Paul Kowalczyk arrived in Fort Collins in 2006 to take the reigns as Colorado State’s new Athletics Director. In his short tenure in that position, Kowalczyk has morphed the thinking and goals around CSU’s athletics program and much improvement has already taken place.

Kowalczyk came in with an ambitious mindset, one that won’t accept anything but the utmost success at Colorado State University. His stretch goals include; (1) Achieve a No. 1 ranking in the Director’s Cup, a ranking system that reflects overall program success, (2) Annual Bowl Championship Series inclusion, (3) NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament production.

While none of those goals have been realized as of yet, there is no doubt that CSU has advanced in the last few years.

Kowalczyk acknowledged that in order for improvement, there must be change. “We will never stand still. We will continue to mover forward. As a program, we will strive for excellence in every area, just as we challenge our student-athletes in competition and in the classroom.”

Both men’s and women’s basketball, and football have new coaching staffs since Kowalczyk took over, and all are getting better—even if slowly.

Sonny Lubick, the 14 year head coach that brought CSU to prominence in the 90s, was given the name to the field, but he was also given a pink slip by Kowalczyk. It was undoubtedly the hardest thing the AD has had to do so far, but it has been successful—at least for the short term.

Steve Fairchild has taken over for Lubick and has revitialized the CSU football program as a whole. Lubick was stuck in the early 90s where power running games and the size of defenses were more important than the speed. Fairchild, the ex-NFL offensive coordinator, has installed a pro-style offense in Fort Collins with mixed results. But, he’s addressed the Rams biggest need by getting three new QB signees including the No. 16th overall according to rivals.com.

Likewise, basketball coaches Tim Miles and Kristen Holt have turned their programs around into winners. The Rams men are currently 15-9, fourth in the Mountain West, and should be competing for the conference soon with the young foundation of talent that has been built.

Arguably Kowalczyk’s biggest accomplishment has been the construction of two world-class facilities in the Indoor Training Facility and Academic and Training Center that were completed in September 2009. CSU was the only cold weather MWC team without an indoor complex for their football team to practice in—with equal tools, the Rams should be able to compete with the class of their conference. Plus, both buildings act as recruiting instruments, which one could argue are already working.

Kowalczyk also negotiated a new decade-long contract with in-state rival CU that ensures the Rocky Mountain Showdown will continue to prosper. The game has been the only Sunday night national TV college football game on opening weekend the last two years, and both schools agreed the best venue for the contest is Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver.

With all this hard work he’s already put in, Kowalczyk’s best aspect is his ability to see into the future, set lofty goals, and plug away until those goals are realized. In fact, Kowalczyk even made sure Fort Collins would host the Rocky Mountain Showdown in 2020. And while Sonny Lubick field at Hughes Stadium is and has been too small to host the event for years, this move hints at the notion that Kowalczyk may be planning a renovation of the Rams longtime home.

Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but while Kowalczyk is in charge, the sky is the limit for Colorado State Athletics.