Deion Sanders has accepted the $29.5 million head coaching job at the University of Colorado. The NFL legend will leave Jackson State University when the season ends.
Sanders’s $5 million annual salary is the highest ever for a Colorado head coach.
Sanders would owe CU $15M if he leaves in the first year, $10M if he leaves in the 2nd year, $8M in the third year and $5M if he leaves after that. If Colorado fires Sanders at any point without cause, the school would owe him 75% of his remaining contract. #cubuffs
— Brian Howell (@BrianHowell33) December 4, 2022
The announcement caps several weeks of rumors that Sanders was leaving Jackson State for Colorado. The news was an open secret. Coaching staff and student athletes at both schools spoke openly to the media about Sanders.
The Hall of Famer did little to keep the news contained. He traveled to Boulder to meet the football team and he spoke with his own coaching staff to see who was willing to make the move with him.
One person who will make the trip is his son Shedeur Sanders. The 20-year-old will be the Colorado Buffaloes’ starting quarterback. “He has to earn it though,” said Sanders during a packed introduction press briefing in Colorado on Sunday.
Sanders, 55, took JSU from obscurity in 2020 to an undefeated 12-0 season in 2022. Sanders’ teams posted a 27-5 overall record.
Sanders, a baseball phenom, was signed by the Atlanta Falcons NFL team in 1989. He started for the Falcons while still playing for the Atlanta Braves MLB team in 1991.
Sanders played for 5 NFL teams and four MLB teams. In addition to being a 2× Super Bowl champion, he was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1994.
But his stats mean nothing to his critics who downplayed his move to Colorado. One reporter for CBS Sports said, “Sanders chose a scenic, run-down football program in a hippie town to plant his Power Five flag.”
The writer complained that Sanders should’ve taken the Georgia Tech job in the South where “he is revered” and “seemed to make the most sense.”
Black Twitter had mixed reactions to the news. Some called Sanders a “sell-out” for leaving an HBCU to be head coach at a majority white school in the Colorado Rockies.
Am I white washed for not thinking Deion Sanders is a sell out? Preface, I literally know little to nothing about football plus any under lining logistics regarding this. I just know he left an HBCU to go make substantially more money compared to his current salary? School me!
— a.b.(Sie) (@SieSpeaks) December 5, 2022
The slander I’m seeing about Deion sanders taking the Colorado job is embarrassing. Instead of congratulating him on what he did for HBCU schools and the eyes he put on the programs he’s getting called a sell out and all types of names it’s just wild to see.
— Freddy (@therealFreddy85) December 5, 2022
People calling Deion Sanders a sell out sound crazy you wouldn’t turn down 5 million dollars either
— Rell (@T__relll) December 5, 2022
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