The Enduring Legacy of Colorado State University Colors

Color is an integral part of any institution's visual identity, and Colorado State University (CSU) is no exception. To maintain consistency in its visual identity system, reproducing its colors accurately is essential. While other colors can be used in CSU communications as accents in support of the primary color palette, the official school colors are green and gold. These colors are deeply embedded in the university's history, traditions, and athletic achievements. Units are encouraged to be creative with CSU’s official color palette (gold, black, dark gray, light gray). The subtle use of secondary colors in digital and print publications is acceptable within limits. Units should avoid the prominent use of colors that are closely associated with other universities (e.g. Green - Colorado State University; red - University of Nebraska).

The Official Green and Gold

The Colorado State Rams colors are green and gold. The Colorado State Rams team colors in Hex, RGB, and CMYK can be found below. The Colorado State Rams are a team from Fort Collins, Colorado. The Colorado State Rams logo colors are green and gold. The green color code for the Colorado State Rams logo is Pantone: PMS 357 C, Hex Color: #1E4D2B, RGB: (30, 77, 43), CMYK: (92, 18, 94, 61).

These colors are not merely aesthetic choices; they represent the university's spirit and are carefully managed to ensure a consistent and recognizable brand. The College of Liberal Arts has a palette of accent colors that complement the University’s core colors of CSU Green, CSU Gold, and White. It is important that our departments follow the color guidelines below so we maintain the college brand, follow color accessibility standards, and provide a consistent visual experience for our audiences.

The Colorado State Rams Logo

The Colorado State Rams logo has green and gold colors and a circular object with a stylized ram head inside of it. The Colorado State Rams logo font is Vitesse. The Vitesse font is used for jersey lettering, player names, numbers, team logo, branding, and merchandise. The logo is a visual representation of the university's athletic prowess and is prominently displayed on team uniforms, merchandise, and promotional materials.

Athletic Prowess Embodied

The Colorado State Rams are the athletic teams that represent Colorado State University (CSU). Colorado State's athletic teams compete along with 8 other institutions in the Mountain West Conference, which is an NCAA Division I conference and sponsors Division I FBS football. The Conference was formed in 1999, splitting from the former 16-member Western Athletic Conference. CSU has won nine MWC tournament championships and won or shared 11 regular season titles.

Football Legacy

Colorado State football goes back 115 seasons, and experienced its most successful run under head coach Sonny Lubick. Since Sonny Lubick took control over the Rams as head coach in 1992, the Rams have made nine bowl appearances. CSU had only two previous bowl appearances. On November 27, 2007, following significant drops in attendance and a 17-30 record over the past 4 seasons, including 3-9 in 2007, CSU made the difficult and controversial decision to relieve Lubick of his head coaching duties. The school hired Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild to take the helm. Fairchild was a Rams quarterback from 1978 to 1980, and served under Lubick as quarterback's coach and later as offensive coordinator from 1993 to 2000. After going 7-6 in his first season and leading CSU to a win in the New Mexico Bowl over Fresno State in 2008, Fairchild's Rams fell back to mediocrity. The Rams would finish each of the next three seasons 3-9. On December 13, 2011, Colorado State hired Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain to take over as head coach. McElwain remained with the Crimson Tide through the remainder of the bowl season before taking over at CSU, and won a second national championship with Alabama when they defeated LSU 21-0 in the BCS Championship Game on January 9, 2012. McElwain's tenure at CSU began on a high note. In his first game the Rams defeated rival Colorado 22-17 on September 1, 2012. The Rams finished 4-8 in McElwain's first season and improved to 8-6 in 2013. After leading the Rams to their best season since 2003, with a record of 10-2, McElwain won the 2014 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honors.

Basketball Achievements

The dominant historical figure of Colorado State men's basketball is Jim Williams. Williams coached CSU for 26 seasons beginning in 1955, winning 352 games and taking the team to 4 NCAA tournaments, including the quarterfinals in 1969. He also led the team to 2 upsets of UCLA, then led by legendary coach John Wooden. Entering the 2005-6 season, 30% of all CSU men's basketball game had been coached by Williams. In 1988, Boyd Grant, a standout under Williams, returned to CSU to coach. That same season the Rams made their first post-season appearance in over two decades, climbing to 3rd place in the NIT. The team's success continued in 1989 and 1990 with consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles and NCAA appearances. However, it would be until 2003 before the Rams claimed another conference title. Jason Smith became only the second CSU player to be picked in the first round of the NBA draft. Smith's early departure, along with several legal issues and transfers, left the program with just two remaining scholarship players when CSU hired North Dakota State's Tim Miles in March 2007. Under Miles the program gradually improved, culminating with the Rams' first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in more than two decades in 2012. Following the season, Miles departed for the head coaching position at Nebraska. Colorado State hired Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy to take over in April 2012. The program flourished the following season, cracking the top 25 for the first time since 1954 and setting a record for most wins. The Rams went 26-9, finished in second place in the Mountain West, and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament again. The CSU women's basketball team began play in 1974, and has a 482-434 all-time record entering the 2007 season. The team has 6 all-time NCAA appearances, most recently in 2016, and previously in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, and 2002. The Rams made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999, the culmination of a successful 4-year run behind team leaders Becky Hammon and Katie Cronin. CSU made its most recent WNIT appearance in 2004. Kristen Holt, formerly an assistant coach at CSU, was recently named head coach for the 2009 season.

