In football, the offseason is extension season. At the NFL level, the league’s biggest superstars are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars. In college, head coaches are locking themselves into their programs long-term.
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Deion Sanders is in just the third year of a five-year contract at Colorado. Unless he retires or leaves for another job after the 2025 campaign, he’ll be the Buffaloes’ leader through 2027. But he, compared to other high-level coaches, appears to be underpaid. Sanders’ $5.7 million salary, according to Kevin Borba, ranked 38th in college football.
This, to Borba, is way too low. On Monday evening, he took to the Locked on Buffs YouTube channel to explain himself. In his opinion, Sanders should be the Big 12’s highest-paid coach.
“I’ve said time and time again, that all the value he brings on [and] off the field… from a perspective of marketing, he should be the highest-paid coach in the Big 12 and probably should be a top 10, at worst top 15 highest-paid coach in college football… he has changed the trajectory of this program in ways that most people… never thought were possible.”
Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, making $7.75 million per year, is the Big 12’s highest-paid coach. That figure is the 17th-largest salary for a college football head coach. If Colorado were to pay Sanders like a top-10 coach, they’d have to give him a $9 million salary. Four SEC head coaches – Mark Stoops, Lane Kiffin, Eli Drinkwitz, and Josh Heupel – are currently tied at that mark.
Is Deion Sanders seeking a higher salary?
Sanders is one of the most popular people in the sports sphere. He has investments and brand deals paying him millions on top of what he’s making as the Buffs’ head coach. Truth be told, he’s not coaching because he needs it to support his family. He’s doing it for the love of the game.
Believe it or not, that same love of the game is why he’s fighting for a better contract. It sounds like a paradox, but it makes sense based on comments from his first spring press conference.
“I ain’t worried about me. Let’s get everybody else straight first. Then I’m good.”
Sanders’s primary aspirations for a new deal appear to center on his staff and players. In recent months, he has added multiple NFL Hall of Famers to his coaching contingent.
- Marshall Faulk, a three-time Offensive Player of the Year, is coaching running backs.
- Warren Sapp, the 1999 Defensive Player of the Year, is Sanders’ pass rush coordinator.
Additionally, 15-year NFL veteran Domata Peko is Colorado’s new defensive line coach.
Sanders’ commitment to excellence has him bringing stars of all kinds to Boulder. In two years, he has turned the Buffaloes from a 1-11 bunch into a 9-4 squad. He likely thinks he could add even more firepower – and truly compete for a College Football Playoff championship – with more resources at his disposal.
If Sanders can’t get that buy-in from the Buffaloes, he will eventually get it elsewhere. Unless Colorado is fine with slipping back into anonymity, meeting Sanders’ demands would be the best step forward.
