Colorado Buffaloes head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has quickly injected life into a once-listless CU Buffs program.
After preseason predictions had them winning just three to four games, Sanders has led them to a surprising 4-2 record in year one. The latest victory came Saturday in rowdy and raucous Tempe, Arizona, in a 27-24 win over a very game Arizona State Sun Devils team.
What made the win even sweeter for Sanders and his team is the Sun Devils decided not to even grant Sanders an interview when their head coach position became available in 2022.
At that time school President Michael Crow told reporters this about why he wouldn’t entertain the thought of Sanders as the program’s new head coach.
“I get a lot of messages about Deion, and Deion seems to be in just his early age of learning how to be a coach,” Crow said. “We’re going to find the most fantastic football coach that we can. I can tell you one thing: ASU football is very important to me. We’ve tried some experiments. They’ve worked a little bit. They haven’t worked in other ways.”
Sounds pretty straightforward, but also as if he didn’t believe Sanders could do the job.
What A Difference A Year Makes
In wake of Sanders leading Colorado to a road win over Crow’s school, the ASU President quickly changed his tune and opinion on Sanders. In an interview with Andscape, Crow was very complimentary of what Sanders has already done at Colorado.
“People love to see creativity, people love to see energy. What Coach Sanders brings to the table is that there are lots of ways to activate, motivate and stimulate creativity in sports and build new leaders. So, he’s off on a new model, which I think can help us to sustain college football.
“Deion Sanders has brought creativity and a new perspective to the enterprise. Anytime you bring creativity to something, it’s good.”
A total about-face for Crow just over a year after he pretty much said Sanders wasn’t ready to make the jump from Jackson State (FCS) to the FBS and Power Five level.
Kenny Dillingham Over Coach Prime?
The Sun Devils opted to hire ASU alumnus Kenny Dillingham as their head coach, and while he’s definitely the more experienced of the two, he ain’t Coach Prime.
There’s no doubt Dillingham, a former offensive for Auburn, Florida State and Oregon, is probably a better X’s and O’s coach, but he doesn’t come close to having the effect that Deion has at CU and likely would’ve had in the desert as well.
In the end, both schools got what they needed. Deion and Dillingham have nothing but profound respect for each other. In fact, Deion says Dillingham almost joined his staff at another location.
