Deion Sanders, known as “Prime Time” for his legendary football career, accepted an offer from the University of Colorado Saturday night to become the school’s next head football coach.
Sanders accepted the offer after the team that he currently coaches, Jackson State University, won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship title game Saturday afternoon against Southern, 43-24.
“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,” said Rick George, Athletic Director at the University of Colorado. “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.”
Colorado hired Sanders after the team fired former Head Coach Karl Dorrell during the middle of the season after the team was barely competitive on the field.
Sanders move to Boulder presents the team the opportunity to become instantly competitive after years of fielding teams that struggled to win. This is because Sanders is a top recruiter and he will likely lure some of the nation’s top football talent to play at Colorado. At Jackson State University, Sanders was able to bring in the nation’s #1 football recruit, Travis Hunter, luring him away from every top football program.
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
At Jackson State University, Sanders amassed a 27-5 record and won back-to-back conference championships.
Sanders was a two-time unanimous first-team All-American as a defensive back at Florida State and won the 1988 Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back. Sanders was a top athlete in the National Football League and in Major League Baseball and is the only athlete to ever play in both the Super Bowl and World Series.
The concern for George will be making sure that the school can muster up the proper resources to assist Sanders with managing the administration side of the game as that was a problem when he ran Prime Prep Academy in Dallas. George must also be prepared to raise Sanders’ salary substantially as other more powerful schools will likely try to snatch him away if Sanders is instantly able to bring the nation’s top football talent to Boulder.
This report has been updated to include additional information.