Is 2026 the Year Colorado Football’s Head Coach Gets Over the Hump of Mediocrity?
There is no question that Deion Sanders is one of the more charismatic faces in the world of college football. Despite the lack of success, he’s still managed to be the center of attention week in and week out, yet there's an emptiness of not winning that is clearly eating away at him and the team. The 58-year-old came to Boulder in 2023 after a successful tenure with Jackson State, leading them to a program record of 11 wins in just his first season. ‘Prime Time’ was also great at recruiting, where he was able to get the number one overall prospect in 2022, Travis Hunter, to flip his commitment from Florida State to Jackson State- a move that shocked everyone.
Deion would continue to use his ability to bring in players via the transfer portal at Colorado, where he replaced almost the entire team in his first year, with 46 players leaving and 50 coming in. With all the hype surrounding his first year with the Buffaloes, expectations were high, and many people envisioned a future powerhouse. Unfortunately, that could not be farther from the truth, as Colorado finished with a 4-8 record and a 1-8 record in the Pac-12. The following season was a significant improvement for ‘Coach Prime’ and his squad, as they went 9-4, narrowly missing the College Football Playoff's 12-team expansion. This led many to believe that it might take time and that Sanders' antics were paying off.
The 2025 season was quite literally a disaster for Colorado, as it was the first season under ‘Coach Prime’ without Travis Hunter and his son Shedeur Sanders, who was the Buffaloes' QB for the first two years. Finishing 3-9, it simply looked like a mess on both sides of the field, allowing an average of 222 rushing yards per game while averaging nearly six penalties a game on offense. It almost feels like this shouldn’t be happening, as every social media post of Deion coaching his team makes it look like the players are locked in and listening to the motivation being spewed at them. It could be their competition, their talent, or maybe they are sick of their coach, but as of right now, the bar is so low in Boulder that even the bare minimum of seven wins will be impressive, and yet may not even be enough for another year of ‘Prime Time’ under the helm.
