Deion Sanders has to know, as much as anyone, that you play to win the game.
One of the greatest players to ever step on a football field, Sanders has since moved into coaching, going from “Prime” to “Coach Prime” as he has ascended the ranks to this point he’s at now, the Colorado Buffaloes.
The Buffs got a massive jolt of excitement when Sanders arrived.
He brought with him from Jackson State a star quarterback — his son Shedeur — and a generational talent — Travis Hunter, who shocked everyone as the No. 1 recruit in the country by going to Jackson State, then won the Heisman Trophy at Colorado as a two-way sensation.
So at the beginning, things looked solid for Colorado. Not everything was perfect, and Sanders did a lot of roster shifting, but there was optimism.
These days? Not so much.
Coach Prime is getting asked about his job security often. He says he doesn’t think about it.
Plenty of others are thinking about it.
Deion Sanders Job Status
National college football writer Stewart Mandel of The Athletic wrote about Sanders in a new article this week in which he posed the question: Who’s Colorado’s next coach?
For Colorado to have a next coach, its current coach has to be on the way out of town, and that seems more and more likely.
This is what Mandel wrote:
“Deion Sanders says he doesn’t think about his job security, but c’mon. Coach Prime delivered a much-needed jolt of excitement to Boulder in his first two seasons, but Colorado has since lost 12 of its last 15 games against Power 4 opponents and is staring down the possibility of a second straight 3-9 season. Ideally, he’d make it easy on everybody and exit stage left, avoiding a potentially messy divorce. If not, new AD Fernando Lovo will have to decide whether there’s any chance things could get better if Sanders returns.”
The fact that there’s a new athletic director makes it seem even more likely that Sanders could be on his way out. It’d be a way to have a totally fresh start.
Colorado Problem
The one reason Colorado might not change? Relevance.
The Buffs weren’t particularly relevant before Deion showed up. And while there is clear downside to Sanders on the sideline, as the recent struggles have shown, he also brings a spotlight that wouldn’t otherwise be there.
In an ever-changing world of college football, that spotlight could end up mattering a great deal. So it’s certainly not a given that Colorado actually makes this move. There’s a lot to consider.
Deion Sanders’ Job Status at Colorado Gets Harsh Reality Check