Mike Bobo sees Colorado State as growth stock — on field and in life

Nicole Auerbach | USA TODAY Sports

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — There are some jobs in college football coaching that attract quite a bit of envy, jobs that often make it quite difficult to leave.

You can stay forever — or have your pick if you want something new.

Mike Bobo felt that way about being Mark Richt's offensive coordinator at Georgia, a prestigious position in one of the nation's pre-eminent conferences and a job he held for the past eight years. Before that, he coached quarterbacks there, and his coaching career began in Athens in an administrative position in 1998 after his playing career ended.

Bobo had lived in the state of Georgia 40 of the 41 years of his life. He'd played quarterback at the University of Georgia. He'd worked for a coach he admired and had a chance to compete for championships each season.

In short, Bobo had everything he wanted. Unless he wanted to be a head coach someday.

He got an offer from Colorado State and took it — leaping toward something uncomfortable, likely challenging and potentially rewarding. He leapt at the possibility of growth.

"I worked for such a good man in Mark Richt and was coaching at my alma mater in the SEC," Bobo told USA TODAY Sports. "We were having success offensively, and people would call. Different things would come up. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do, if I wanted to uproot my family.

"After more people kept calling the last couple of years, my wife and I started to get serious about conversations. Is this something I want to do — do I want to be a head coach? I can't keep telling people, 'No, I'm not interested in that job.' I started to kind of re-think the idea that I wanted to stay there forever."

Bobo loved the challenge of coaching in the SEC, and the process of molding teen-agers into young men. He liked watching his quarterbacks thrive, too, be it Aaron Murray or Matthew Stafford or any of his other passers. But during this period of conversations with his wife and personal reflection, he realized something else.

"I thought that I was becoming somewhat comfortable there at the University of Georgia," he said. "You're there so long as a player, as a coach, you almost become part of the woodwork. I didn't know if — we were doing different things offensively, but I didn't know if I was growing like I should as a coach. I didn't know if my family was growing. I think sometimes when you move — I moved around a lot in the state growing up with my dad a high school coach — and I think moving helps with growth for children, having to experience new things."

Bobo's five children are under the age of 11 — they finished school in Athens last week and are heading to Colorado — which he felt was the right age to make the move. Kids adapt; they weren't entrenched in high school yet.

"It was more that I just kind of wanted to do something different and get out of my comfort zone," Bobo said. "It's not easy being a coach in the SEC or a coordinator, I'm not saying that. But it had become almost 15 years of doing the same thing at the same place. I wanted to experience something new. Did I know it would be out west in Colorado? No."

When Colorado State reached out, Bobo knew about its recent success under Jim McElwain — another former SEC offensive coordinator — and back-to-back bowl game appearances, meaning his teams could be competitive right off the bat. He researched the area and realized quickly that he'd love to live and raise his family here.

He got the job — leaping toward something uncomfortable, likely challenging and potentially rewarding. He leapt at the possibility of growth.

"To have an opportunity to do this, it's a blessing," Bobo said. "Home is where you make it, really."

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