Sports Briefs Spring 2023
Sanders Named Football Coach
Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders was announced as Colorado’s 28th full-time head football coach on Dec. 3.
“Not only will Coach Prime energize our fanbase, I’m confident that he will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character,” said athletic director Rick George.
Sanders comes to CU after three seasons as head coach at Jackson State University, where his teams went a combined 27-6 and earned consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championships (2021 and 2022).
Before coaching, Sanders was a two-sport athlete. Twice named a first-team All-American defensive back at Florida State, he went on to play in the NFL (14 years) and MLB (9 years). In the NFL, he was the 1994 Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time Super Bowl champion and 2011 Hall of Fame inductee.
Sanders takes over a 1-11 football program that saw head coach Karl Dorrell dismissed in October. Sanders pledged: “This is my job and my occupation and my business and my dream to bring you back to where you know you should belong.”
Buffs Bits
Women’s cross-country won its second consecutive Pac-12 Championship on Oct. 28. Bailey Hertenstein (MIntPhys’24) won the individual championship. The women went on to place 11th at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19, with Hertenstein and Ella Baran (MEnvEng’24) racing to All-American finishes. … Men’s cross-country placed second overall at the Pac-12 Championship and then finished eighth overall at NCAAs. … For the first time since 2018, women’s volleyball reached the NCAA tournament. The Buffaloes (20-11, 12-8 Pac-12) were eliminated by No. 20 Rice in a first-round match on Dec. 1. Middle blocker Meegan Hart (Soc’21; MSOL’23) was named All-Pac-12 First Team. … Women’s soccer finished the 2022 season 8-7-5 (2-6-3 Pac-12) after a 5-0-2 start had the Buffaloes ranked No. 19 nationally. … Ambassador David Bolen (Mktg, MBA’50), CU’s first Olympian, died on Dec. 10, 2022. Bolen placed second in the 440 yards at the 1947 NCAA Championships and fourth in the 400 meters at the 1948 London Olympics. He went on to a distinguished career in the foreign service, including appointments as U.S. Ambassador.
Coach Talk
“Change is evident. It’s going to happen. … Whenever you dominate a space, there’s elevation.”
— Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders in the .
Stats
77-67
Score after women’s basketball beat the previously undefeated and No. 8-ranked Utah Utes on Jan. 6 in Boulder.
19.56
Distance, in meters, of indoor track and field’s Gya’ni Sami’s (EthSt, Soc’23) weight throw, a new CU record by over a foot, at the Air Force Holiday Open on Dec. 2.
96%
CU student-athlete Graduation Success Rate announced by the NCAA in November, an all-time high for the university.
262nd
career win for men’s basketball head coach Tad Boyle when the Buffs beat Southern Utah 86-78 at home on Dec. 21, making him the winningest head coach in program history.
1st
Offensive tackle Tommy Brown (MSOL’24) signed with Boulder-based Shinesty to become the first-ever college football NIL underwear model.
Photo courtesy CU Athletics