Coach Prime and the Revival of Colorado Football
On December 3rd, 2022, the Colorado Buffaloes just finished their season coming off a 42-point thrashing from their bordering rival, the Utah Utes. It was a new low for the program as the loss put them at a 1-11 record on the year, a tie for the worst record in program history. Former head coach, Karl Dorrell, had already been fired going into the Buff’s bye week in week 6 after an embarrassing 0-5 start, which saw the Buffs get outscored by a combined 149 points. Although interim coach Mike Sanford Jr. was able to rally the team to get their first win of the season in the following week’s game against Cal, it was clear that the program needed to find a new direction after finishing the season on a 6 game losing streak. This prompted the hiring of football icon and hall of fame legend Deion Sanders who had recently finished his tenure at Jackson State with a 26-5 record as well as two consecutive SWAC Coach of the Year Awards. Deion, now often referred to as Coach Prime, has taken the college football world by storm by leveraging his reputation as one of the greatest football players of all time, attracting big name recruits and publishing his brand on social media to bring exposure to the program. Now, Athletic Director Rick George and the Colorado Buffaloes, a program with a deceptively prestigious history, have invested heavily into becoming another beneficiary of the “Coach Prime Effect.”
Coach Prime’s usurpation of college football goes far beyond his impressive on-field record; it began with the implementation of his unique culture model. Throughout his time at Jackson State, Coach Prime managed to transform the JSU program by utilizing his platform as head coach to serve as a fatherly type of mentor for his players through his strict system of discipline. In a team video recorded in August 2022, Coach Prime spelled out some of his regulations which required athletes to sit in the front of the classroom, shower before class each day, and prevented them from wearing slides or tank tops to class. While some of these rules may have seemed arbitrary, there’s no doubt that by holding players to a higher standard than the average student, Coach Prime created a culture of excellence amongst the locker room which not only translated into on-field success but also made the players much closer to Coach Prime himself. In an interview with Complex Sports, three of Coach Prime’s upperclassmen leaders: Jason Mercier, Jurriente Davis, and Isaiah Bolden all adamantly defended Coach Prime’s character, despite facing backlash for leaving Jackson State to take the job at Colorado, illustrating just how loyal these players were to their coach even after his departure.
Now, despite spending only three months as the official head coach, Coach Prime has created a well-documented upheaval of the Colorado football program’s culture. In a video that went viral during his first meeting with the team, Sanders immediately implemented a similar rule system regarding player attire and demanded that his players “get ready to go ahead and jump in that (transfer) portal” if they are not willing to cooperate. He then doubled down on his message to weed out the less committed players, claiming that “I want ones that don't want to quit, that want to be here, who want to work, who want to win.” Coach Prime has taken an unapologetic stance toward exclusively fostering athletes who will buy into his vision for the program, which has resulted in 13 total recruits decommitting from Colorado according to The Athletic and 14 players entering the NCAA’s transfer portal.
On the other side of the coin, Coach Prime’s weeding out process has opened the doors for an influx of talent to cycle through the program. Currently, Colorado has the number 1 ranked transfer class with over 25 commits featuring players from high profile programs such as Alabama, Michigan, and Florida. For followers of Coach Prime or college football in general, this isn’t a huge surprise. Sanders had already established himself as an elite recruiter at Jackson State bringing in multiple four-star recruits, a feat which was previously unheard of at the FCS level, then most notably recruiting the first number 1 overall ranked recruit in FCS history, Travis Hunter, ironically flipping his commitment from Sanders’ alma mater, Florida State. Many of these big-name recruits, including Hunter, have followed Coach Prime to Colorado hoping to build on their on-field success at JSU. Moreover, Coach Prime’s recruiting magic has also transformed Colorado’s 2023 recruiting class into the 21st ranked in the country according to 247 Sports, a complete overhaul from their 2022 class which ranked 58th overall, and this class features yet another 5-star flip in Cormani McClain, the first 5-star to commit to the Buffs since 2008.
Sanders’ golden recruiting pitch is largely centered around his immersive media presence. As his nickname “Prime Time” implies, Coach Prime is comfortable being in front of the camera and takes an aggressive approach to display his message to the public through his son, Deion Sanders Jr’s, YouTube Channel, Well Off Media, which has amassed over 250K subscribers. In his introductory press conference, Coach Prime explains the logic behind his media centric approach by claiming that “The kids, they want exposure…they want to be on television. They want the lights and the action, but they got to understand, the same thing that caused you to shine will show your blemishes as well.” Based on his successful recruiting class, it seems that Coach Prime’s assertion may be accurate.
All in all, Coach Prime’s ability to find talented athletes who are willing to commit to his culture is unmatched due to his status as both a celebrity and one of the greatest players of all time. Sanders has leveraged this advantage to continue building his model of the perfect program at an insanely fast rate. The results of Sanders’ efforts have already manifested themselves in his recruitment of top athletes in both the 2023 and 2024 classes, on top of his number 1 ranked transfer class. With the Pac-12 losing some of its top talent in USC and UCLA, the door seems more open than ever for the Colorado football program to become the new kings of the conference, and if Sanders can build on his successful recruiting classes, the Buffs may see themselves playing in some big games as national contenders in the very near future.