It’s election season in America and there’s no greater influence than the court of public opinion.
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders is now into his second season and has brought sweeping changes and his famous swagger that has lit up the local campus while putting off many other fanbases since his hiring. Similar to our national leaders, that has made Prime a very controversial character both positively and negatively.
So that begs the question; what is Coach Prime’s approval rating amongst the local media? We reached out to get their thoughts on Sanders' tenure thus far and compiled the ratings.
Mason LeBeau - 55%
@DTH_Mason | SkoBuffsSports @SBS_CU
I love the energy that Prime has brought back to the Colorado campus and he managed to do so before building a winning football team. Being relevant again is fun, people love to hate and hate to love them because this is the most watch-worthy team in the nation that isn’t a playoff candidate. I truly don’t believe we’re a Big 12 team without him.
I have real concerns about how he builds his team and I believe he started a rebuild incorrectly to showcase Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. Should they both be high first-round picks in the NFL draft, then perhaps that gamble will pay off and the recruitment trail will become that much easier. If not, I have a hard time seeing him getting the necessary talent and coaching needed to turn Colorado into a legit playoff program. Eventually, the glamor will wear off. A true step forward this season and a strong recruitment class would go a long way toward his approval.
Zach Segars - 65%
@Zach_Segars | LetsTalkBroncos @TheLTBPodcast
“On one hand, the bludgeoning at the hands of the Huskers demonstrated a failure to match expectations and raised some real questions about Coach Prime's method of leaning so heavily on the transfer portal and his ability to build a premier coaching staff. This offseason, they should revisit the drawing board. On the other hand, Prime has still massively turned this program around and has shone a spotlight on the university unlike anything it's seen before, and something college football as a whole has rarely seen before. It is fairly unlikely that Colorado fans will get to enjoy an atmosphere this special or a roster this loaded with high-octane NFL talent after the Prime era. Sports are meant to be entertainment, for 99 percent of those who engage with it, and this will be one of the most entertaining eras CU football will ever experience. All this national attention and money will also positively impact CU's other athletic programs and the university as a whole. Also, although there are gaps in the current plan, that might ultimately work in the Buffaloes' favor. It seems Coach Prime won't be able to microwave enough success to enable a leap to a blue blood program, so he's going to have to build CU up the right way, if that is his ultimate goal, especially with Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders bound for the NFL. That extended presence means perpetuated luster for the athletic program, more money headed to the school, and a much greater chance of sustained success even if Prime eventually leaves. And all that is without mentioning how low the football team was when Prime took over, and where it stands today.”
Jack Carlough - 90%
“While the wins haven’t come in full force just yet, there is excitement around CU football again because of Coach Prime. The university and city of Boulder have benefited from the Buffs’ resurgence. However, a bowl game is needed this season to keep the positive momentum going”
Tony Cosolo - 65%
“The strides that Coach Prime has made off the field are tremendous. CU was the worst Power 5 team in the country before he was hired and he has brought the spotlight and swag back to Boulder, especially on the recruiting trail. On-field success is the only lagging issue on his score. But this recent game against the Rams looked like a turning point to me, most notably on defense. If CU can play like they did in Fort Collins, they can make noise in the Big 12 and his score will go up.”
Patrick Dawson - 70%
@patrickdawson3 / @patrick.dawson (Instagram) | SkoBuffsSports @SBS_CU
“Prime has completely transformed the profile of the school which has brought immense benefits to almost every single corner. All of the sports teams have seen immense boosts in interest, and even the club sports teams have seen popularity from players doing the Shedeur celebration (a result of Prime). However, the football on the field, to this point, has been disappointing. 6-9 through 15 games is just not good enough. The team HAS to make a bowl game this year.”
Trent Finnegan - 55%
@Trent_Finnegan2 | SkoBuffsSports @SBS_CU
“I think that the publicity for the university and the town of Boulder has been amazing. I have been around this program my entire life and have only seen one* good season (2016 and the 2020 COVID year), so it's nice to see all of the attention on the program. However, when this team steps on the field, I feel that there are puzzling coaching decisions such as timeout usage and personnel groupings, and they still haven't beaten an FBS team with a winning record 15 games into the Prime era. I'm not sounding the alarm at all, but just saying that this team needs to win some important games this year in the second half of the season.”
Xavier Michnewicz - 72%
@Xavier_Michnewicz | SkoBuffsSports @SBS_CU
“I’ve personally been a Buffs fan my entire life, and I’ve seen a lot of losing football. With Coach Prime here, it’s a lot of ups and downs. I gave Prime 72% because I would like to see some return on investment. He’s brought a lot of excitement to the program but if the program isn’t bowl eligible this year I’ll be really disappointed.”
Joey Richards - 70%
@LTB_Joey | @LetsTalkBuffs /LetsTalkBroncos @TheLTBPodcast
“Overall, Coach Prime has brought an energy to this program that no other realistic or available coach could have and because of that he deserves a lot of praise. For Buffs fans, I think it’s still unreal for so many to see Colorado even considered by some of the nation's best recruits so quickly after the program, as a whole, was at an all-time low. The reason why his approval rating isn’t even higher is simply because of concern about his idea of building a team. While the transfer portal is a necessity in today’s college football landscape, I believe he leans too far into it. Ultimately, football is still the ultimate team sport and I think it’s hard to build the winning culture needed to compete at the highest level with this strategy.”
Carter Dillion - 80%
@CarterDillon14 | @LetsTalkBuffs / LetsTalkBroncos @TheLTBPodcast
“We've seen Coach Prime come in and immediately flip the program upside down to become one of the most popular and fun programs in the country. The gain in popularity and social media followers became immense and that brought in some amazing NIL opportunities and Prime's use of that along with players just wanting to "Play for Prime" in the transfer portal and high school recruiting was successful. For Coach Prime to gain some percentage on my approval ratings he needs to win. He has a talented enough roster to do so, he just needs to put it all together and the sky's the limit.”
Frank Dean - 75%
@DeanJFrank | Podcast @BuffsBanter
“Coach Prime is an above-par coach, he was able to transition a one-win team to +400% in four wins last season. Additionally, he draws lots of attention in the transfer portal and therefore has been able to bring on a lot of new talent. I would love to see better management of play calls on both sides of the ball as CU is very one-sided at times. The more they win, the higher his approval will be!”
Overall Rating - 69%
The expert opinions mostly came to the same consensus independently of each other. Coach Prime did what few others could do, bringing relevance and excitement to a program that lost its energy long ago. Any other hire Colorado could have made almost certainly would have gone through the same trials and tribulations as the others before Sanders because frankly, CU was not a worthy school to consider. Any rebuild would’ve been extremely difficult and taken a lot of time.
Deion Sanders expedited a lot of that process by bringing in a handful of NFL-caliber players and had the endorsement of plenty of celebrities. That alone has made Colorado a more successful program than it has been since the nineties.
Everyone agrees the pageantry and relevance are nice, but that the Buffs need to start seeing tangible improvement on the field. Last year's second half collapse to Stanford was reminiscent of the same old Buffs and a non-competitive loss to Nebraska this year is reason for concern that they may be in the same boat. For a team garnering so much attention it would be embarrassing to go two years without a bowl appearance, so while he has the good graces of the experts for now, expectations remain high.
Cover graphic by Nick Evans/Sko Buffs Sports
Commentaires