Lubick turns down fundraising position at Colorado State

Sonny Lubick won’t be going back to work for Colorado State.

The longtime Rams football coach made that clear in a letter addressed to athletic director Paul Kowalczyk. The letter was dropped off Wednesday at the McGraw Athletic Center.

Lubick, the school’s football coach the past 15 years, was fired at the end of the season after the Rams finished 3-9. It was his fourth consecutive non-winning season after producing the most successful run in school history the previous 10 seasons.

As part of his settlement — Lubick had two years left on his contract — the popular coach was offered a position in the athletic department as a fundraiser. Kowalczyk had asked Lubick to accept or decline the offer by the end of February.

“Sonny is a Ram and will always be a member of the Ram family,” Kowalczyk said. “His work here speaks for itself. We honor and respect his decision.”

Lubick was not available for comment, but his decision was not surprising. He indicated after his dismissal that it would be difficult for him to work in an athletic department that had fired him.

Lubick also said on several occasions that he had no intention of creating a shadow for new coach Steve Fairchild, who had been one of his assistants for eight years.

“I wouldn’t want the guy I replaced hanging around my program, and I won’t do that to Steve,” Lubick said in December.

Colorado State had been hoping Lubick would help spur donations to the athletic department.