When the Colorado Buffaloes hired Deion Sanders as head coach in December of 2022, shockwaves were felt across the nation.
Sanders, who had spent the previous three seasons as head coach of the FCS Jackson State Tigers where he amassed a 27-6 record and led the program to back-to-back Celebration Bowls, has been one of the biggest personalities in all of sports for nearly 35 years. It was only fitting that the media would latch onto him and the Buffaloes.
As a result, Colorado got more hype, buzz, and publicity than perhaps any team in the nation throughout the college football offseason and even leading into the first month of the season. The Buffaloes went 3-0 to start the year, had countless celebrities show up to their games, and were ranked as high as No. 18 in the AP Poll.
Then, the bottom fell out. After Colorado moved to 3-0 with a 43-35 overtime victory over in-state rival Colorado State, the Buffaloes went 1-8 in Pac-12 play to finish the season at a disappointing 4-8.
Sanders reflected on the season in an interview with PEOPLE Magazine as the second season of his Prime Video docuseries Coach Prime is set to debut this week.
“You always wish that you had a little more privacy,” Sanders said. “but the same thing that makes you shine will show your blemishes. [The season] was a whirlwind early on. Then it calmed down to a halt. We’re going to show you how we dealt with that adversity, it was tough because I’ve never lost pretty much in life, and in the last several years of my life, 10 years, decade, I’m a darn winner, so dealing with losses was tough.”
Despite the ups and downs of the season, Sanders remains optimistic about the future, saying, “There’s a process to all of it, and you have to go through certain processes of life to get to where you want to get to. It just doesn’t happen overnight. Contrary to what people may believe, success does not happen overnight.”
