Milestone No. 8: Coach Prime arrives in Boulder and resuscitates the Buffaloes
Apr 2, 2025, 7:19 AM | Updated: 7:24 am
The Fan is turning 30! For three decades, the station has been covering Denver sports, serving as a media outlet of record for the biggest events over the past 30 years.
There have been a lot of them. From championships to MVPs, from historic seasons to improbable victories, The Fan has been there for all of them.
What were the best of the best? During a six week span, Denver Sports will chronicle the moments that stood out the most. It’s a countdown from No. 30 to No. 1, in a series called “Mile High Milestones.”
Enjoy the trip down memory lane!
***
They were the worst team in college football. The bottom of the barrel. The dregs of the sport. Out of 134 Division 1 programs, no one was less impactful that the Buffaloes.
They lost their first five games of the season by an average of 29.8 points. Following a 20-13 overtime win at Folsom Field over Cal, they lost their final six contests by an average of 34.5 points.
Not surprisingly, Karl Dorrell didn’t survive the 1-11 campaign. He was fired before the team’s first win of the year; Mike Sanford played out the season in an interim capacity.
The head coach who seemed like the only person willing to take the job three years earlier when Mel Tucker fled after one season to snare the Michigan State job was out.
Now what? If no one wanted the gig after Tucker’s lone campaign at CU produced a promising 5-7 record, who on earth would want it now?
That’s when Rick George rolled the dice.
The University of Colorado’s athletic director gambled on the team’s next head coach. After going 5-21 in their previous 26 games and only appearing in two bowls games in the previous 15 seasons, George felt like he had nothing to lose.
So he offered $5 million per season to someone who most people thought was more sizzle than substance. He gave a contract that the athletic program couldn’t afford at the time to a head coach who had never stalked the sidelines of a D-1 program.
Enter Deion Sanders. Enter Coach Prime.
It was a bold stroke. It was a swing-for-the-fences move that was about the only thing that could bring a once-proud program back from the dead.
Sanders was one of the biggest names in sports. He was a two-sport star as a professional, excelling in both football and baseball. And he was as flashy as anyone ever to step on an athletic field.
Nicknamed “Primetime,” Sanders was full of talk. But at every stop, he could walk the walk.
Prior to landing at CU, Coach Prime was at Jackson State. There, he turned the program around, going 27-5 prior to being hired by the Buffs, including 12-0 during his last regular season.
He was a winner, both as a player and as a coach. And he was a salesman, both of himself and his program.
Those traits completely transformed the Colorado program. And it happened almost overnight.
CU’s spring game used to be a sparsely attended affair, to put it kindly. The stands looked like a Tuesday matinee at the AMC 12; plenty of good seats were always available.
Months after Sanders was hired, the event was sold out. And it was broadcast live on ESPN.
The fervor carried over to the regular season. CU upset No. 17 TCU in the opener, beating the previous year’s national runner-up on the road in a 45-42 shootout. That was followed by a 36-14 victory over Nebraska at Folsom, something that the fanbase relished.
All of a sudden, everyone was talking about the Buffs. A team that was the worst in college football less than a year previous was ranked No. 18 in the country. They were hosting “College GameDay” and “Big Noon Kickoff” in Boulder prior to the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
Colorado won that game, beating CSU 43-35 in a double-overtime thriller that captivated a national audience into the wee hours of the morning. And the program was suddenly back from the dead.
Things tapered off from there. CU went 1-8 down the stretch to finish a disappointing 4-8, but the seeds were planted.
In his second season in Boulder, the Buffaloes finished 9-3 in the regular season. Up until a Nov. 23 loss at Kansas, they were flirting with a spot in the Big 12 championship game and had aspirations for a berth in the College Football Playoff.
It was all due to Coach Prime. More specifically, it was because of the talent he brought to Colorado.
His son, Shedeur Sanders, is projected to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft. His a quarterback who will be playing on Sundays for a long, long time. And Travis Hunter, the prize recruit that he landed at Jackson State and brought with him to CU, would go on to win the Heisman Trophy, just the second in school history, during a historic season in which he became the first truly two-way player in modern college football.
Nobody used the transfer portal more than Sanders. He flipped over the roster in a matter of months, transforming the team in the blink of an eye.
And now, the Buffs are back. An influx of more talent is coming to campus. Coach Prime has inked a five-year, $54-million extension. And things are looking good in Boulder.
The “Prime Effect” is real. Home games have more than a $100 million impact on the city. Enrollment at CU is at an all-time high. Applications from black students are up 50%. And the attention from national media outlets is off the charts.
All of this for a program that was dead. They were the worst team in college football. And then, Deion Sanders rolled into town and saved the Buffaloes.
***
THE COUNTDOWN
30: Ubaldo Jimenez has a magical season
29: Todd Helton get enshrined in Cooperstown
28: Valeri Nichushkin goes missing in the postseason – twice!
27: The Avalanche win their second Stanley Cup
26: The Nuggets come back from two 3-1 deficits in the bubble
25: The seemingly never-ending Broncos ownership saga
24: Hurricane Josh hits the Mile High City
23: The Rockies trade Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals
22: The Nuggets reach the Western Conference Finals in 2009
21: John Elway gets enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
20: The Avalanche hoist third Stanley Cup in franchise history
19: The Avalanche acquire Patrick Roy from the Canadiens
18: The Broncos produce the greatest offensive season in NFL history
17: John Elway joins the Broncos front office to right the ship
16: The Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 1996
15: The Broncos nearly decade-long quarterback carousel
14: The Avs-Red Wings rivalry turns into a bloodbath
13: The Broncos win back-to-back titles during historic season
12: The Broncos suffer one of the worst losses in franchise history
11: The Broncos part ways with head coach Mike Shanahan
10: The Nuggets trade away Carmelo Anthony in a blockbuster deal
9: Nikola Jokic finally wins a much-deserved MVP award
***
Wanna hear more about this Mile High Milestone? Tune into “The Rundown” at noon or check out the show on YouTube to hear Richie Carni and a special guest take a walk down memory lane.
