FORT COLLINS — Colorado State University is performing an investigation of its men’s basketball program.

In a statement provided by CSU, athletic director Joe Parker said: “We have started a climate assessment, which involves conversations with the students and staff members associated with the men’s basketball program. As always, we will not make any public comments until our process is complete and have no additional information to share at this time.”

Justin Michael, the former sports editor of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU’s daily student newspaper, first reported Tuesday night that Parker and the school were investigating the behavior of basketball coach Larry Eustachy.

When asked by The Denver Post after Wednesday’s 91-86 double-overtime loss to Wyoming if he believes he’ll remain CSU’s coach through the end of the season, Eustachy, 62, said he couldn’t comment.

CSU guard Anthony Bonner answered all postgame questions about the investigation by saying: “I love my coach. That’s all I have to say.”

This isn’t the first time CSU has done so. During the 2013-14 season, former athletic director Jack Graham led an internal investigation into Eustachy’s behavior. In the report, the coach admitted he crossed the line and later went “way over the line” when it came to creating a culture of fear and intimidation. Graham recommended terminating Eustachy’s contract with cause but was overruled by CSU president Tony Frank.

“I have a lot of respect for Joe Parker. He’s a good man with a lot on his hands. But it would be a huge mistake if CSU got rid of Coach (Eustachy),” said former CSU guard Gian Clavell, the 2016-17 Mountain West player of the year. “Ask any successful player under him. Me, Marcus Fizer, Jamaal Tinsley, JJ Avila, Antwan Scott, they’ll tell you the truth about Coach. He’s tough, but any successful coach out there is probably even harder on players than he is.

“This is a case of players who are soft and aren’t able to handle his coaching getting upset and complaining because their team is losing. I’ve watched their games. They don’t do what you’re supposed to on the court. That’s not the coach’s fault. This team doesn’t have mature players.”

The Rams fell to 10-14 overall and 3-8 in the Mountain West. Eustachy is 121-73 in his almost six full seasons at CSU — the second-most wins for a coach in program history behind Jim Williams, who went 352-293 from 1954-80 — but the Rams have been to only one NCAA Tournament under his guidance (2013) and have had two NIT berths.

Eustachy, whose salary this season is $985,012, has a contract that runs through the 2020-21 season. His buyout this season if CSU were to terminate his employment without cause is just more than $3.01 million, but would be no cost to CSU if it terminated him with cause.

Eustachy’s current contract began in the 2013-14 season and had three optional one-year extensions built in. Either party — the coach or CSU — was allowed to initiate the extension without a mutual agreement. The first two one-year extensions were initiated by CSU, according to documents obtained by the Post. The final extension, which went into effect Oct. 20, 2016, to keep the coach at CSU through 2021, thus increasing his buyout, was exercised by Eustachy.

This is a developing story and will be updated.