Colorado hasn’t made any move on Deion Sanders, and the money hanging over the situation may be the biggest reason why. CBS Sports reported the school is not in position to handle a buyout north of $25 million, even with Sanders sitting at 3-12 over his last 15 games.
That same report pointed to the possibility of a negotiated settlement and said first-year athletic director Fernando Lovo could be open to making a change. If Colorado does eventually decide to go in a different direction, these are five names that make sense.
One of the cleanest fits is Jason Eck. Lovo hired him at New Mexico, and Eck paid that trust back quickly, going 9-4 in 2025, getting the program to its first bowl game since 2016 and winning Mountain West Coach of the Year.
New Mexico is 6-1 this fall and sitting atop the Mountain West. Eck also went 26-13 at Idaho, reached the FCS playoffs in all three seasons there, and spent time in Boulder as a Colorado graduate assistant in 2002 and 2003.
He’d bring a hard-nosed identity to a Colorado team that has had trouble putting together full, clean games. His teams play complementary football, and that would be a noticeable shift at Folsom Field.
Dan Mullen brings the most extensive head-coaching résumé of the group. He spent nine seasons at Mississippi State, where he helped develop Dak Prescott and guided the Bulldogs to their first AP No. 1 ranking in 2014, then coached Florida from 2018 through 2021.
His second act has gone well, too. UNLV finished 10-4 in 2025, reached the Mountain West title game and earned Mullen the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award, and the Rebels are 4-3 this season.
Colorado’s quarterback situation has been in flux all fall, and Mullen has a track record of getting passers to play with confidence. That kind of stability under center would be the first thing he’d try to solve.
Willie Fritz checks another box Colorado would care about: he’s done the kind of turnaround work that changes a program fast. Houston went 4-8 in his first season in 2024, then surged to 10-3 in 2025, finished 6-3 in Big 12 play and beat LSU 38-35 in the Texas Bowl. The Cougars are 6-2 this fall.
Before that, Fritz won the American Athletic Conference at Tulane in 2022, and he has rebuilt programs at every stop. His teams tend to get tougher as the season goes on, which is exactly the kind of trait Colorado would be chasing.
There’s also a little scheduling wrinkle here: Houston visits Folsom Field on Nov. 13, which would make for an awkward Friday night if this talk keeps building.
Trent Walters is the sentimental choice, but not just because of the local ties. He grew up in Aurora, played safety at Colorado and began his coaching career in Boulder as a student assistant.
His defensive work at Missouri and Illinois got him the Purdue job, though that stop ended at 5-19, and that matters. He’s now Washington’s defensive coordinator, and the Huskies are 4-3.
Still, a Colorado native would have a real shot in the state recruiting battles the program has too often lost, and his background on defense would give the Buffaloes a clearer identity on that side of the ball.
Gary Patterson may be the safest pure football bet on the list. Over 21 seasons at TCU, he went 181-79, piled up 11 double-digit win seasons and put together a perfect 13-0 run in 2010. He’s now USC’s defensive coordinator.
At 66, he wouldn’t be a long-term answer. But he does offer a proven model for building a Big 12 winner, and a three-to-five-year reset built around defense might be the smartest path if Colorado decides to start over.
If the Buffaloes wanted an interim option first, offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who ran Sacramento State as head coach in 2025, would be the obvious internal name.
For now, though, all of this stays in the hypothetical column until the $25 million issue gets resolved. Sanders is still the one who can wipe this entire conversation away, and he has five games left to do it.
In Other News...
Colorado Faces A Must Win With A Bigger Question Hanging Over It
Colorado heads into its Week 9 home game against Kansas State with the kind of opening that usually looks favorable on paper. The Wildcats are down at quarterback, and Colorado should have a chance to pressure a backup-led offense while leaning on its own ground game to keep the plan simple and steady. For a team trying to make the most of a must-win spot, the matchup offers a clearer path than some of the recent ones on the schedule.
Still, the bigger concern in Boulder has little to do with the opponent. Julian Lewis was hospitalized after a medical emergency, leaving a much more serious question hanging over the Buffaloes as they prepare for kickoff. Even with the game in front of them, Colorados week has been shaped by uncertainty around its quarterback room, and that makes the stakes feel larger than a single conference result. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Sanders Faces A Brutal Colorado Test He Has To Pass
Colorado heads into Saturdays matchup with Kansas State carrying the kind of urgency that has defined the last stretch of the season. Deion Sanders team is trying to stop a five-game skid at Folsom Field, and the timing is tricky for a Buffaloes group that has been fighting offensive inconsistency while leaning more heavily on its defense to keep games manageable.
Kansas State arrives with its own problems after a loss, but the Wildcats still present a dangerous test for a Colorado team that cannot afford many more missteps. With quarterback depth already a concern and the offense searching for answers, the Buffaloes need a steadier performance from the side of the ball that has been asked to carry more of the load, and this one feels like a game that could say plenty about how Sanders team handles pressure in November. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Finally Got The Clutch Finish Fans Had Been Waiting For
Colorado finally got the kind of finish its fans have been waiting for, outlasting Kansas State 27-24 in overtime in a game that swung back and forth before settling into the Buffs favor. The win had plenty of moving parts, from linebacker Gideon Lampron helping steady the defense to a second-quarter fumble by DeKalon Taylor that kept Colorado from stretching its lead when it had the chance.
The offense still found enough answers when it mattered most, with JaQuail Smith providing a burst that changed the feel of the game and the passing attack delivering in the extra period. In a matchup that could have slipped away in several different spots, Colorado found a way to finish, and the result should carry real weight for a team that has been looking for exactly this kind of late-game response. [Read more 🡒]