Link made between Colorado football HC Deion Sanders and Lincoln Riley's USC job
Deion Sanders was, for some reason, linked to Lincoln Riley's USC head coaching job in yet another Colorado football escape plan hatched by a writer. This time, it was Essentially Sports' Jeevesh Singh who made a wild career change prediction for Coach Prime; the reasoning being that Paul Finebaum said Riley's 2023 coaching job was an all-time bad one.
"(Riley's) position seems to be in jeopardy since his past 2 seasons have been quite disappointing," Singh prefaced before saying, "Plus, this would be a perfect situation for Deion Sanders to change his colors and join a team that has, more or less, better chances to win the national championship as compared to Colorado who has only won one championship ever, and that too, in 1990."
It's not all about championships at Colorado. No matter how much bravado Coach Prime displays while speaking to Joel Klatt, consistent winning is the only thing Sanders actually needs to accomplish at CU to have a legacy in Boulder. A run to the Big 12 title game here or there would satisfy any realistic Buffs fan.
Sanders got paid just to bring the University of Colorado into the spotlight. That's enough to keep him in an easier division than USC in the Big Ten, where he'd have to meet boosters and be involved in a way he doesn't have to be in Boulder.
Deion Sanders enjoys autonomy at Colorado football that he wouldn't elsewhere
Sanders has it to good at Colorado to consider Florida, a suggestion from his close confidant Willie Taggart, or an NFL team like the Dallas Cowboys, who he won Super Bowl XXX with, or the Las Vegas Raiders, where his son Shedeur is being frequently mocked drafted to.
Coach Prime has the kind of autonomy at CU that he wouldn't get to enjoy anywhere else.
"...the University of Florida would never allow Coach Prime to run the program the way he wants," BuffsBeat's Josh Tolle prefaced before saying, "Scott Stricklin and the UF Board of Trustees would be calling some shots with Sanders there as coach and wouldn't allow him to be the CEO. It all sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen. You can't tell a living legend how to run his program and many schools don't want to hand off full autonomy. Sanders has built a relationship with Rick George that gives him authority over the program without strict oversight. No where in the rest of the nation will this happen."
Just remember this as the mock coaching switch scenarios come up in the coming weeks as the 2024 season approaches.