One of the most popular football players in the sport's history as well as one of the most controversial figures among the college coaching ranks has finally arrived at his first FBS gig.
After heavy speculation over the last week, Deion Sanders has officially joined the Colorado University Buffaloes and will become the school's 28th head football coach in program history.
AD Rick George has named COACH PRIME @DeionSanders to be the 28th full-time head football coach at CU.
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) December 4, 2022
Welcome Coach Prime to Colorado!
https://t.co/otRTjyivpr pic.twitter.com/q63LyoWqSX
Prime Time joins the Pac-12 Conference after successfully helping guide Jackson State University's football team to a 12-0 undefeated season in 2022. JSU defeated the Southern University Jaguars 43-24 earlier today to cement the perfect season for the Tigers at the FCS level.
Sanders heads to Colorado with a career coaching record of 27-5 after going undefeated in his most recent campaign. He led JSU to a pair of Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in the last two seasons and last year won the Eddie Robinson Award presented to the coach of the year among FCS schools.
In his relatively brief coaching career, Sanders has already built a reputation for heavy but successful leverage of NIL rules and the transfer portal in putting together his roster. That approach figures to carry over well to the FBS, but Sanders will have stiff competition in the same areas early on from fellow Pac-12 contender USC and Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley — at least until the program departs for the Big Ten. Colorado will also have a formidable border rival to go through in the form of the conference champion the last two years running: the Utah Utes.
Sanders and the Buffaloes will open their 2023 football season away from home against TCU next season on Saturday, September 2nd.
