Colorado State University Athletics
Fairchild shifts duties of CSU coaching staff
2/4/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 4, 2011
By Zak Gilbert
Athletic Media Relations
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State Head Coach Steve Fairchild on Friday announced changes to his football coaching staff:
- Larry Lewis, who had coached safeties and special teams, is now associate head coach, special teams coordinator and running backs coach.
- Scott Brown moves from defensive line to linebackers coach.
- Tim Duffie, formerly cornerbacks coach, now will tutor the entire defensive secondary.
- Todd Stroud, previously in charge of tight ends, is now defensive line coach.
- Anthoney Hill is now tight ends coach.
“Change can be a good thing,” Fairchild said. “The timing’s right with our program. We need a fresh outlook. We are always looking at ways to better use our personnel, both from a player standpoint and a coaching standpoint. I believe we have the right people on our staff. They know how to coach and they’re exceptional recruiters. These changes will help us better utilize our strengths, and better tap into the talent we’ve built here.
“We had to make changes because the way we finished last season was unacceptable,” Fairchild said. “Doing nothing was not an option.”
Lewis, a 30-year coaching veteran, has eight years of experience as a head coach. He was on a Washington State staff that went to three bowls, including the ’97 Rose Bowl, and has helped several players advance to the next level, including All-Pro Jared Allen. His new role as running backs coach is an effort to move the CSU offense forward.
Brown in 2011 enters his 36th year as a college coach, and all 36 years have been spent coaching defense. Guy Miller, a first-team all-MWC performer in 2010, is expected to join a group of nearly 20 individuals he’s seen take their careers to the NFL.
With Brown’s move to linebackers coach, defensive coordinator Larry Kerr is free to focus on the defense as a whole.
Duffie, who like Brown is key to the Rams’ recruiting efforts in Texas, is a former linebacker at Texas Tech. He tutored several future NFL players at UTEP, where he split his six years coaching linebackers (2004-06) and safeties (2003, ’07).
Stroud, like Lewis a former head coach, was a three-year starter as a noseguard for Bobby Bowden’s Florida State team. A team captain as a senior, Stroud played in four bowls for the Seminoles. As a coach, he has worked with five first-round selections in the NFL Draft, including No. 1 overall choice Mario Williams. At N.C. State, Stroud coached the Wolfpack’s line when the defense ranked first in the nation, in 2004.
Hill, the Rams’ quarterback on a storybook 10-2 team that finished No. 14 in the final 1994 polls, had spent most of his 14-year coaching career at the high-school level, in his native San Diego, Calif., before returning to Fort Collins in 2008. A CSU Hall of Famer, he finished his career as the program’s career leader in total offense.
“Our foundation is in place,” Fairchild said. “We need to take a significant step forward in 2011. Our coaches want results more than anyone. Our players want them, too. And I know our fans expect us to be successful.”
