One of the most prolific bank robbers in American history is William Sutton (1860-1901). When asked why he robs banks, he is famously quoted as saying, “Because that is where the money is.” While a bank robber by trade, Sutton would have made a good NCAA Athletic Director. Sutton had a clear vision (get rich), a sound plan (rob banks), and a man of action (he is known to have robbed banks for over forty years and cleared over $2M (not adjusted for inflation in this blog)).
In 2005, after a disappointing Big 12 Championship loss to the Texas Longhorns, the University of Colorado fired its then-head coach Gary Barnett. In the proceeding 17 football seasons since, leading up to modern day, CU has had more mid-season head coaching firings (Hawkins ‘10, MacIntyre ‘18, Dorrell ’22), than bowl appearances (Alamo ’16 & ’20). You can’t make this stuff up. No vision, no plan, no action. Well, perhaps a bit of half-hearted action, on the same level as yelling for some meatloaf. Easy enough, but nothing of real substance when it comes to winning national championships.
The hiring of Coach Prime was the Miracle in Michigan pass AD Rick George needed to save his job and save the CU football program from being regulated to a lower division of play (this is not really an NCAA thing, but it would be cool if it was, just like English Soccer). The Crazy Train has arrived in Boulder, and CU has already reaped benefits beyond measure (e.g., Jump to the Big 12 (Big 16?), sold-out games, through-the-roof merchandise sales, top-of-mind program for all four and five-star high-school recruits).
Yet, Coach Prime will have to prove it on the field. To quote the great Mike Tyson “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” and come this Saturday, when our Buffaloes take on the 2023 runner-up national champion Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs, both teams will most assuredly take some punches, and it will be the team that responds with the greatest sense of urgency that will win this game. Vegas has TCU as a three-touch-down favorite. ESPN gives the Buffs an 8% chance of winning. Vegas wasn’t built on being wrong, and ESPN typically knows their business, so there has to be some merit to the pundits saying CU is destined to welt in the Texas heat. As for me, if CU can keep our soon-to-be star QB Shedeur Sanders clean, and CU’s defense can put pressure on TCU’s QB, CU will win in a shootout.
So, here’s to CU coming out swinging, punching TCU in the mouth, shocking the world on the road, and returning to Folsom field the following Saturday to kick off the 100th year of CU football by beating Nebraska for the third time in a row and going 2-0 on the season. Ma! Meatloaf!
This coming Saturday, April 22, at 1PM MT (ESPN), CU will hold its annual Black & Gold Spring football game. The Spring game serves as the conclusion of Spring practice and an opportunity for coaches to determine the level and depth of talent on the team before players are dismissed until August. While serving as a capstone of sorts, the Spring Game really is a glorified practice and is open to the public, and is typically free of charge. For the past decade, Buff Nation paid no attention to this game (practice). It really wasn’t worth anyone’s time.
Oh how the times have changed. We live in a different world than we did just a few months ago (Coach Prime accepted the job on 12/3/22), and a once afterthought event when tickets literally weren’t printed because there was no demand for them, is now the hottest ticket in town. For the first time in history, the CU Spring game is sold out, leaving fans scrambling to find tickets on Stubhub. The 45,000 tickets sold is more than the prior nine spring games combine (when tickets were free). CU has also sold out all its season tickets for the regular season. The first time in 27 years. It’s a different world for Buff Nation.
So, with that said, who’s ready? Who’s ready to ride this “Coach Prime” wave all the way to the end? While Vegas grapples with the odds of success Coach Prime will have in Colorado, as fans we all have the opportunity to board Crazy Train until it breaks down, or until we return to national prominence.
We Coming!
Doug
What you need to know – on the sidelines of Saturday’s game there will be a handful of highly ranked recruits considering whether they want to join the team. A sell-out crowd will speak volumes about the commitment Buff Nation has toward supporting their football team. A beautiful weather day will help the cause as well.
Food for thought – How many games will the Colorado Buffaloes win this season?
In his best Bud Fox (Wall Street) impersonation, CU Athletic Director Rick George indeed bagged the elephant with the hiring of Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders as our next Colorado Football head coach. In a literal split second, the CU Football program, which was the laughingstock of the NCAA and left for dead, went from an afterthought as a desired destination to top of mind for nearly every football recruit.
https://youtu.be/-WJ_2ycsHl8
As news emerged of CU offering Deion the head coaching position, pools of believers and doubters emerged. Yes, Deion had a proven track record of being a winner (NFL, MLB, coaching, recruiting), yet is Deion the right guy for CU and the Republic of Boulder? Was this an act of desperation or a brilliant administrative calculation? For years CU had wallowed in an identity crisis, and was the Prime Time identity really the answer?
Despite the naysayers, pundits and doubters, Coach Prime accepted the job. Wait, what??!!!. Oh yeah, it is on! Immediately CU reaped the benefits. CU merchandise sales shot up 700%, players far and wide signed on with CU, and it is expected that CU season tickets will sell out. We are living out, real-time, a once in a lifetime program resurgence, and there is no place on the sidelines, but plenty of room on the CU Buff bandwagon. It is time to believe again. After all, it’s the holidays and it don’t cost nothing.
https://youtu.be/Zf16YtSOaUQ
This Christmas, Santa is not the only one coming to town. So, you better watch out, and so should the rest of college football. We Coming!
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken
Like the traveler in Robert Frost’s poem, CU stands at a crossroads. Soon after this email hits your inbox, the University of Colorado will be announcing the hiring of its next football head coach. It is an understatement to say CU has struggled over the past two decades (rounding up), and that this past season has been the worst in the program’s 133-year storied history. CU has been outscored an average of 28 points / game. 2022 saw CU’s program deteriorate at an accelerated rate and currently ranked 122nd out of 131 division 1 programs. Get this hiring decision wrong, and AD Rick George will have effectively signed his own expulsion papers.
Later today CU plays #14 Utah for its final game of the season. College football loves its rivalries, and the Pac-12 looked to manufacture a rivalry between Utah and CU (which is why CU plays Utah each year as the last regular season game), when both schools joined the Pac-12 in 2011. Yet, over the years, these two schools have traveled significantly different paths to arrive at today’s game (point spread is Utah by 29.5).
For Utah, their success can be traced back to 2005, and the hiring of their current head coach Kyle Whittingham. Utah has posted a .640 winning percentage since joining the Pac-12 and is always considered a worthy opponent. For Colorado, their woes can be traced back to 2005 (ironically) with the erroneous (IMHO) firing of Coach Barnett, and the now infamous series of five unfortunate head coach hires (Hawkins, Embree, McIntyre, Tucker, Dorrel). Add in Barnett, current Interim coach Sanford and the soon to be head coach, and that is eight HC coaches during the same span Utah (our so to speak rival) has had one. No wonder these programs are viewed so differently by recruits and peers.
There is talk of potentially hiring Deon “Prime Time” Sanders as the next coach. Another top candidate is Illinois DC Ryan Walters (former Buff player). Both have their pros and cons. Time will tell who is hired, and time will tell whether it was the right decision. What we do know is today, the Buffs stand at a crossroads and are able to only choose one path. Years from now, may Buff Nation look back on this time in our program’s history and see that this (future) coaching hire has indeed made all the difference.
