The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Sonny Lubick

Followed Earle Bruce. Sonny Lubick raised Colorado State from Regional Program III to National Program II.

108–74
1993–2007 · 1 stint
Colorado State
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerCOLORADO STATENational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelColorado State, 1993: 5-6, Regional Program III1993Colorado State, 1994: 10-2, Regional Program IIColorado State, 1995: 8-4, Regional Program IColorado State, 1996: 7-5, Regional Program IColorado State, 1997: 11-2, National Program IIIColorado State, 1998: 8-4, National Program IIColorado State, 1999: 8-4, National Program IIColorado State, 2000: 10-2, National Program IIColorado State, 2001: 7-5, National Program IIColorado State, 2002: 10-4, National Program IIColorado State, 2003: 7-6, National Program IIColorado State, 2004: 4-7, National Program IIColorado State, 2005: 6-6, National Program IIColorado State, 2006: 4-8, National Program IIIColorado State, 2007: 3-9, Regional Program I2007+20.2One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached National Program in his 5th career season — faster than 14% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #547 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Colorado State, 15 seasons
+20.2
Regional Program III → Regional Program I.

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

15–13 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Gary Patterson.

Rivalry record
15–13
53.6% · 2 rivals
One-score games
41–29
58.6% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–2
0.0%
Rivalry ledger
Wyoming11–473%
Colorado4–931%
The toughest matchup
vs. Gary Patterson0–4
4 meetings, 2002–2007
’02 L’05 L’06 L’07 L
0% win rate across a real, 4-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Dynasty
0–2 0.0%
Blue Blood
0–3 0.0%
Power Program
10–18 35.7%
National Program
30–28 51.7%
Regional Program
60–22 73.2%

Coaching career

1993–2007
Colorado Statebuilderborderline
Regional Program III → National Program II
Sonny Lubick raised Colorado State from Regional Program III to National Program II.

1st-best Colorado State tenure of 18 by the numbers.

Followed Earle Bruce (1989–1992) · succeeded by Steve Fairchild (2008–2011).

16 NFL Draft picks: Calvin Branch (1997), Moses Moreno (1998), Joey Porter (1999), Anthony Cesario (1999), Jason Craft (1999), Darran Hall (1999), Clark Haggans (2000), Erik Olson (2000) + 8 more

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