Volleyball Victories

In 2004, the Rams women's volleyball team made it to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament. The 2007 squad advanced to a 13th straight NCAA tournament and recorded its 13th straight 20-win season. The team has won the Mountain West Conference regular season 6 of the past 8 years, and 4 of 8 MWC tournaments. Coach Tom Hilbert is in his 11th year, with a 283-70 record with Colorado State. CSU volleyball has a 656-351 all-time record since beginning play in 1976.

Other Sporting Achievements

The Rams men's club lacrosse team is the six-time Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association national champion in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2013. CSU women's lacrosse also won USL-WDIA championships in 2008, 2010, and 2012. The CSU club baseball team won 3 consecutive National Club Baseball Association National Championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and then 3 further consecutive national championships in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Disc Golf team won the national championship in 2012. The Colorado State Triathlon Club in the 20teens has emerged as one of the top teams in the nation. Their women's team in 2016 and 2017 placed 5th at the national championships in Tuscaloosa, AL and in 2018 had a historic sweep of the podium and was 2nd overall team due to a costly penalty. Combined Men's and Women's team have also achieved 5th place nationally. They compete in the Mountain Collegiate Triathlon Conference (MCTC) along with schools from Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico region. The Colorado State Rugby Club was founded in 1970, and plays college rugby in the West Conference of Division 1-A against rivals such as Colorado and Wyoming. The Colorado State University Shotgun Sports is a co-ed club sport team that was founded in 1973. It is the only collegiate shotgun sports team recognized by a university in Colorado. The team is completely independent, and does not have a coach. The team competes with other colleges primarily in the American Midwest, mainly teams in Kansas, and Nebraska. The team competes in the ACUI Clay Targets league, with different competitions held in Las Vegas NV, Nashville TN, and the national championships in San Antonio TX.

Sporting Arenas

Hughes Stadium (capacity: 34,000) was home to Rams football from 1968 through 2016. The field at Hughes Stadium, named "Sonny Lubick Field" after the Rams' coach, underwent a $15.2 million renovation for the fall 2005 season. Hughes Stadium was replaced for the 2017 season by the new Colorado State Stadium (capacity 41,000), whose playing field also bears Lubick's name; the stadium's name was changed to Canvas Stadium in 2018. Moby Arena (capacity: 9,000) originally constructed in 1966 and remodeled in 1996, is home to the men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the CSU Rams volleyball team.

Rivalries Forged

Colorado State has three major rivalries. Outside of the conference, the Rams play in-state rival Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, which was hosted at Empower Field at Mile High through 2019 before the series returned to on-campus stadiums. Within the Mountain West, Colorado State has a big rivalry with Air Force. The winner of the CSU-Air Force football game receives the Ram-Falcon Trophy. Colorado State also has a conference rivalry with Wyoming (the Border War), with the winner of the annual football game receiving the Bronze Boot.

CAM the Ram: Embodiment of School Spirit

The ram was named the official mascot of Colorado State in 1946. "CAM the Ram" is the current representation of the official mascot. CAM is the 25th official Ram mascot. The first school mascot was introduced in 1947. There have been both live and costumed versions of the mascot. The 2006 version of CAM was a Rambouillet sheep and the 21st ram to represent the university. CAM was named using an acronym for the school's former short-form name, Colorado A&M. CAM runs at the beginning and at half time during home football games.

Notable Alumni

Swimmer Amy Van Dyken, six-time Olympic gold medalist, was an NCAA champion and All-American at CSU. Other notable athletes to graduate from CSU include Thurman "Fum" McGraw, CSU's first football consensus All-American in 1948. He led CSU to its first-ever bowl game, the 1949 Raisin Bowl. McGraw would remain at CSU for more than 40 years in various coaching and administrative positions. Bill Green, the school's first consensus All-American in basketball in 1962 and 1963, was later a first round draft pick by the Boston Celtics. CSU alum Lonnie Wright boasted the rare accomplishment of playing professional football and basketball during the same year, with the Denver Broncos and the Denver Rockets in 1967. Although the school no longer fields a varsity baseball team, former Major League pitchers Felix "Tippy" Martinez, Mark Huismann, Mark Knudson, and Frankie Gonzalez all played for the Rams.

A Brand Evolving

The University launched a new Find Your Energy brand in Fall 2023 and created a FYE CLA Brand in 2025. RGB (red, green, blue) is a coding method to tell computers how to display color digitally. Pantone Management System (PMS) is a library of colors for printed materials. The primary brand colors of the College of Liberal Arts brand are the same as the University. We recommend using these generously whenever you are communicating on behalf of CSU. Tip: When designing publications, consider the ratio of the Ram’s Head. The accent colors below are unique to the College of Liberal Arts. Designed to be complementary to the primary University colors, these options are available to give CLA and its departments and units the ability to stand out from others on campus. With such a large palette of accent colors to work with, we recognize the decision fatigue and confusion about how to use the colors strategically. Using the chart below, it is easy to select color combinations for foreground (text) and background colors, and colors to convey meaning, that have enough contrast to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA requirement. Color accessibility is key to creating a brand that is welcoming to all regardless of abilities. Pairings of background colors and type colors ensure our messaging is legible. These are our preferred pairings of background color and type color. If a pairing is labeled with AA18, it should be used at large type sizes only (we recommend 18pt regular or 14pt bold, but no smaller). But the colors of CSU extend beyond green and gold.

Read also: The history of Colorado Mesa

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