The No. 18 Colorado Buffaloes are off to a red-hot 2-0 start this season thanks to their influx of talent and head coach Deion Sanders. With this success, some are already pondering the next coaching move for Coach Prime.
In the wake of Alabama's loss Saturday to the Texas Longhorns, ESPN's Paul Finebaum dissected the idea of Sanders potentially taking over the Crimson Tide's reins once head coach Nick Saban decides to retire.
Saban, 71, is just in his second season of a monstrous eight-year, $93.6 million contract that won't expire until February 2030. At that point, Saban will be 78 years old.
Signed through 2029
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That said, a conversation of this magnitude seems like something out of a movie. Just a few weeks ago, the Buffaloes were three-touchdown underdogs against the TCU Horned Frogs but won 45-42.
"I had a colleague ask me today, this is where we are on the morning after, who do you think the top three candidates would be if quote unquote, Nick Saban retired?" Finebaum said on the "Matt Barrie Show". "And I don't know if Prime is on that list or not. But why not?"
"And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get too deep into the weeds or we're not when I was trying to think of some of the names," Finebaum said. "I mean, they're all just nice coaches, but none of them have the star power. I mean, quite frankly, Nick Saban doesn't have the star power that Deion Sanders has right now."
Barrie also thought about it, even bringing up the idea of him becoming the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys because, well, it's Jerry Jones, Sanders used to play for them and well, yeah, it's Jerry Jones.
In Week 3, ESPN's "College GameDay" is headed to Boulder as the Buffaloes host in-state rival Colorado State, which is 1-1. Finebaum mentioned this, and it only points out the star power that Sanders possesses.
"I mean, you're 100% right, Matt, and you know, there are a lot of regrets out there but you think, (here's some) inside baseball here for a second," Finebaum said. "'College GameDay' going to a campus was like a very big deal ... ('Big Noon Kickoff' and 'GameDay' are) both at Boulder this week for a truly unforgettable game.
"Colorado State, I mean, you couldn't have gotten 'GameDay' to a one-loss Colorado State-Colorado game at any moment in history. You would have gotten laughed out of the production office."
Currently, though, Sanders is in the first year of a five-year, almost $30 million deal with Colorado. He's not going anywhere for some time. But at 56, he still has some mileage that could lead to Alabama or, heck, the Cowboys.
