It’s Prime Time in the mountains.
The University of Colorado Boulder has named Deion Sanders its next head football coach, the school announced Saturday.
AD Rick George has named COACH PRIME @DeionSanders to be the 28th full-time head football coach at CU.
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) December 4, 2022
Welcome Coach Prime to Colorado!
📝 https://t.co/otRTjyivpr pic.twitter.com/q63LyoWqSX
The soon-to-be former Jackson State head coach took the job the same night his team clinched the SWAC championship and improved to 12-0. Sanders informed his team of the news immediately after the win and did not meet with media postgame.
“Coach Prime” led the Tigers to consecutive SWAC titles and a 27-5 record in three seasons, not to mention nationwide attention that included several nationally-televised games, even their spring game. The Pro Football Hall of Famer earns his first gig at the FBS/Power Five level after just three years at the FCS level.
“There were a number of highly qualified and impressive candidates interested in becoming the next head football coach at Colorado, but none of them had the pedigree, the knowledge and the ability to connect with student-athletes like Deion Sanders,” Colorado athletic director Rick George said in a press release. “Not only will Coach Prime energize our fanbase, I’m confident that he will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character.”
Sanders’ impact should be immediate upon landing in Boulder, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Friday that he had been recruiting his staff and players to Colorado. Others have reported that Colorado is expected to be quite active in the transfer portal once he arrives. Sanders will remain with Jackson State for its Celebration Bowl appearance on Dec. 17 against NC Central, as Thamel reported.
Recruiting prowess has been the name of the game for Jackson State under Sanders’ leadership. The Tigers had a top 75 recruiting class in 2022, per 247 Sports, which included consensus No. 1 player Travis Hunter and the top player in Missouri, four-star WR Kevin Coleman. They also landed a number of Power Five transfers, including from Florida State, Miami, Texas A&M, and Utah.
Colorado has not had a top 30 recruiting class in the 247 Composite since 2008. Sanders’ recruiting abilities should translate with the improved resources in Boulder, as well as the underrated pool of talent in Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona. His connections in the south shouldn’t disappear with his move out west either. Expect Colorado to undergo a serious makeover in the recruiting department and raise some eyebrows on the trail.
The Buffaloes’ only winning seasons since 2005 were in 2016 when they won 10 games and the Pac-12 South, and in 2020 in a COVID-19 shortened year. They’ve gone 24-42 since their division title season, including 1-11 in 2022. The Buffs fired Karl Dorrell on Oct. 2 and was temporarily replaced by Mike Sanford Jr. Colorado lost all but three of its 12 games by at least 25 points.
Sanders’ knowledge, recruiting ability, and short but impressive history of winning at the D1 level should give Colorado a sense of consistency that the program hasn’t seen in nearly two decades when Gary Barnett led the program. The idea of Prime Time in the Pac-12 should give fans all over the country plenty of reasons to start tuning into a program that had been largely forgettable for the last six years.
About the author
I am an Oregon Ducks fan who graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism. At the UO, I did on-site reporting with Duck TV Sports and KWVA Sports 88.1 FM and have covered events such as the 2020 Pac-12 Football Championship Game and the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament. I previously wrote for Ducks Digest on the Sports Illustrated network.
