Rick George’s disastrous tenure at CU will come to an end soon

Of the many people who claimed to care deeply about the Colorado Buffaloes, Rick George was one of them. And like the man who first brought him to Boulder, Bill McCartney, George leaves a complicated legacy — one some will laud as transformative and necessary, while others will note the lack of football success and the heavy buyouts that cost the school millions to partially clean up his messes.

In conjunction with the university, George, the 2023-24 NACDA AD of the Year, announced he will step aside as athletic director at the conclusion of the academic year and transition to a role as special advisor to the chancellor and athletic director emeritus, continuing what has been a 42-year career in sports and leaving the Buffaloes with the most important job in the department to fill. George has committed to helping Chancellor Justin Schwartz ensure a smooth transition.

In George’s 13 seasons (with two games left this year), Colorado football went 60-92. They made three trips to the Alamo Bowl, which were all more doomed. He oversaw four head coaches, fired two with more than $20 million in buyouts, watched a third bolt days after a raise, and was publicly reprimanded in the Joe Tumpkin case that ultimately was a stain on CU, which had just gotten over a program-breaking scandal the decade before. That’s the bill attached to this tenure.

George’s signature season in 2016 came on the back of a recruiting class that was acquired by Jon Embree and coached by Mike MacIntyre, neither of whom he hired. The Rise season resulted in a trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game. It echoed the last time the Buffs had gone to the conference title game in 2004, each a blowout loss.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as athletic director for the University of Colorado for the last 13 years, but after considerable thought and discussions with my family dating back to last spring, I have decided it is time for new leadership to guide the department,” George said in a news release. “I wanted to make this announcement now in order to give Chancellor Schwartz plenty of time to find the right person for Colorado, and I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure a smooth transition.”

Getting Deion Sanders to Boulder may have been George’s last big act, but it’s far from the only thing that will define the decade-plus he spent running the Buffs. He oversaw most of Colorado’s tumultuous time in the Pac-12 and made the decision to return CU to the Big 12. Men’s basketball largely continued under Tad Boyle’s steady hand. Boyle was hired by George’s predecessor, Mike Bohn. The men’s squad has lacked focus since George succeeded Bohn, according to die-hard fans. Former staffers say the program peaked years ago because of institutional support. Meanwhile, the women’s program took years to build momentum under George’s first hire, JR Payne, who has had the team playing much better in recent years.

But the focus will always be football. In George’s early days, he helped secure funding for the team’s facility, the $100 million Champions Center. On the field since, Colorado has produced no postseason victories, mixed with losing seasons and a few of the worst years in program history. During George’s tenure, the Buffs have ping-ponged from embarrassment to feisty, from a surprise conference championship game appearance to scandal, from positive outlook to punchline, to an attention-grabbing sideshow, to Heisman hype — and back to frustration.

Promises to restore the Buffs to glory have run hollow. As have discussions about expanding sports offerings, such as the idea to add a long-desired baseball program. There hasn’t been the glory of consistent competition in football and the Buffs are still stuck on 15 varsity sports, never even coming close to adding baseball.

“Rick’s contributions to our university in his 13 years as head of our athletic department have been incalculable,” said Schwartz in a statement. “He is a nationally respected leader who has always kept CU at the forefront of the dynamic and highly competitive landscape of college athletics. I am grateful for his leadership and am elated he has decided to stay on as a Special Advisor and AD Emeritus.”

George and the Buffs were slow in adapting to the new NIL era and cautious in the transfer portal while Karl Dorrell was head coach — both factors that hurt significantly. Prior to Colorado’s state law changes in 2023, CU’s compliance messaging emphasized limits on school involvement in NIL. Only after the law changed did George’s department pivot, leaving them behind the ball.

George hired Dorrell, seemingly in part because he was rooted in Boulder in a chaotic moment after Mel Tucker bolted for Michigan State in February 2020, days after CU signaled he was staying with a raise. Tucker created some short-term momentum before his departure, and at Michigan State, he was later fired for cause amid a sexual harassment investigation.

Tucker replaced MacIntyre, a coach undone by losses but also by scandal. CU reprimanded George for the department’s handling of the domestic violence allegations against former assistant Tumpkin. Along the way came two large buyouts, including MacIntyre’s, totaling about $23 million. In the end, George was the only AD at the power level desperate enough to hire Sanders, a move the jury is still out on, but one the Buffs are now committed to after signing Sanders to one of the most lucrative coaching deals in college football despite a losing record from the coach.

Even if CU wanted a Big Ten landing spot, industry consensus was that the league sought AAU status, TV value and top-brand football; Colorado didn’t fit the on-field profile. So the school missed any realistic shot at the conference when the Pac-12’s Los Angeles and Northwest powers bolted. George did move quickly to save the Buffs from the doomed Pac-12 and potential relegation outside the power conferences. But it’s fair to ask whether the Pac-12 might have fared better had member schools, including CU, acted more aggressively earlier against Larry Scott’s flawed model and underperforming network — and whether the Big 12 will ultimately be a minor league for the Big Ten and SEC.

Many of George’s choices will outlive his time at CU, most notably Sanders. If Sanders does what he says he can, George, in a way, created the runway. But that runway came with years of broken promises, budget strain and a zigzagging path. Still, many in black and gold will love George because he was one of Coach McCartney’s guys and he came back to try to rescue the school from a lost decade — even if they gloss over the other mostly lost decade he oversaw.

It’s hard to say what, if anything, actually got better during George’s time. His tenure had ups and downs but the net is about the same as what the baseline for football has been since scandal rocked CU in the early 2000s — a mostly lackluster sleeping giant with some giant troughs of embarrassment. Fittingly, some of those hopeless losses that helped get George the job all those years ago, 2012’s Fresno State’s butt-kicking, also popped up early in his tenure, the many beatings by Stanford, and again during this season, the Utah loss.

“While well earned, Rick’s decision to step back from his role as CU Boulder athletic director is a loss for us but I am glad he has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity next year,” said CU President Todd Saliman. “I want to thank Rick for his leadership, commitment and countless contributions to CU Boulder athletics and to our students. Rick is a national leader in the world of college sports. His tenure has been marked by his ardent support for making sure the word student always precedes athlete across all our teams.”

The Buffs say that a timeline for hiring a new athletic director will be announced at a later date. But at the very least, George helped bring the Dead and other high-profile music acts back to Folsom Field, so thanks for that!

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