Coach Prime agrees to 5-year, $54 million contract extension with Colorado

After months of rumors and discussion, the wait is finally over. Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders is here to stay with the Colorado Buffaloes. The man who has revived Buffs football has agreed to a 5-year, $54 million contract extension to stay in Boulder through the 2029 season.

NOW GIVE ME MY THEME MUSIC

Coach Prime is staying in Boulder. 🏔️#GoBuffs | https://t.co/vJJTAN5ceR pic.twitter.com/nAwcnLlI36

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) March 28, 2025

In his two years at Colorado, Prime has raised the program from the bottom of the barrel of the college football landscape, going 4-8 in his first year and 9-4 in his second season with an appearance in the Valero Alamo Bowl. He has brought an unfathomable amount of attention to Colorado over his first two seasons with the top national outlets coming to Boulder to see the revival process.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to continue building something special here at Colorado,” Coach Prime said. “We’ve just scratched the surface of what this program can be. It’s not just about football; it’s about developing young men who are ready to take on the world. I’m committed to bringing greatness to this university, on and off the field. We’ve got work to do, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here, making history with these incredible players and this passionate fan base. Lastly, anybody got at least a five bedroom home with acreage for sale?”

Prime’s contract is spread out fairly evenly over the five years. His base salary will be $10 million in 2025 and 2026, $11 million in 2027 and 2028, and $12 million in 2029. This makes him the highest-paid coach in the Big 12 and the fourth-highest paid coach in the entire country.

Deion Sanders' new 5 year, $54M contract with Colorado makes him the 4th highest average paid NCAAF coach.

1. Kirby Smart, $13.2M
2. Ryan Day, $12.5M
3. Dabo Swinney, $11.1M
4. Deion Sanders, $10.8M
5. Steve Sarkisian, $10.6M

— Spotrac (@spotrac) March 28, 2025

CU Athletic Director Rick George was instrumental in bringing the Hall of Famer to Boulder in 2022, and he made sure to do his due diligence to keep him in town for the long run.

“Coach Prime has revolutionized college football and in doing so, has restored CU football to our rightful place as a national power,” said George. “This extension not only recognizes Coach’s incredible accomplishments transforming our program on and off the field, it keeps him in Boulder to compete for conference and national championships in the years to come.”

George and the rest of the university have championship football in mind with Prime here to stay, as the school announced Thursday that Folsom Field would be switching from grass to turf as the playing surface, citing how grass doesn’t grow after Halloween in Colorado and it would be better if the school were to host a College Football Playoff game in December one year.

Prime has brought loads of talent, better known as his Louis luggage, to Boulder so far, including two 5-star recruits in DB Cormani McClain and OT Jordan Seaton. Three of the top six high school recruits in CU history have been brought to town by Prime. Along with that, he brought many players over in the portal such as his son Shedeur Sanders and 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, one of the highest-rated recruits in the country this century.

This news is a sigh of relief for Buffs fans, as Prime has been linked to other coaching jobs all offseason long, most notably with the Dallas Cowboys. Those rumors, along with the fact that both his sons and Hunter are heading for the NFL this year, sparked conspiracies that Prime was using the Buffaloes as a stepping stone for a bigger job with a bigger college program or even an NFL team.

If those conversations were to come up again down the road, Prime has a $12 million buyout from now until the end of the year. That number then drops every year until the end of his contract.

Per ESPN, Deion Sanders buyouts:

$12 million if he left on or before Dec. 31, 2025, followed by $10m in 2026, $6m in 2027, $4m in 2028 and $3m in 2029. He can retire from coaching w/o having to pay damages to CU—as long as he doesn't retire and return to coaching somewhere else.

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) March 28, 2025

Along with what he’s done for the university on the field, his impact off the field has been just as important. In the classroom, the team recorded a 3.011 GPA last fall, the first time in CU Football history that the team had a combined GPA greater than 3.0. Financially, Colorado home games brought $146.5 million in total regional economic impact and $93.9 million in direct economic impact to the City of Boulder. Application rates to the university have seen a 20% increase in the last year, along with a 50.5% increase among prospective students who identify as Black/African American and a 29.3% increase from prospective students who identify as non-white.

Prime is currently trying to re-imagine the spring game by bringing another team into town for joint practices and a scrimmage, just another example of things he’s done to change the football landscape in Boulder. With Friday’s contract extension, next week’s NFL Showcase, and the spring game on April 19, Prime’s third season at the foot of the flatirons is off to a hot start.