Deion Sanders' future has been a hot-button topic for several months now. With his sons no longer in Boulder, a myriad of health issues, and now Colorado's declining play on the gridiron, speculation has only grown that Coach Prime will be looking for the escape hatch after this season.
That, of course, ignores what's come out of Sanders' own mouth. He has reaffirmed his commitment to the Buffaloes at every step of the way. That's in spite of his health issues, and that's in spite of how poorly Colorado has played this season. He sounded like a guy with a ton of motivation to get things right in the aftermath of Colorado's 53-7 loss to Utah last weekend.
If Sanders was mentally checked out, he wouldn't be living in the facility this week.
That hasn't stopped the discussion surrounding his future, though.
The Ringer's Joel Anderson joined "The Right Time" with Bomani Jones this week, and one of the topics they discussed was Coach Prime's future at Colorado.
Jones asked Anderson if he thought Sanders would be the head coach at Colorado in 2026.
"Why would he be?" Anderson answered. "The one thing we know about Deion is that he coached his sons every step of the way. They're gone now. He's not doing well, health-wise. He already told you he don't wanna recruit. That shows that you actually don't kinda enjoy a lot of parts of this thing. What are they building towards?
"He doesn't have no connections to Colorado. It's hard to get people to go over there....Because we all know he ain't got no connection to Colorado, there's no reason for him to be there anymore."
It's the same tired argument that has been repeated time and time again about Sanders and Colorado. The media set a timer on his time in Boulder as soon as he took the job. There's been speculation since he arrived about when he would leave. Colorado fans haven't even been able to enjoy his time here because around every corner, someone is pondering his next move.
Bomani Jones questions whether or not Sanders is even a good coach
Anderson's comments were what Colorado fans have come to expect. But in the aftermath of Colorado's blowout loss to Utah, Coach Prime has many questioning his coaching acumen now. That was inevitable; you can't lose by 46 points coming out of a bye week - in year three, no less - and not expect some uncomfortable questions to be raised.
Sanders didn't do himself any favors earlier in the year with some questionable clock-management decisions, particularly in Colorado's season-opening loss to Georgia Tech.
Anderson pondered how much better Sanders would be doing if he were the head coach at TCU, somewhere closer to where he lives in the offseason. He thinks Sanders would have the Horned Frogs at a consistent 9-3-type program. Jones made a strong statement in retort.
"9-3 at TCU requires you to be a better coach than I think that he has demonstrated himself to be," Jones said. "Has he done anything to make you think that he can coach?.. Managing clock stuff, Deion has not demonstrated himself to be great at. I don't think that his teams have a clear personality or a clear identity that speaks to a head coach."
Some of that criticism could be described as fair. An easy retort, however, would be that Sanders led Colorado to a 9-3 regular season last year. That happened. Any bit of revisionist history surrounding the program and his tenure can't erase that fact.
At the end of the day, the only person who knows what Coach Prime will do after this season is Coach Prime. He's done nothing to indicate that he won't be Colorado's head coach in 2026, however, and until that changes, it's the expectation.