Deion Sanders begins his fourth season as Colorado’s football coach with the kind of chatter no high-profile coach wants to hear.
Industry talk has already turned to whether the Buffaloes’ coach, widely known as Coach Prime, can keep his job if the program stumbles again.
Colorado opened the 2026 season on the road Thursday against Georgia Tech. The timing has only sharpened questions that followed a 3-9 finish a year ago.
Sanders is 16-21 in Boulder and 0-1 in bowl games. Those numbers would put most Power Four coaches on shaky ground.
CBS Sports college football writer Richard Johnson described the coming months as a “narrative-defining season” for Sanders.
“Sanders beat bladder cancer last year, but that was not the first health concern of his coaching career. He had multiple toes amputated while at Jackson State,” Johnson wrote. “That, combined with Colorado’s poor play, has made Sanders’ status constant fodder for conversations among industry sources. Many were convinced 2025 would be his last, but Sanders has made a habit throughout his life of zigging when people expect him to zag.”
Johnson added that the conversation is unlikely to fade if results stay poor.
“But the rumors won’t go away if CU struggles this season, and it may force new athletic director Fernando Lovo to make a significant decision at season’s end if Sanders misses a bowl for the third time in four years,” Johnson continued.
“Much of the shine has worn off the Buffs’ experience, and that’s what happens when you don’t win to back up the hype.”
He closed the assessment this way: “Colorado has been many things since Sanders arrived. They need to find a way to be good at football.”
Lovo took over as athletic director after Rick George stepped aside. That change in leadership has added another layer to the discussion around Sanders’ future.
Sanders has not sounded rattled. At Big 12 media days he framed the year in simple terms.
“We better win,” Sanders said. “We’re going to win. I love what I got. I love what I see.”
The Buffaloes will lean on redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Lewis as the full-time starter. Sanders has also installed new coordinators on both sides of the ball after last year’s collapse on offense and defense.
Colorado ranked among the nation’s worst teams in scoring last season. The roster was rebuilt again through the transfer portal, a familiar pattern since Sanders arrived from Jackson State after the 2022 season.
He inherited a program that had not posted a winning record since 2016. One winning season in four years, the 9-4 campaign in 2024, may not be enough if 2026 follows the same path as 2025.
Sanders has made clear he does not view Thursday’s opener as an easy assignment.
“Georgia Tech is not a layup by any means, and we are not a layup to them by any means,” Sanders said on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a tremendous task. Like I said, I got the utmost respect for coach Key and that staff that he’s assembled, and I’m sure he feels the same.”
The teams met a year ago. Sanders remembered that game as a slugfest decided by a quarterback who would not yield.
“It was a tremendous battle last season that they had a quarterback that refused to lose, and I love that,” Sanders said. “I love that. I want to flip it over. I really do.”
Georgia Tech has a new starter at quarterback after Haynes King moved on to the NFL. Sanders still expects a physical, well-coached opponent in Atlanta.
Colorado’s early results will be watched closely. Another slow start would give critics more material and put Lovo in a difficult spot by December.
Sanders has spent his public life turning skepticism into fuel. That history is part of why some around the sport still hesitate to write him off.
The other part is simpler. College football is a results business, and the Buffaloes have not produced enough of them since the spotlight first arrived in Boulder.
Thursday night is the first chance to change that story.
