Colorado makes bold move in Sanders hire

Jackson State coach Deion Sanders has agreed to become Colorado's next football coach, “ushering in a new era for both.” The deal is believed to be worth at least $4.5M annually. Sanders picked the CU job “despite reported interest” in the coaching vacancies at Cincinnati and South Florida. CU AD Rick George said Sanders will “energize our fanbase." George added he is "confident" that Sander "will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character." The CU administration’s “taste for, and dedication to, championship-level football has been questioned for much of the past 15 years” (DENVER POST, 12/3).

CU, a school “notoriously short on big-money booster support,” is “making a full commitment for Sanders.” His compensation “should immediately be among the highest in the Pac-12, with a staff salary pool to match.” Perhaps, more importantly, the school reportedly is "working to restructure some of its transfer requirements to make it easier to bring in players via the transfer portal.” If the NIL/collective piece also comes together, CU “will have performed a sweeping upgrade coming off a 1–11 disaster of a season.” But this is an "absolutely worthwhile adventure for Colorado to embark upon," and if it works, it will be an "embarrassing scenario for schools that found reasons not to hire" Sanders (SI, 12/3). This is the “Boldest Boulder action in more than 40 years” (Colorado Springs GAZETTE, 12/3).

In three seasons at HBCU Jackson State, Sanders lost only five games. CU has only had two winning seasons since 2006 (N.Y. TIMES, 12/4). JSU beat Southern 43-24 on Saturday before a crowd of 53,754 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, earning the school back-to-back championships for the first time since 1995-96 (SI, 12/4).