USA Today predicts Deion Sanders retiring from Colorado football in 2025

USA Today's Matt Hayes predicts Deion Sanders will retire as the head coach of the Colorado football program once the 2025 season concludes and his son Shedeur Sanders heads to the NFL via the draft.

"It's not hard to see where this ride ends," Hayes prefaced before saying, "Shedeur Sanders leaves for the NFL, and Deion rides off into the shadow of the Flatirons, a cratered program in his wake."

Evidently, the Buffs' victory over North Dakota State convinced no one he was deserving of a "better" job at a Big Ten or SEC program. During the offseason, Sanders was linked to Florida, Mississippi State, Ohio State, and the Dallas Cowboys.

Now, writers are simply expecting Sanders to call it quits once he's done with his CU experiment; mainly because both of his sons, and his adopted "sons" Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr., will be NFL-bound.

The narrative hasn't shifted all that much. Everyone is still calling for the end of Coach Prime as Colorado's locker room leader.

It's just that now, they don't see a next step beyond settling down in the mountains and watching everything unfold from a quiet place.

Deion Sanders called out for not having fun coaching Colorado football this season

To some, Sanders' love of coaching is gone. If that's the case, it makes sense for Coach Prime to leave a profession he no longer has a passion for.

Husker Corner's Oliver Vandervoort believes Sanders claiming he didn't feel like the Buffs even won against North Dakota State is a sign that he isn't having fun this season.

"It’s pretty clear that Sanders just isn’t having much fun this year," Vandervoort prefaced before saying, "Even when his team gets a win he’s more worried about who is rooting against him. I have a message for Colorado fans. That’s not a good thing. The Huskers had a coach like that. He melted down in rather impressive fashion.

"Bo Pelini hasn’t even been seen in college football circles for several years now. Someone needs to talk to Deion."

Vandervoort and Hayes see Sanders attacking the media as the final sign before a full implosion of his program. With a difficult Big 12 schedule ahead, every loss will move the needle closer to Sanders ceding control at CU and walking off into the sunset.

It'd be a far cry from Coach Prime claiming he had five to 10 years left with the Buffs, but Sanders knows more than most that sometimes you make a plan and God laughs.