NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is leaving Jackson State to become Colorado's fourth coach in five years.
Ralphie's going Prime Time.
In the biggest coaching splash in program history, the CU Buffs have hired Deion Sanders, the 55-year-old Jackson State coach and Pro Football and College Football Hall of Famer, the program announced.
“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,” CU athletic director Rick George said in a statement. “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.”
AD Rick George has named COACH PRIME @DeionSanders to be the 28th full-time head football coach at CU. Welcome Coach Prime to Colorado!📝 https://t.co/otRTjyivpr pic.twitter.com/q63LyoWqSX
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) December 4, 2022
Sanders was set to fly into Colorado late Saturday night, Sports Illustrated reported.
Deion Sanders acknowledges the crowd, Sunday, Jan. 15, 1995, as his San Francisco 49ers' defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 38-28, to win the NFC Championship. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
The CU Regents have an executive session scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sunday titled "personnel matter at CU-Boulder athletics," a likely approval of Sanders' contract. CBS News Colorado reported the offer is worth more than $5 million annually, and a Denver Gazette source said incentives potentially can bump it to $8 million.
Sanders said early last week he was offered the CU job, among others, and an ESPN report Friday said Sanders and his associates spent the past few days preparing for the move to Boulder, contacting potential assistant coaches and high-profile players in the transfer portal.
The buzz is coming back to Boulder.
Students at the CU-Arizona State men's basketball game Thursday chanted "We want Deion!"
Sanders quickly turned Jackson State into an FCS powerhouse. The Tigers set a school record with 11 wins in 2021 and finished off a 12-0 season with a SWAC championship game victory over Southern University on Saturday. "Coach Prime" shined a spotlight on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and now has another difficult task — turning around a program that has seen two decades of losing.
As a player, Sanders won a pair of Super Bowls, one with the 49ers and another with the Cowboys, and won the NFL defensive player of the year award in San Francisco for the 1994 season. Sanders was also a prominent two-sport athlete, playing nine seasons in Major League Baseball and becoming the only person to ever play in a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Atlanta Braves Deion Sanders hits a two-run single during the Braves 8-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, April 20, 1994 in Atlanta. Sanders, who also in an All-Pro corner back with the Atlanta Falcons, has 24 hits, scored 15 runs, drawn eight walks, hit three home runs and driven in 15 runs as the team?s lead-off hitter. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Sanders’ time as a coach is still relatively short.
Following his 14-year NFL career, Sanders was an analyst for a variety of networks before jumping into coaching at the charter school he founded — Prime Prep Academy — in 2012. Sanders was the coach there for two years and the school closed three years into its existence due to financial insolvency.
A few years later, Sanders became the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian High School in Cedar Hill, Texas, where his sons played. Sanders held the OC position for three seasons, before being hired by Jackson State in 2020.
Sanders’ first season at JSU was pushed to the spring of 2021 and was abbreviated, with the Tigers going 4-3, including a win by forfeit.
His first full season at JSU came later — in the fall of 2021. The Tigers went 11-2, including a perfect 9-0 record in SWAC play, and made the Celebration Bowl, which they lost 31-10 to South Carolina State after winning a SWAC title.
This season has been even better for JSU.
Sanders' arrival shines a spotlight on the CU program it hasn't seen since the Gary Barnett days of the 2000s, or the Bill McCartney golden era of the early 1990s.
CU has only reached three bowl games and has had only two winning seasons in the past 16 seasons, including a 4-2 pandemic-shortened 2020 ccampaign. Sanders' success at Colorado will likely be determined by his recruiting prowess at CU.
He has already proven to be an excellent recruiter at JSU, landing wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter, the No. 1 prospect in the country. Hunter flipped his commitment from Florida State, Sanders’ alma mater.
Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders has a brief exchange with his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) after he threw an interception to a Campbell player during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Jackson, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. Jackson State won 22-14. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Shedeur Sanders, his son, is a 6-foot-2, 215-pound quarterback at Jackson State. He threw for over 300 yards in the SWAC title game Saturday and likely would follow his father to CU.