Following a 9-4 season that included wins over Baylor, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, and Utah and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl, it’s safe to say the bar was set pretty high for head coach Deion Sanders the Colorado Buffalos heading into the 2025 college football season.
Though the team lost Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and star quarterback Shedeur Sanders to the NFL, Colorado brought in a top-25 recruiting class headlined by five-star QB Julian Lewis and former five-star Tennessee Volunteers commit Kaidon Salter to compete for the vacant quarterback job.
But with just two games left in the regular season, Colorado is sitting at 3-7, and the calls for Sanders to be fired amid a large step back in the team’s development have only grown louder.
Sanders isn’t oblivious to the increasing discourse around the CU program, which is why he took the opportunity to send a message to those who want him fired.
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“You’ve got the right man [leading your program],” Sanders said, vis ESPN. “I promise you, you do. And I’m going to prove that to you. Just give me an opportunity and a little more time, and I’m going to prove that to you.”
Aside from the lack of results on the field, many had questioned Sanders’ long-term future in Colorado following his cancer diagnosis earlier this year coupled with the announced departure of athletic director Rick George, who announced he was stepping down as AD to move into an advisory role with the school in a semi-retirement move.
Sanders signed a five-year, $54 million contract extension this summer, and with a change in leadership at Colorado’s athletics department, some analysts have speculated now might be the perfect time for Sanders to look for an out if he wants to pursue a head-coaching opportunity at a bigger school like Arkansas, Auburn, Stanford, or UCLA.
However, it seems Sanders is fully committed to staying and building on what he started three years ago in Boulder.