PARENTS OF CSU’S BOBO FRIENDS WITH ALABAMA’S SABAN
CSU coach’s parents and Alabama coach have homes in Ga.
In northeast Georgia tucked away in the thick woods of Chattahoochee National Forest resides a sprawling reservoir that covers nearly 3,000 acres. Lake Burton is a Southern Appalachian oasis, and its shoreline is a summer home for two well established college football families: Alabama coach Nick Saban and the parents of Colorado State coach Mike Bobo.
“My dad fishes under his dock a lot,” Bobo said.
Alabama hosts CSU at 5 p.m. Saturday and the Rams’ Tuscaloosa trip is a fitting showcase of their southern flavor. CSU has 26 players combined from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina on its roster. Six of the Rams’ 10 full-time coaches also hail from the same region.
“A lot of our players’ families that don’t get to come on a regular basis, they come one game or two games a year, they’re going to make this trip,” Bobo said, “and have a chance to see their loved one.”
Sophomore CSU tailback Marvin Kinsey grew up in Atlanta, only a three-hour drive from Tuscaloosa.
“A lot of my family is from the south, so they can’t come all the way to Colorado,” Kinsey said. “I’ve got a lot of people coming. It’s a big game, a big stadium. But I’m going to
have my family behind me.”
As for Bobo and Saban, the connections don’t stop at family lake houses. Bobo was Georgia teammates with two former Saban assistants — Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp — who are now head coaches at Georgia and South Carolina, respectively. And, of course, Bobo coached against Saban-led teams as an assistant coach at Georgia from 2001 to 2014.
But most every time the pair crosses paths, Saban is quick to bring one thing up: “How is your dad’s fishing going?”
He even addressed the connection with local Alabama me- dia during a Wednesday news conference, albeit in the most Saban-esque way possible. A reporter asked how the Crimson Tide planned to utilize backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa against the Rams.
“I will call Colorado State and tell them exactly what we want to do as soon as I get out of here,” Saban said. “I know Mike Bobo. His dad lives up by my house at Lake (Burton). So I’ll just call him up and tell him who we’re playing, when, how long, when we’re putting them in. Tell him the whole thing, alright? Is that alright with you? So you can call him and find out.”