CSU basketball coach Larry Eustachy facing new conduct investigation

Larry Eustachy’s conduct as CSU’s men’s basketball coach is again the subject of an internal investigation, university athletic director Joe Parker said Wednesday.

“We have started a climate assessment, which involves conversations with the students and staff members associated with the men’s basketball program,” Parker said in a statement released by the athletic department. “As always, we will not make any public comments until our process is complete and have no additional information to share at this time.”

Parker’s comments came in response to a report published online earlier in the day by former Rocky Mountain Collegian sports editor Justin Michael stating that Parker was interviewing players individually about the coach’s conduct. Citing “multiple sources close to the situation,” the report said the “vast majority of the players spoke out against Eustachy in their interviews.”

A previous report into the Colorado State University coach’s conduct, obtained last winter by the Coloradoan and verified by 14 people with knowledge of the investigation, including six players and two others who were interviewed, determined Eustachy verbally abused his players, staff members and others within the athletic department and used fear and intimidation to run his program.

The coach acknowledged in the earlier investigation, conducted by former athletic director Jack Graham, deputy athletic director John Morris and senior associate AD Steve Cottingham, during the 2013-14 season, that he “crossed the line” and “went way over the line” in his treatment of players and staff at times.

More:Coloradoan answers questions on its 2017 Eustachy investigation

Multiple sources close to the program have told the Coloradoan nothing about the way Eustachy runs his program has changed since that first investigation was conducted.

Eustachy, 62, is in his sixth season as the Rams’ coach and is one win away from becoming the second-winningest coach in school history. His record at CSU entering a home game Wednesday night against Wyoming is 121-73. His 121 wins ties Stew Morrill for No. 2 on CSU’s career list, and his .627 winning percentage trails only Boyd Grant’s .638.

CSU officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment beyond Parker's statement.

CSU is 10-13 overall and 3-7 in the Mountain West this season heading into Wednesday night's game against Wyoming.

Eustachy has exercised all three options to extend the five-year contract he signed with CSU in July 2013, more than a year after he was first hired, extending the agreement through June 30, 2021. His base salary this year is $985,012, with annual increases that top out at $1.045 million in 2020-21. Were the university to fire him without cause, he would be owed the remainder of his salary for the current year and three times this year’s pay, or $2.955 million.

There would be no penalty if the university fired him “with cause,” as Graham recommended to CSU President Tony Frank after presenting the 90-page report to him late in the 2013-14 season.

Frank did not accept Graham’s recommendation to fire the coach, instead requiring the coach to attend six anger management sessions and apologize to his team. CSU declined comment when asked last year if the coach had completed those sessions.

Eustachy also was given a zero-tolerance policy in regard to throwing, punching or kicking objects, using “direct profane, derogatory, and/or demeaning language or gestures in the presence of or towards your players, staff or anyone else acting in the scope” of his employment. Violation would result in termination for cause.

Eustachy issued a statement at the time saying that he was “deeply disappointed on a very personal level that someone chose to publicize confidential information from my personnel file.

“That said, I fully recognize that I’m not perfect. I have my faults and strive every day to be better than I was yesterday.”

Graham was fired by Frank in August 2014 over concerns about his management style.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).