and an overall record of 108-74. CSU was consistently a top 25 contender from 1994-2002, with a 79-32 record during that period and 3 top 25 finishes. Lubick, conference coach of the year four times, coached former Denver Broncos Cecil Sapp and Erik Pears, and all-pro NFL linebacker Joey Porter.

On November 27, 2007, following significant drops in attendance and a 17-30 record over the past 4 seasons, including 3-9 in 2007, CSU made the difficult and controversial decision to relieve Lubick of his head coaching duties. The school hired Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild
Steve Fairchild
-Personal life:Fairchild graduated from Colorado State University in 1980 with a degree in economics.-References:...

 to take the helm. Fairchild was a Rams quarterback from 1978-80, and served under Lubick as quarterback's coach and later as offensive coordinator from 1993-2000.

Volleyball

In 2004, the Rams women's volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 team made it to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament. The 2007 squad advanced to a 13th straight NCAA tournament
NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA has contested team championships in women's volleyball since 1981. The following is a list of the champions of each division with their record for the year in which they won the championship, and the runner up, city, site and other final four participants for division I...

 and recorded its 13th straight 20-win season. The team has won the Mountain West Conference
Mountain West Conference
The Mountain West Conference , popularly known as the Mountain West, is the youngest of the college athletic conferences affiliated with the NCAA’s Division I FBS . The MWC officially began operations in July 1999...

 regular season 6 of the past 8 years, and 4 of 8 MWC tournaments. Coach Tom Hilbert is in his 11th year, with a 283-70 record with Colorado State. CSU volleyball has a 656-351 all-time record since beginning play in 1976. CSU will host one of four NCAA regionals in 2008.

Basketball

The CSU women's basketball team began play in 1974, and has a 482-434 all-time record entering the 2007 season. The team has 5 all-time NCAA appearances, most recently in 2002, and previously in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2001. The Rams made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999, the culmination of a successful 4-year run behind team leaders Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon
Rebecca Lynn "Becky" Hammon is a professional basketball player currently under contract with the San Antonio Silver Stars of the WNBA.-Early life:...

 and Katie Cronin. Hammon, owner of most major CSU basketball records, and Cronin have both gone on to successful careers in the WNBA
Women's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...

.
CSU made its most recent WNIT appearance in 2004. Kristen Holt, formerly an assistant coach at CSU, was recently named head coach for the 2009 season. The Rams play at Moby Arena
Moby Arena
Moby Arena is a 8,745-seat basketball arena in Fort Collins, Colorado. The arena, originally named Moby Gymnasium, was opened on January 27, 1966 with a victory over New Mexico State...

, where they are 204-82 since 1987.

The dominant historical figure of Colorado State men's basketball is Jim Williams
Jim Williams (basketball coach)
Jim Williams was coach of the Colorado State University Men's basketball program for 25 seasons . He succeeded Bill Stranigan following the program's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance....

. Williams coached CSU for 26 seasons beginning in 1955, winning 352 games and taking the team to 4 NCAA tournaments, including the quarterfinals in 1969. He also led the team to 2 upsets of UCLA, then led by legendary coach John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

. Entering the 2005-6 season, 30% of all CSU men's basketball game had been coached by Williams. In 1988, Boyd Grant, a standout under Williams, returned to CSU to coach. That same season the Rams made their first post-season appearance in over two decades, climbing to 3rd place in the NIT
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...

. The team's success continued in 1989 and 1990 with consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles and NCAA appearances. However, it would be until 2003 before the Rams claimed another conference title. Jason Smith became only the second CSU player to be picked in the first round of the NBA draft. The program is now at the start of a new era, with North Dakota State's Tim Miles
Tim Miles
Tim Miles is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Colorado State University. Miles previously served as the head coach at North Dakota State University. He is a graduate of the University of Mary....

 hired as head coach in March 2007.

Club teams

Colorado State also is home to highly competitive sports club teams in lacrosse, hockey, polo, archery and more. The Rams men's club lacrosse team was the USL-MDIA national champion in 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2006. The CSU club baseball team won 3 consecutive National Club Baseball Association
National Club Baseball Association
The National Club Baseball Association is the national body that governs club baseball at colleges and universities in the United States...

National Championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and then 3 further consecutive National Championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
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