The Jay Norvell era is over in Fort Collins.

Colorado State parted ways with head coach Norvell on Sunday afternoon, bringing his fourth season at the Rams’ helm to a sudden end. With a 2-5 start to the 2025 campaign, Norvell finishes in Fort Collins with an 18-26 mark and one bowl appearance in 2024.

Tyson Summers will step in as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Summers has been CSU’s defensive coordinator since January. He previously served as the team’s defensive coordinator in 2014 under then-head coach Mike Bobo.

CSU will immediately launch a nationwide search for the next head coach, according to athletic director John Weber.

“My admiration for Jay and appreciation for his integrity make this decision that much more difficult,” Weber said in a news release. “Jay has made this program better during his tenure at CSU. On behalf of the entire Ram family, I sincerely thank Jay for the strong foundation he has laid for our football program.

“However, as we prepare to join the Pac-12 Conference next year, we need to position our program to compete at the highest level. While we’ve seen progress, a change in leadership is necessary to achieve the sustained excellence our program requires. We are continuing to invest and work hard to ensure that the football program and the next head coach have the resources needed to capitalize on this historic opportunity.”

Norvell’s best season in Fort Collins saw the Rams go 8-5 in 2024, CSU’s best record since 2014. However, injuries and roster turnover plagued CSU this season. Entering Saturday’s game against Hawaii, five Week 1 starters were out for the season with injury, including four on the defensive side of the ball.

Norvell was also working with 47 newcomers on this year’s roster, 31 of which were transfers.

That combination turned into a killer for the Rams in 2025, with the offense struggling to find its identity as the season churned along. Norvell said last week that he hoped the Rams could use a running attack as a primary weapon against Hawaii. Instead, CSU’s run game averaged 2.5 yards per rush as the Rainbow Warriors outgained the Rams in total yards by a 435-261 margin.

“Obviously, we’re not where we want to be right this time of year,” Norvell said after Saturday’s 31-19 loss. “I was disappointed in our inconsistency, in being able to run the football. We have to do that every week. We have to be able to hang our hat on that, and that also settles the game down.

“When we run the ball effectively and we can rack up some yards in the run game, it controls the game physically and takes a little pressure off our defense and keeps them off the field. We did not do that tonight.”

There have been plenty of attempts to fix the offense this season, with Jackson Brosseau taking over for Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi at quarterback and Norvell turning play-calling duties over to associate head coach Matt Mumme after CSU mustered just three points in a 20-3 home loss to Washington State on Sept. 27.

Norvell came to Colorado State before the 2022 season after logging a 33-26 record in five seasons at Nevada. Three of those campaigns ended in bowl games, with the Wolf Pack winning two of those three games.

Colorado State will play at Wyoming on Saturday in the annual Border War game, then will have a week off before resuming home play against UNLV on Nov. 8.

“We have to get ourselves together. We got a big rivalry game next week,” Norvell said on Saturday night.

Now the Rams will take on their Highway 287 rivals and build toward next season without Norvell at the helm.

“We have all the ingredients for success here at CSU, and our aspiration is to be the most loved, most watched, and most innovative program in the West,” Weber said. “The next head coach of the Rams will be stepping into a program headed to the Pac-12 with the resources and leadership alignment necessary to win and compete at the highest level.”