The first thing that stood about Joe Parker when Colorado State hired him as its athletic director in March 2015 was that he was universally likable.

His predecessor, Jack Graham, was bold. He was a millionaire former Ram quarterback who donated his salary back to the school and introduced big ideas (a new stadium, paying coaches more than $1 million) that changed the face of CSU athletics forever and for the better, but coming from a corporate background, it’s no secret that not everyone was a fan of his approach.

Regardless of whether you agree with Graham’s corporate style, there’s no arguing that elements of it led to his termination in 2014 — less than four years into the job. It’s been the opposite approach that has helped Parker stick around CSU for the long haul.

CSU announced a five-year, $2 million contract extension for Parker on Tuesday that is expected to keep him in Fort Collins through 2022. Should he stay though his term, he’d become the second-longest tenured AD in school history in the past 50 years behind the legendary Thurman “Fum” McGraw. And if Parker keeps up this pace, he could go down as a legend in his own right.

He’s already built quite the resume.

Under his watch, the Rams have, remarkably, been in serious contention to join the Big 12 before the conference opted not to expand — his connections having previously worked at Texas Tech and Oklahoma undoubtedly playing a factor. They’ve also completely revamped their scheduling in football. CSU has scheduled home-and-home games with Oregon State, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech and Arizona since his arrival. CSU has never had an issue getting a paycheck to take a beating by a Power 5 school on the road in the past, but getting big-name teams to come to Fort Collins had previously been a losing battle. Until opening the new Sonny Lubick Field by hosting Oregon State in September, only two Power 5 teams had played at Hughes Stadium in the last 10 years — Minnesota (2015) and Cal (2007).

Additionally, the $11 million agreement he was able to negotiate with UnderArmour to get CSU unique apparel opposed to the off-the-rack uniform templates they were being provided by the brand before is a testament to his marketing prowess. (The college football world was buzzing about the Rams’ “State Pride” uniforms they wore vs. Boise State in November.)

These are his achievements and they’re worth touting, but it’s also worth questioning how much of the Rams’ on-field success can be attributed to Parker. There are still two defining attributes of an athletic director he’s yet to be leave a mark on: hiring and firing.

CSU has won 10 Mountain West championships with Parker at the helm. The football team has been to three bowl games, two NCAA tournaments for volleyball and one for women’s basketball and the men’s cross country team nearly podium’d at nationals last month, but the coaches for all of those sports were in place before Parker arrived. In his almost three years as athletic director, he’s made only one head coaching hire — promoting Jarod Camerota from assistant to women’s tennis head coach.

Men’s basketball coach Larry Eustachy and women’s basketball coach Ryun Williams were hired by Graham, football coach Mike Bobo was hired by interim athletic director John Morris and the list goes on.

It’s clear that no matter how much success Parker inherited, CSU has enough faith in him to see his vision carried out over the next five years. The only problem is, we still have no idea how he handles personnel changes, and the time is coming. Longtime volleyball coach Tom Hilbert’s contract expires at the end of next year, Bobo’s contract only has two seasons remaining and while Eustachy’s agreement runs through 2021, for a coach who’s making a $1 million salary with a single NCAA tournament berth in six seasons, it’s fair to question whether both sides stick it out.

Parker has built a legacy with smart moves that make everyone happy, but he can’t do that forever. Whether it’s a firing, the inability to talk a legend out of retirement or prevent them from taking a bigger job or making a poor hire, some combination of the four looms near. He and CSU will have to accept that, for the first time, not everything Parker does is liked.