Dale Layer is out as men's basketball coach at Colorado State, athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said today.

Layer, whose team went 17-13 this season, would have been in the final year of his contract in 2007-08.

Under Layer, the Rams went 103-106 in seven seasons, 31-71 record in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams finished sixth in the MWC this season and lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

In 2003, CSU won the MWC tournament and qualified for the NCAA Tournament, losing to Duke in the first round of the NCAA West Region. The team finished 19-14, the most wins during Layer’s tenure. Colorado State’s highest league finish came in Layer’s first season, when the Rams tied for fifth with a 6-8 record.

Layer became CSU’s 17th men’s basketball coach on April 11, 2000, and, after the 2003 season, signed a five-year contract extension.

"After evaluating our men’s basketball program over the past season and seeing where we are today, I felt it is time to move in a different direction," Kowalczyk said in a statement.. "This was a very difficult decision that came after much thought and evaluation. Dale Layer is a talented person with many outstanding qualities. He and his staff worked diligently on behalf of the program."

CSU plans to immediately begin a national search for Layer’s replacement.

"The goal is to find the best person for this position," Kowalczyk said. "We will exhaust every effort to find that individual as quickly as possible. But we will not sacrifice finding a quality coach for our program for the sake of expediency."