Donors give $20 million to name new CSU field after Sonny Lubick
The field at Colorado State's new stadium will be named for Sonny Lubick.
According to the Denver Post, "secret" donors will give $20 million over the next 30 years to ensure that the field is named after Lubick.
Lubick was the coach at Colorado State from 1993-2007. He compiled a record of 108-74 in his time with the school.
"I'm flattered," he said of the contribution. "I certainly didn't expect this. I try to keep my ear to the ground about how things are going with the new stadium and everything. Knowing the way things work, bottom line, I didn't expect them to carry my name over, to be honest, because there were so many options for them, I'm sure."
Colorado State is building a new on-campus stadium that will open in 2017. The new stadium replaces Hughes Stadium, which wasn't located on the CSU campus. Colorado State athletic director Joe Parker said the donors wanted to remain anonymous and the school is still looking for someone to secure the naming rights to the stadium itself. The Hughes Stadium field has been named for Lubick since 2000.
[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you won’t see on the blog]
"If I provide any information that narrows the focus, that's not really following the intent of their desire to remain anonymous," Parker said. "They understood that with the move back to campus, the field naming at Hughes wasn't necessarily a guarantee that we as a university would be in position to continue to honor Sonny in that way, just because of the financial realities of the project and that being an attractive opportunity for us to solicit a donation.
CSU has enjoyed a program resurgence recently. Now-Florida coach Jim McElwain took the Rams to bowl games following the 2013 and 2014 seasons before he was hired by the Gators. Under first-year coach Mike Bobo, the Rams went to the Arizona Bowl after the 2015 season.
[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]
- - - - - - -
Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
