FORT COLLINS — Whether you agree or disagree with Larry Eustachy’s coaching style — which includes using profane-filled, personal attacks on players in an attempt to motivate them — Eustachy himself admitted four years ago the way he was running his program crossed the line.

Colorado State set up a strict protocol to ensure Eustachy’s behavior didn’t continue. But when athletic director Jack Graham was fired by university president Tony Frank in August 2014, the zero-tolerance policy that was supposed to monitor Eustachy was essentially left behind.

“I know people want us to think there was this crazy opportunity to keep the program under a microscope. But I put trust in Larry and I put trust in others,” Graham’s eventual replacement, Joe Parker, said Friday. “I looked at (the zero-tolerance policy) as an opportunity for conversation with Coach Eustachy. I looked at it as an expectation of what we want from all our programs as it relates to a healthy climate and experience for our students. So, that was kind of my approach as it related to the zero-tolerance.”

Eustachy resigned on Monday in the midst of Parker’s “climate assessment” of the veteran coach’s conduct, the university’s second investigation of the polarizing coach in the past four years. The first one took place during the 2013-14 season and ended with Graham recommending Eustachy be fired after it was discovered he was verbally and emotionally abusing players.

Parker says this year’s assessment was started in response to a single complaint he received from a player, the first and only complaint he said he’s ever had from a student-athlete on the men’s basketball program since he took over as CSU’s athletic director in February 2015. Parker was approached by former team trainer Mac McDonald last February about concerning behavior by Eustachy dating back to the 2015-16 season, but since Parker said he had recently talked to the student-athlete who was involved in the issues raised by McDonald, Parker said he felt he no further action was needed because the student-athlete had told Parker he felt good about his experience with Eustachy.

Conducted by Parker, deputy athletic director Steve Cottingham and compliance director Shalini Shanker, the month-long assessment included interviews only from those who are currently in the program.

From talking with every player and staff member with the team, Parker said he believes Eustachy’s behavior was different this year compared with years past.

However, three prominent players on this season’s team — Prentiss Nixon, Nico Carvacho and Anthony Bonner, who have each been with the program the past three seasons — said on Tuesday there was nothing different about Eustachy’s behavior this season.

“Everyone says resign. But I mean, I think we all really know what happened in this situation. I’m not dumb, and neither are y’all,” Nixon said, insinuating Eustachy’s decision to resign wasn’t his choice.

According to multiple sources within the program, both former and current, Eustachy continued to run a program based on fear and intimidation going back several seasons.

“There’s nothing wrong with holding guys accountable. But, where it crosses over and it becomes about anger and it becomes about bullying and intimidation, that’s not hard coaching,” a source within the program said of Eustachy’s continued behavior.

It’s not the specific words that the coach uses that people find most harmful. It’s the way he belittles and demeans players, how he will keep going after an individual if he senses that student-athlete is particularly susceptible.

“It had nothing to do with basketball and getting you better,” one former member of the program said, requesting to remain anonymous. “There’s a point where you don’t even listen to any word he says, because it’s just like, ‘I’m tired of listening to you. I’m tired of the BS. I’m tired of everything you’ve done.'”

Four different sources independently said it’s hard to truly grasp how toxic the environment was under Eustachy unless you were part of it on a daily basis.

“I think intimidation wasn’t just the players,” a former member of the program said. “Everyone in that department knew what was going on and heard the stories. Everyone talks.”

Why CSU decided to take a closer look at Eustachy this year and not the previous three years remains a mystery to those who have known what’s been going on since the 2013-14 investigation.

Parker admitted that with the benefit of hindsight, there was more he could have done to ensure the men’s basketball program was a safe environment. But he also said he makes an effort to make sure every student-athlete under his watch knows they can come to him if they have a problem.

“Were we filming practice? No. Were we requiring that an administrator was present at every men’s basketball practice? No. Nor do we for any of our programs, right? I was relying a lot on what people would be willing to share if they felt uncomfortable moments,” he said. “We had conversations with our students. I begin every academic year with a meeting with every student, and I tell them, ‘If you don’t know, my office is on the third floor of McGraw. My door is typically open. If you have any concern, if you have any concern whatsoever as it relates to academics, athletics or your social experience you’re having here at the university, I want to hear about it. As I said before, the one and only time I’ve heard a concern from a student-athlete on the men’s basketball program was this year when we initiated our climate assessment.”

One source in particular is concerned by what is perceived to be serious lack of oversight by the athletic department throughout this entire ordeal, a concern that is not limited to just that one individual.

“Those kids are in an abusive situation. People knew about it. People continued to leave him alone, even when they announced they’re doing this climate assessment, this guy had unfettered access to these kids, non-supervised, non-monitored,” the source said.

“You continued to put kids in emotional harm’s way, year after year, time after time, and nobody did anything about it. If I was a parent, I’d be lining up my litigation team. You’re telling me you put my son in this abusive situation, you knew what was going on and you just continued to let him be alone with this guy? That’s a bad deal.”

The incident that prompted Parker’s assessment happened in January, but according to multiple team sources, Eustachy had one of his infamous tirades back in November after a loss to Florida State in Jamaica.

Eustachy allegedly told one player after that game that he was a waste of time and space and that the student-athlete should be sent on a plane back home. The incident happened in the team’s makeshift locker room, which was nothing more than a curtained-off space in a convention center where the tournament was held, where everyone in the building could hear what the coach was saying.

“It was to the point where you had some of the concession workers and stuff, guys started to walk over and record this on their cellphones because it was so loud, and he was making such a fool out of himself and drawing attention to that corner of the room,” the source said. “You had these random people walking over and record this tirade on their cellphones. And Steve Cottingham’s standing right outside. He’s been part and parcel of some of the stuff that’s gone on.”

Although Cottingham was the only athletic administrator involved in managing Eustachy dating back to the first investigation in 2013-14, he has not been available to comment despite multiple requests. Eustachy has not responded to text or phones calls the past several weeks, but did talk openly about the need for coaches like himself to change in order to fit in better in today’s world.

“I was talking to one of the deans of our university, and you know, the generation we’re dealing with really has never suffered like our parents did. They’ve had it pretty good. I’m trying to get guys to understand that, that they’re very fortunate of the opportunity,” he said on Oct. 13, 2017. “And I think as a coach if you don’t change — I believe I’ve changed a lot over the years — you’ve got to be able to get through (to) these young men. The day I can’t do that I won’t coach. It’s different. It really is. And if you don’t change, you’re, you know, like Woody Hayes never changed all the way until the end. You have to adjust.”

As much dislike as there is for Eustachy among those who have interacted with him on a daily basis, there are also current and former players who have stood up for him, as pointed out by Parker on Friday. Nixon, Bonner, Gian Clavell and Marcus Fizer have been among his most vocal public supporters on social media over the past month.

“He got me to the NBA level, and that’s enough said. He got me player of the year,” Clavell said. “We were 10 minutes away from winning the conference with seven players. At the end of the day, people don’t see that. People want him out of there just because they’re tired of him or their personal vendetta. That’s not right.”

In the end, Parker said he felt like there was a very positive outcome with the situation, although he declined to say what he learned from it and if he would want his kids to play for a coach like Eustachy, citing the non-disparagement agreement that was included in the coach’s amended contract.

Sean Star: sstar@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/seanvstar