DENVER — A contract for a new Colorado football coach — who’s expected to be NFL icon Deion Sanders — is now officially up for discussion by the Board of Regents on Sunday morning.
The board announced Saturday that it has scheduled a special meeting for 10 a.m. Sunday to discuss, according to the public agenda, a “Personnel matter at CU-Boulder — athletics.”
The announcement confirms that the end of the Buffs’ hiring process is coming, and fast. But it’s the hire that’s expected to turn heads. As the clock winds down, the Buffs are pulling out the stops to get a deal with Sanders wrapped up.
Multiple sources close to the negotiations told The Denver Post that CU is prepared to make Sanders the highest-paid football coach in school history to lure the Jackson State coach from FCS to the Pac-12. A multi-year deal worth at least $4.5 million annually has been on the table for Sanders, who’s slated to coach Jackson State (11-0) against Southern in the SWAC football championship game Saturday afternoon in Jackson, Miss.
While Sanders had not officially accepted the Buffs’ offer as of Saturday morning, ESPN reported late Friday that the Pro Football Hall of Famer was “preparing” to take the job and has recently been lining up staffers and potential portal transfers to join him at CU.
Former Buffs coach Karl Dorrell — who had been fired on Oct. 2 after an 0-5 start this season and an 8-15 record since his hire in February 2022 — made $3.6 million this past season. Dorrell has been slated to earn $3.8 million in 2023 and $4 million in 2024.
Sanders’ salary, if it comes in at around $4.5 million, would’ve placed him among the top 5 of Pac-12 coaches in 2022, trailing only UCLA’s Chip Kelly (reported $5.6 million), Utah’s Kyle Whittingham ($6.0 million), Stanford’s David Shaw ($6.5 million) and USC’s Lincoln Riley (estimated at around $10 million).
Several sources have told The Post that CU will be modifying its policies regarding transfer credits to make it easier to recruit players from the transfer portal, addressing an issue that has been a sticking point for current and former Buffs football coaches.
Under current university academic requirements, not every credit from every system carries over once the student-athlete is accepted in Boulder. This sometimes makes new student-athletes ineligible immediately and in academic limbo until the credits can be made up. But with the collegiate model transitioning to one of transfers with immediate eligibility, potential recruits aren’t interested in a “gap” year because of academic discrepancies.
Buffs administrators, when reached by The Post, had no comment Saturday.
