Bobo’s desire to win always on display for Rams
COLLINS» There have FORT been times Nick Stevens realized he was not on the same wavelength as his head coach, but previously, all of those instances had to do with football.
The setting was a friendly gathering, head coach Mike Bobo welcoming Colorado State’s seniors to his house for a barbecue meal as preseason camp opened, but they also knew there would be plenty of pool and corn hole played that night.
If you’re at Bobo’s house, you are going to play corn hole — and you are going to lose.
“I haven’t lost in the state of Colorado,” said Bobo, who has been within the borders going on three years now.
Honestly, the statement was more of a declaration, and Stevens quickly learned that as difficult as it is to play quarterback for Bobo, a former star QB at Georgia, it is no easier being his corn hole partner.
“It doesn’t matter what he does, he wants to win. He gets surprisingly competitive in corn hole,” Stevens said. “Corn hole is like a chill game, tossing bean bags. If you’re on his team and you miss the board, he’s like ‘ah’ and he gets all bent out of shape over it. If he misses the board, he gets crazy about it.
“I was his partner at his house (that) Sunday. That was a lot of pressure. For him, it
might be more pressure being his corn hole partner, but there’s obviously more pressure being the quarterback. I mean, he expects you to put it in the hole every time. It’s funny.”
The Colorado State head coach isn’t afraid to show this side of his personality to his players, no matter the game. He has a pool table in the basement of his house, and Stevens said he’s never seen Bobo lose.
When the Rams moved into their part of the new on-campus stadium, they staked a claim to the new locker room and meeting rooms, but Bobo staked the pool table in the players’ lounge as his turf.
He challenged — and beat — Detrich Clark that first night, and he let everybody know about it on Twitter.
“That was very important. I haven’t played him since,” Bobo said, admitting there has been pleading for a rematch. “It was like Bisi (Johnson) was the reigning pingpong champion as a freshman in the dorm, so when I had the freshmen over, I beat him in pingpong. I haven’t played him since, and he lets me know. But, no, I’m the best.”
Clark responded back on Twitter to his head coach that he had beaten him before, but that fell on deaf ears. He even reached out to teammate Michael Gallup for backup.
Truth is, Clark knew he was in for a challenge when he looked into Bobo’s eyes.
“I lost to him, and he made it a point of emphasis to beat me,” Clark said, smiling. “I have beaten him, but I guess it’s what have you done for me lately?
“I will just say, including everybody I’ve ever played against, Mike Bobo is the most competitive person. That’s honest. He hates to lose, and he will play you until he beats you. I will say he’s the most competitive person I’ve ever been around.”
This is not a personality trait Bobo denies in the least. He’s proud of it, and it came to him at a young age through the teachings of his father, George, a legendary football coach in southern Georgia.
Bobo said he doesn’t remember any other way of living. Board games, card games, fishing, anything at all, “it was brutal,” Bobo said.
He hates to lose, and he has tried to pass that on to his five children. It’s not something his wife, Lainie, is thrilled about — and on one particular family outing, she had to put her foot down.
See, Bobo doesn’t even relax on vacation. He can’t. He has to be playing something — and if he is, he’s trying to win.
Bocci ball, anyone?
“One year we went to the beach, and I had this great idea to have Summer Olympics and give out medals,” Bobo said. “It was World War III, tears and crying because somebody didn’t get a medal, fighting, so my wife made me quit it.”
There is no doubt that type of drive made him the player he was. He is the first to say he wasn’t the most naturally gifted athlete, but he would compete until the sun went down and the street lights had long been shining. If there was a weakness, he was going to find it, then he would exploit it to the fullest.
“We play because we love to compete. Then when football is over, you can’t play anymore, you still have to compete somehow,” said University of Miami head coach Mark Richt, who hired Bobo to be a member of Richt’s staff at Georgia. “Well, you can play cards, you can bowl, you can play racquetball, you can play corn hole, and those are fun, but when you can do it for a living, that’s when you really hit the jackpot.”
Bobo believes the fire in a coach should burn no less than it does in the players he guides. Stevens has seen it on the sideline, the reaction to the right call at the most opportune time, and Stevens is convinced that if Bobo can get his team to hang 100 points on the board, he will go for the extra digit to see if the scoreboard can accommodate the number.
What a wonder it would be if the Rams ever become as competitive as their head coach. CSU may have one of those magical seasons.
Eventually, it’s bound to happen, Richt said. “I think it’s healthy for the team, and I know Mike is right in the heart of everything,” he said. “If they’re not there yet, they’ll get there, because he’ll demand it.”
The Rams sense that something special is starting to take root at CSU. They know Bobo is looking for any excuse to establish a standard, and none of them are afraid to take him on. In fact, many of them want another crack at him.
“Absolutely,” said Clark, who has given up hope on a rematch in pool. “It’s just, you feed off him. He’s competitive, and it’s contagious.”
Truth be told, Lainie isn’t immune to it herself, as Richt noted she and her husband together are “unbeatable” at corn hole.
True statement, Bobo said. Just ask Ryan Stonehouse and Kieran Firment, because the freshmen came over one night, too.
“They were bragging, and my wife was my partner,” Bobo said. “We wore them out. We wore them out like Jake Bennett and Trae Moxley when the seniors were over. We’re pretty much a dominant team.”
Every day he’s challenging his Rams to become one, too.