Coach Prime credited his Colorado football program's coaching changes, among other things, for why the Buffs have improved over the offseason during an appearance on the Zero 2 Sixty podcast with Matt McChesney.
“The details, the details and the teaching of the little things and the commitment to excellence,” Deion Sanders told McChesney (h/t Bleav). “Now you just because it's a whole new game, it's a whole new day. These guys are serious about going pro and we've improved in every position in all the starters that are returning. They're better because the scheme, because the thought process, because they're familiar energy that they have right now, they're better. So I can sit up here comfortably and say that every position we've got better.”
The scheme changes, if nothing else, were implemented by first-year full-time offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who was promoted to co-OC alongside Sean Lewis ahead of Colorado's November 4 matchup with Oregon State, and Robert Livingston, who was hired from the Cincinnati Bengals and given his first defensive coordinator job in Boulder after nearly a decade coaching Cincy's secondary.
Coach Prime confident that Colorado football winning now will lead to more winning in the Fall
Sanders sounded confident in what his Buffs have been doing over the offseason, believing that they are forming winning habits now that will lead to even more winning in the Fall.
“Win now,” Sanders prefaced before saying, “We don't win in the fall. We don't win in the summer. We start winning right now. Winning starts now. Don't wait on you to feel like you win when you can address it... It's right now, the whole attitude for where you work, where you practice, where you focus, the way you're detail-oriented.
“I feel as though we 100% got it right. I really do. I'm sitting up there watching things that I didn't see and watching places that we didn't go. I'm watching things happen in walkthroughs that are like, that's it.”
With far less roster turnover, established locker room leaders, and a season of blood, sweat, tears, and bonding behind them, this Colorado team now has a clear perspective on what winning habits (and non-winning habits) look like.
Easier said than done, but if Coach Prime is to be believed, it sounds like the Buffs are trying their hardest to do it.