Deion Sanders has taken the Colorado Boulder football team by storm in his first year as Head Coach. Not only has he turned the heads of all college football fans in the nation, he’s started the season undefeated with three wins under his belt going into week four.
Sanders has made Colorado relevant for the first time in years, whether their success will last or not, he’s making history. Because of Sanders, the entire program and the trajectory around the school has changed for the better. He got off to the right start with this job in week one’s upset over the defending national champions in TCU and followed that up with a huge win over Nebraska in their home opener. Just this past week, he faced a showdown against the known rivalry of Colorado Boulder and Colorado State for week three. The battle was taken all the way to overtime to erupt Folsom Stadium after sealing the win leading to students storming the field.
Sanders is known as one of the fastest players the NFL has ever seen at cornerback so it only makes sense that he is growing so rapidly as head coach of Colorado. It only took two weeks for him to put the Buffaloes on the map after their 1-11 record last season. Colorado is going out with a bang as this is their last season in the Pac-12 conference before they move to the Big-12.
The former Dallas Cowboys legend brings a huge personality to college football and is making his way up to Nick Saban in being one of, if not the face of, college football for this season. He is a serious competitor that brings a ton of fire to the sidelines of Colorado with his NFL Hall of Fame knowledge. His aggressive attitude towards the media may turn off some people but others view that he was born to be on this stage with his entertainment-like qualities. However, the media cannot get enough of Sanders and the way that he plans to transform the Buffaloes football program.
With his attitude and the ways he presents himself he has caught the attention of many A-list celebrities, including Wu-Tang Clan, Terrell Owens, Shannon Sharpe, Michael Irvin and Stephen A. Sanders. He has also found himself endorsements with Subway, Chevrolet, KFC and Aflack -adding onto his prior McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Pepsi. He has been a guest on many different interviews and talk shows, always producing content that never fails to go viral. Sanders has become one of the most trending coaches and faces in sports right now.
Although it may not seem like it, in his short time at Colorado, he has put the team into full rebuilding mode with some unusual ways of recruiting. He is using the same strategy that he used at his previous job at Jackson State, he calls it his 40-40-20 formula. His goal for the team is to have a team that recruits 40% undergraduate transfers, 40% graduate transfers and 20% from high school. Since his hiring in December, he has brought in more transfers than any other team this year with 28. His transfer class ranks at No. 1 in the nation according at 247Sports. Name, image and likeness has risen to be one of the primary concepts of college sports, allowing players to profit off their own talent and make money before reaching the professional leagues. Sanders recognized this and took advantage of it through the transfer portal; he ended up having a sold out spring game because of their marketing strategies and the hype surrounding Sanders being named head coach.
Sanders is bringing a new culture to Colorado and this is just the start for him in his coaching career. No one knows how long this is going to last and Sanders has no plans on slowing down, but it has surely been quite the ride to start off the college football season.
