Deion Sanders accepts Colorado job: Buffaloes swing big hoping 'Coach Prime' leads major turnaround - CBS Sports

The Buffaloes announced Sanders as their 28th head football coach Saturday night shortly after his Jackson State Tigers defeated Southern 43-24 to win the 2022 SWAC Championship Game.

"There were a number of highly qualified and impressive candidates interested in becoming the next head football coach at Colorado, but none of them had the pedigree, the knowledge and the ability to connect with student-athletes like Deion Sanders," said Colorado athletic director Rick George in a statement.

Sanders told Jackson State players that he will coach the Celebration Bowl on Dec.

Sanders has spent the last three seasons coaching Jackson State where the Tigers have gone 27-5 overall with a perfect 12-0 mark this season.

Sanders took the program to a 4-3 record during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the same number of wins it achieved in 2019 (4-8).

CBS News Colorado reported Friday that Colorado offered Sanders a contract with a starting salary of "more than $5 million" with incentives that could see the annual pay increase "by roughly 40%" if met.

Dorrell took over the program in 2020 after Mel Tucker unexpectedly left for Michigan State.

While it's unknown if Cincinnati or South Florida formally offered Sanders -- let alone the value of those potential deals -- Colorado feels like the oddest fit of Sanders' three most prominent options, at least on the surface.

Of course, he is "Deion Sanders." It's not as if people of Colorado have never heard of him.

Perhaps Sanders feels that his ability to draw talent to Boulder, coupled with his coaching skill can establish Colorado as a dominant program out West.

When Sanders took over at Jackson State, he found himself at the helm of a program that had produced some great players but hadn't experienced a high level of success.