Colorado State parts ways with defensive coordinator Tyson Summers during 56-26 loss to Oregon State
Colorado State made an abrupt change at defensive coordinator on Saturday night.
After the Rams lost 56-26 at home to Oregon State, Colorado State coach Jim Mora Jr. told reporters that the team had parted ways with defensive coordinator Tyson Summers.
However, that parting appeared to happen during the game and not after it.
Mora said that Summers was replaced as the team's defensive play caller during the first half of the blowout loss and multiple reporters noted that he did not return to the sideline.
"Tyson was relieved of his play-calling duties. He left the field and he is no longer with this football program," Mora said in his postgame media session, before following up with "that is a permanent."
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Summers was replaced by assistant coach Kenny McClendon as the team's play caller. Per CBS Sports, McClendon will be the team's new defensive coordinator.
The loss dropped Colorado State to 2-3 and also further solidified the Rams' status as one of the worst defenses in the country. Entering Week 5, Colorado State ranked 129th out of 138 in scoring defense, allowing 34.2 points per game. And, somehow, the defense was letting up 7.4 yards a play.
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Summers and Mora were in their first year together after Mora was hired as Colorado State's coach at the end of the 2025 season. Summers was Colorado State's defensive coordinator in 2025 under Jay Norvell and was the team's interim coach after Norvell was fired midway through the season. He came to CSU after numerous stops as a defensive assistant following a two-year tenure in charge of Georgia Southern in 2016 and 2017.
