Deion Sanders’ biggest problem is now a former NFL head coach originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes are not having the season they expected to have. Sanders has been adamant that changes are coming. One change has occurred that could make the future more difficult, but it came from another Colorado program.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEarlier this week, the Colorado State Rams announced they have hired former NFL and UConn coach Jim Mora Jr. Viewed as a significant upgrade over the recently fired Jay Norvell. Despite Nick Saban’s less than ringing endorsement for the move, the coach that rebuilt UConn is headed to Fort Collins.
Make no mistake about it, Mora doesn’t register on Sanders’ level when it comes to hype and fan support. However, there is a factor that Mora is likely to impact that has real implications for the other schools in the region. Most notably Colorado.
Every region in college football has certain expectations based on where they are. Whether it is rivalry based, or just teams you are expected to beat more often than not. Lose too many of those specific games over a specified range of time, and that coach’s seat is destined to get hot.
A term that not every college football fan may not be familiar with is “the Front Range”. The simplest way to identify it, is the area in an around the Rocky Mountains. While that could include ever state that touches the Rocky Mountains, for college football it is mostly restricted to Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor a coach in that region to remain in their position, they must be competitive in that region. Recently fired Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell, had one win against Front Range teams (0-2 vs Colorado, 1-2 vs Air Force and 0-1 vs BYU). That combined with a Coach Prime rivalry he initiated and lost, may have been significant contributors to his exit.
Jim Mora Jr takes over at Colorado State
Colorado State has hired former NFL head coach Mora to replace Norvell. Mora has had his fair share of football coaching success and failure along his career. Most recently turning around UConn. From his experience he has a division 1 college football resume that doubles Sanders and a total coaching career that almost quadruples Sanders' experience. Mora to CSU is more than intriguing.
While Sanders’ Buffs are having a bad season, he does not seem to be on any sort of hot seat. After the announcement that athletic director Rick George was stepping down, the AD was compelled to publicly admit that Sanders’ is safe at Colorado. Anyone around the Buffs athletic department would likely confirm that Sanders is completely safe after their abysmal 2025.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSanders has one winning season and one bowl appearance in three years. An argument can be made about wins over ranked teams, weeks in the AP top 25 and recruiting. However, do not underestimate the Front Range factor. Sanders is undefeated against Colorado schools (The Buffs have not played Air Force under Sanders) and Wyoming. However, Sanders is 0-3 against Utah schools (0-1 vs Utah and 0-2 vs BYU including a blowout loss in the Alamo Bowl game of 2024).
The Front Range metric matters to programs in the Front Range
Coaches in the region are judged by wins, conference wins, recruiting and hopefully playoff bids just like everywhere else, but not winning in the Front Range is a quick way to warm your seat. For Sanders to continue the journey he wants to take at Colorado, he must either continue dominating Colorado State or start beating teams from Utah.
In three seasons at Colorado, Sanders is 16-20. If they lose this week against Kansas State, it becomes 16-21. In four seasons with UConn, Mora is 27-23. Mora’s coaching career has spanned forty years. Including time with the Chargers, 49ers, Falcons, and the Seahawks before the last ten years spent between UCLA and UConn.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTime will tell what Mora will be able to do for the Rams, but if he’s successful in the region it will become a talking point. Sanders loses any conversation about success when Utah and BYU come up. Air Force is not consistently a factor as a Military Academy and Colorado does not play them often. Which leaves Wyoming and Colorado State. The perception has to remain that Coach Prime is at least much better than Wyoming and Colorado State. If that sentiment changes, so could his long-term viability in Boulder.
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