The last few weeks have been a struggle for Deion Sanders and his Colorado team, but there’s no question that he put the Buffaloes back on the map. After leading Jackson State to back-to-back SWAC championship games, he left for Colorado last year with many doubters doubting his capabilities.
In his first game, he beat TCU, who played in last year’s national championship, on the road en route to a 3-0 start. Unfortunately, Colorado lost five of its last six games, so the magic has lost some of its luster, even though four wins are much more than their one win last season. Sanders has achieved several of his coaching goals, but he says coaching in the NFL isn’t one of them.
In fact, in speaking with Dan Patrick, he admitted that he doesn’t think he’d have much success coaching in the pros. He said, “I don’t think I’m built for the NFL.” He seemed to hint that it’s easier to coach players who aren’t making a lot of money. Sanders continued, “I appreciate the game so much, and I respect the game so much for what the game has consistently done for me for a multitude of years that when I see a guy getting paid millions of dollars, and he has no respect for the game and does not want to excel and exceed expectations in the game, I’m going to have a true problem.”
He added, “I’m the kind of coach that would go out there with 53 [players] and come back after halftime with about 32. I can’t do it. I’m too brutally honest, and I want to win that much. I need everybody that respects the game. Oftentimes, money clouds that judgment. It’s happening in college football — money clouds that love and passion for the game.” Sanders was tested about if he were to become a package deal with his sons, Shedeur and Shilo. In that case, he didn’t necessarily decline.
Sanders said, “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. I’m trying to win a game; I haven’t thought down the street that far. I haven’t thought like that.” Colorado hosted No. 21 Arizona in hopes of snapping a three-game winning streak but were unsuccessful, losing to Washington State and Utah. At face value, the finale of the University of Colorado’s football season in 2023 didn’t seem much different than usual: another loss, another bowl-less season, another losing streak to enter the offseason. But to first-year head coach Deion Sanders, there’s plenty of difference. It starts with the fact that the Buffaloes went out looking like they still had something to play for.
“They won,” Sanders said. “If you were here a year ago and you saw kinda what we came into in the spring. … They won. They won, maybe not on the scoreboard, week in and week out, but they won. And we gotta build off the things that they’ve been tremendously successful in.”