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Colorado State Names Fairchild Head Coach Former CSU quarterback, offensive coordinator returns to Fort Collins
Dec. 12, 2007 FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Colorado State brought back one of its own Wednesday, naming Steve Fairchild the 19th head coach in the 115 seasons of the school's football program. Director of Athletics Paul Kowalczyk made the announcement."Steve Fairchild has a long-standing history of success at Colorado State," Kowalczyk said, "both as a student-athlete and coach. I know that he has great passion for this university, this program and this community." "We are pleased that Steve Fairchild, with his significant coaching expertise and history at Colorado State, is going to return to his roots as a champion for our football program," said CSU President Larry Edward Penley. "His positive reputation precedes him - I've talked with several people who know him as both a seasoned leader and a man of character and integrity. Paul Kowalczyk has done an outstanding job in managing this search quickly and quietly, while dedicating himself to finding someone who is a great fit for CSU and committed to the success and well-being of our student-athletes. Steve will carry on the great traditions of Ram football while leading the program to a new era of success." Fairchild, 49, returns to his alma mater from the National Football League, where he had tutored some of the game's most productive young stars since leaving CSU after the 2000 season. Fairchild becomes the second current Mountain West Conference head coach to leave the NFL for his school, following Air Force's Troy Calhoun. And like Calhoun, Fairchild starred as a quarterback at his school. He first came to CSU in 1978 as a junior-college All-American, and in his first CSU season led the Rams in passing while splitting starting duties with Keith Lee. Coaches opted to redshirt him in 1979, then made him the full-time starter in 1980, when he served as a team captain and earned second-team all-conference honors behind Jim McMahon. The Rams that year lost only once over their final six games - to national powerhouse BYU. Included in that stretch was Fairchild's best game, a 28-21 win vs. Wyoming Nov. 1, when he completed 28 of 35 passes for 406 yards and three TDs to earn Sports Illustrated Player of the Week honors. Following his playing days, Fairchild launched a coaching career that in 2008 will enter its 28th season, 16 of which have been as a coordinator and 20 of which have been at the college level.And eight of those years were at Colorado State, where Sonny Lubick made him a member of his original coaching staff, in 1993. Fairchild coached quarterbacks from 1993-96, then replaced Dave Lay and served as offensive coordinator from 1997-2000. During Fairchild's tenure, the Rams experienced unprecedented offensive success, including:
"When you examine history," Kowalczyk said, "when Steve was an assistant at CSU, we typically had the most prolific offense and top performers in the conference." A man of commitment, Fairchild will not leave his current team, the Buffalo Bills, until the season ends, refusing to abandon his current head coach, Dick Jauron, or his players. The Bills are in the thick of the AFC playoff race, with three regular-season games remaining, and can take a major step forward with a win Sunday at Cleveland. "We would never jeopardize his current commitment," Kowalczyk said. "We knew from the outset and were comfortable with the dedication he has to his team and his fellow staff members. It is that type of value system - commitment, integrity, honesty, accountability and responsibility - that had him at the top of our list since the beginning." Despite a vow to remain in Buffalo until season's end, Fairchild understands the need to focus on recruiting during this critical time and already is moving quickly to assemble key members of his first CSU coaching staff. That staff surely will mirror one of Fairchild's characteristics, an ability to bring out the best in younger players, especially quarterbacks, a common thread throughout his career since the day he graduated as CSU's field general. "At both the professional and college levels," Kowalczyk said, "he has had a reputation of developing young players and helping them reach their maximum potential. That is an attractive trait in our program." At Colorado State, he tutored Anthoney Hill, who led the Rams through a storybook 1994 season that included two TDs in a win at No. 4 Arizona and its Desert Swarm defense, and ended with CSU's first conference title since 1955 and a berth in the Holiday Bowl opposite Michigan. Hill left CSU as the school's career total offense leader. Fairchild then coached Moreno as the QB guided the Rams to a pair of WAC championships (1995, '97) and two more Holiday Bowl trips. And before getting an opportunity to coach in the NFL, Fairchild's last CSU pupil was Matt Newton, who helped corral the first two Mountain West Conference titles and consecutive Liberty Bowl appearances. In the NFL as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach with the St. Louis Rams (2003-05), Fairchild helped QB Marc Bulger become a Pro Bowl MVP in 2003. Fairchild's St. Louis offense achieved three straight Top 10 rankings (2003-05), finished second in scoring (2003), was second in passing efficiency (2005) and contributed to consecutive playoff appearances (2003-04). In his first year as Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator (2006), he helped J.P. Losman to a 3,000-yard passing season and the NFL's 11th-best passer rating. Earlier, after making a difficult decision to leave CSU, he served as running backs coach for the Bills (2001-02), and oversaw Travis Henry's Pro Bowl season in 2001. Prior to rejoining CSU in 1993, Fairchild was quarterbacks coach at San Diego State (1990-92), offensive coordinator at New Mexico (1987-89), recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach at San Diego State (1986), offensive coordinator at Ferris State (1984-85) and offensive coordinator at Mesa Community College (1982-83) in San Diego. At SDSU, he coached a pair of NFL draft choices in quarterback Dan McGwire (chosen in the first round, 16th overall, in 1991), and tight end Rob Awalt (third round, 62nd overall, 1987), and also helped the Aztecs to the 1991 Freedom Bowl. At New Mexico, he coached Terrance Mathis, who became the NCAA's career receiving yardage leader and was selected in the sixth round (141st overall) of the 1990 NFL Draft. At Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich. (hometown of Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle), Fairchild oversaw an offense that produced David DenBraber, then the NCAA's Division II career passing leader. And throughout his college coaching stops, Fairchild sowed the seeds of recruiting relationships from the West Coast to the Great Lakes. He has personally recruited the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Michigan. Nominated by Lubick for the 1999 Frank Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's outstanding assistant coach, Fairchild during the recent search came highly recommended by his predecessor at Colorado State, Lubick. Among the names Lubick recommended, Fairchild stood out, partly because he called plays the past two seasons under a defensive-minded head coach in Jauron. And before getting his chance to call his own plays, Fairchild in St. Louis worked directly with one of the NFL's most highly regarded play-callers, Mike Martz. Martz was Fairchild's position coach at Mesa Community College from 1976-77. No stranger to the importance of classroom success, Fairchild as a CSU senior in 1980 earned first-team academic all-conference honors with a 3.05 grade-point average. He also garnered the Merrill-Gheen Award for athletic and academic achievement, as well as the NCAA District Athletic Achievement Award. Born Stephen Thomas Fairchild as the fourth of five children on June 21, 1958, in Decatur, Ill., he is married to the former Nancy Kolstoe. The couple has two daughters, Lindsey (20) and Jill (17). Lindsey is enrolled in another college, while Jill, a high school senior, is considering attending Colorado State this fall. Fairchild graduated from Colorado State in May of 1981 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He went on to earn his master's in education from Azusa Pacific in 1983. A two-year letterman as a quarterback at San Diego's Patrick Henry High School, Fairchild led his team to consecutive league championships in 1974 and '75. After graduation, he stayed home at Mesa Community College and became the first-ever JC quarterback to throw for 5,000 yards, earning first-team All-America honors and California's Player of the Year award in 1977. Fairchild's coaching career:
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