The University of Colorado has secured Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders with a five-year, $54 million contract after he transformed the football program from a struggling team into a playoff contender. Signed on March 28, the deal will pay Sanders $10 million annually, making him one of the top 10 highest-paid coaches in the nation.
According to The Athletic, Sanders had two years remaining on his initial contract, and his brief flirtation with taking the previously open Dallas Cowboys job likely gave him some leverage in the discussions he and University of Colorado Athletic Director Rick George had been having since at least the tail end of 2024.
As George told the outlet, the extension allows Sanders to keep building on his vision for the program.
“Coach Prime has revolutionized college football and in doing so, has restored CU football to our rightful place as a national power,” George told The Athletic.
He continued, “This extension not only recognizes Coach’s incredible accomplishments transforming our program on and off the field, it keeps him in Boulder to compete for conference and national championships in the years to come.”
Although at times, Sanders has courted controversy, he has also created vast sums of money for the university, helping the program to generate $31 million in ticket sales in 2023, up from $13 million the previous season, ahead of Sanders’ arrival on campus.
According to CBS Sports, Sanders has also received support from his peers for his idea to transform spring football games into an environment reminiscent of an NFL preseason game, a development that is strikingly different from the initial reactions from some of those peers regarding his approach to rebuilding his roster largely through the use of the transfer portal.
While some coaches have bemoaned the transfer portal and the emergence of NIL and universities’ respective NIL collectives, referring to recruiting as a bidding war, Sanders, as evidenced by his comments in November to The Athletic, as well as his use of it to build the bulk of his roster, sees it as another evolution of college football.
“I never take a step back,” Sanders told the outlet in mid-November. “I try to take a step up. I’m always with my head out the window: I’m trying to see around the corner, not trying to see straight ahead. It’s normalcy to see what’s in front of them. I’m trying to see around the corner.”
Although it remains to be seen if the program will replicate or surpass the level it reached while Sanders’ two sons Sheduer and Shilo starred on opposite sides of the ball alongside Sanders’ “other son,” two-way star Travis Hunter, the program’s future at quarterback looks bright as Kaidon Salter transferred in from Liberty and Colorado signed highly regarded five-star quarterback prospect Julian “Juju” Lewis, who decommitted from USC to join the Buffaloes.
According to the Boulder Daily Camera, Sanders is looking forward to not only continuing to build the program, but the young men who come into it, per his comments in a press release announcing the extension.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to continue building something special here at Colorado,” Sanders said in the press release. “We’ve just scratched the surface of what this program can be. It’s not just about football; it’s about ...
