Saturday night in Fort Collins produced one of the more unusual in-game staff moves you’ll see at the FBS level.

Colorado State head coach Jim Mora relieved defensive coordinator Tyson Summers of his play-calling duties during the first quarter of the Rams’ 56-26 loss to Oregon State. Summers then left the field, and by the time Mora met with reporters after the game, he was no longer part of the program.

“Tyson was relieved of his play calling duties. He left the field and is no longer with this football program,” Mora shared postgame.

Co-defensive coordinator Kenny McClendon took over the call sheet, with cornerbacks coach Trent Matthews handling signals from the sideline, according to Yahoo Sports. McClendon, who also carries the assistant head coach title, has been named the Rams’ defensive coordinator going forward.

Mora noted that McClendon’s very first play he called as a defensive coordinator resulted in a sack and caused a fumble.

Oregon State kept scoring anyway, putting up 14 points in the first quarter, 21 in the second and 21 more after halftime.

Earlier in the week, Mora was asked what the defense needed to do to improve, and the details provided are a great synopsis of where he felt they were coming up short, starting with coaching the finer details. That’s a lesson he learned from his father.

Jim Mora gave some insight earlier this week in the areas where the defense needs to improve 👇 📹@CSURams https://t.co/oDDTpXpMAC

— DNVR Rams (@DNVR_Rams) October 3, 2026

Colorado State came into Saturday ranked 129th nationally in scoring defense at 34.3 points allowed per game. A week earlier, UTSA beat the Rams 59-45 in San Antonio, and Yahoo Sports highlighted a heated sideline exchange between Mora and Summers during that game. Saturday gave Colorado State back-to-back games allowing 50 or more points for the first time since 1984, and the Rams have given up 52 points per game over their last three, all losses. They sit at 2-3 after opening with wins over Wyoming and Southern Utah.

The split ends a turbulent second stint in Fort Collins for Summers. Back in December 2024, we shared that Jay Norvell was targeting Summers to run his defense, and Summers arrived after three seasons (2022-24) as defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky. When Colorado State fired Norvell on Oct. 19, 2025, with the Rams at 2-5, Summers took over as interim head coach and went 0-5 the rest of the way in a 2-10 season. Mora kept him on as defensive coordinator after taking the job.

Summers first coordinated the Colorado State defense in 2015, then spent two seasons as head coach at Georgia Southern, going 5-13 before he was let go six games into the 2017 season. He has also been defensive coordinator at UCF (2014) and Colorado (2019-20), with stops at UAB, Georgia and Florida along the way.

McClendon spent the previous four seasons (2022-25) with Mora at UConn as assistant head coach and defensive line coach. Before that, he coached the defensive line at Youngstown State (2020-21) and Valdosta State (2018-19), coordinated special teams at Carthage College (D-III – WI), and has served as a graduate assistant at Iowa State and Central Michigan, where he played on the defensive line from 2009-13.

Head coaches take over play-calling duties, or hand them to someone else, during the season fairly often. Doing it in the first quarter, and having that coordinator choose to walk out of the stadium, is something else entirely. 

Mora is in his first season in Fort Collins, and he made it clear Saturday he wasn’t willing to wait until Sunday to make a change.

McClendon gets his first full week as a coordinator before the Rams visit Texas State on Oct. 15.