Mike Bobo jokes with reporters during his introduction as the new head football coach at Colorado State at a news conference Tuesday, in Fort Collins, Colo.Wearing green in his necktie and standing in front of a green backdrop, Mike Bobo was introduced Tuesday afternoon as the new football coach at Colorado State.
Bobo signed with Georgia as a quarterback in 1993 and spent 21 of the next 22 seasons in Athens, the last 14 as an assistant coach under Mark Richt. His only year away was 2000, when he was quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville State, and he described his first head-coaching opportunity as getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.
"It's going to be uncomfortable, and I realize that," Bobo said in a 40-minute news conference. "I'm going to walk out of here, and I don't know where I'm going. Somebody is going to tell me, but I'm going to figure it out, I promise you. All you can do is put your head down and go to work."
The Coloradan newspaper reported that Bobo agreed to a five-year contract that will start at $1.35 million annually and increase by $100,000 each season. He is instantly the second highest-paid coach in the Mountain West Conference and has a buyout of $5 million.
Colorado State is receiving $7 million as the result of a buyout that Florida was willing to pay to hire Bobo's predecessor, Jim McElwain, earlier this month.
Bobo has been Georgia's offensive coordinator and play-caller since late in the 2006 season, but he will not be with the Bulldogs for their Belk Bowl against Louisville next Tuesday night. Georgia offensive line coach Will Friend, who is expected to join Bobo in Fort Collins, will direct the Bulldogs offense in Charlotte.
"I'm very happy for Mike as he takes over at Colorado State," Richt said in a release. "His goal has been to become a head coach, and he has definitely earned this opportunity with the job he's done at Georgia. I wish for them nothing but the greatest success."
Bobo expressed sadness in not being able to coach the Bulldogs with Richt for the 184th consecutive time but added that he didn't have a lot of time to waste getting to know a new community, assembling a staff and building on a class of six current commitments.
Jim Donnan was Georgia's coach for Bobo's final two seasons at quarterback in 1996 and 1997, and he hired Bobo in 1998 as an administrative assistant. Bobo was then a graduate assistant in 1999 before his one-year stint at Jacksonville State.
"I've always been a Mike Bobo fan," Donnan said Tuesday on "Press Row" on Chattanooga's ESPN 105.1 FM. "When I first got to Georgia, you always worry about winning over the kids you inherited. It's kind of like a divorce, because you're entering a situation with kids who you haven't been involved with, and Mike was a real leader in terms of buying into what we needed to do.
"He's always had good leadership skills, and he's paid the price. He's worked his way up the ladder, and there comes a time when a guy has to make a decision. He is going to a pretty established program."
Under Bobo's guidance, Georgia set a program record for total yards in 2012 and a record for yards per game last season. This season's team already has set a new standard by averaging 41.7 points per game.
Donnan expects Bobo to build off his national recruiting background that has included Matthew Stafford from Texas, Knowshon Moreno from New Jersey and getting a commitment from Jacob Eason, the top quarterback prospect in the 2016 class who resides in Washington. Bobo said he plans to recruit Colorado, California, Texas and Oklahoma and "get after it."
Fighting back tears as he announced wife Lanie and their five children to a new audience, Bobo called Colorado State the right place for his family. He said the program is "in a place to take off and go some place special."
McElwain guided the Rams to a 10-2 regular season with a senior quarterback and a junior tailback, Dee Hart, who could forgo his senior season. Expectations have been raised, but Donnan doesn't believe Bobo will pay much attention to that.
"Mike can't get caught up in comparisons," Donnan said. "They are building a new stadium, and they have a dynamic president who stood his ground against (Florida athletic director) Jeremy Foley in negotiating that buyout for McElwain. There are only 120-something Division I jobs, so who knows what's the right time?
"At 40 years old, he's really over-prepared. He's been a coordinator for so long and has been so instrumental in recruiting. He's going to be difficult for Georgia to replace."
One of the more recognized offensive coordinators nationally, Doug Nussmeier, was hired Tuesday by Florida. Nussmeier coached at Alabama during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, replacing McElwain, and coached this season at Michigan.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.