Not So Fast, Sonny: Chasing Dreams While Keeping Perspective

Written by CSU graduate Bob Schaller, the book details Sonny Lubick's childhood in Butte, Mont., his long tenure as a college coach and his nine seasons at CSU. The paperback, includes a forward and introduction by Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.

After surviving Hurricane Andrew while an assistant coach at the University of Miami, Sonny Lubick had to make a decision—stay at Miami or set out on his own path and return to a program where he had been an assistant coach.

Though he savored his time at Miami, he chose Colorado State and built the cellar-dwelling Rams into a conference champion and nationally ranked program. But Lubick has never chosen the easiest route, instead weighing in such factors as family, friends and happiness.

Growing up in Butte, Montana, Lubick suffered two serious injuries—one while working in a mine and the second while playing baseball. Yet he came back, and finished his education before later becoming head coach at Montana State University.

Read about Sonny Lubick’s "family" approach to coaching at Colorado State University and how values like character, honesty, perseverance and hard work led to one of the most recognized jobs of coaching in college football.

There are times to travel to places like Miami where one can reach for the top. And there are other times when one has to decide to bring the top back home. It’s all about chasing dreams while keeping the proper perspective to Lubick.

Though offers of jobs from Miami to Southern California came Lubick’s way while his building of Colorado State was underway, he never wavered in his commitment to finish what he started.

Co-Author Bob Schaller is a 1988 graduate of Colorado State University and the author of more than 30 books. His previous biographies include For God and Country: Foundations of Faith, with Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry; The First Black Quarterback, with Marlin Briscoe; Touchdown Tommie, with former Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier, The State of the Game, with former Louisville coach Denny Crum and Roar of Silence, with deaf former Denver Bronco Kenny Walker. He also wrote the three-book Olympic Dream and Spirit Series, with 105 current or former Olympic Athletes describing the adversity they had to overcome. He also wrote The Road to Glory with former Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel, Coach Bob Stoops and former Coach Barry Switzer, and the 2002 summer release, Faith of the Sooners. Schaller is also the author of an eight-book children's series, X-Country Adventures, from Baker Book House, which includes the titles Crime in a Colorado Cave, Mystery in Massachusetts, The Great Florida Chase, Adventure in Wyoming, Message in Montana, California Gold Rush Fever, South Dakota Treaty Search and Treasure in Texas. He can be reached at schallerrc@aol.com.