The Arkansas Razorbacks are about to become the flashiest they’ve ever been if the gossip peddlers are correct. Marca.com reports Colorado’s Deion “Prime Time” Sanders has “quickly risen to the top of the rumor mill, with insiders suggesting he is being seriously considered to take over the program.”
On3’s Pete Nakos also listed Sanders as a candidate to replace Sam Pittman at Arkansas, reported The Sporting News, noting this wouldn’t be the first flirtation U of A Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek shared with Coach Prime.
“[Sanders] previously interviewed for the Arkansas job when Yurachek was in the process of hiring Pittman,” Nakos wrote. “He has brought the Buffaloes back to relevancy and has made multiple top-25 appearances the last two years. Yurachek was impressed by Sanders previously.”
Marca.com also seized on the previous interview between the coach and the school.
“‘From all things I heard, the interview was awesome,’ one local columnist recalled, though concerns over inexperience ultimately tipped the decision away from him,” the site reported.
After a successful coaching run at Jackson State, Sanders is in his third season in Boulder. His opening season with the Buffs touched off an atomic bomb of media attention and early excitement, the likes of which college football has rarely seen. Colorado games featured celebrities on the sidelines who had no connection to the school as its coach delivered the tantalizing economic bump dubbed the Prime Effect.
In 2024, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau reported to Associated Press that the six home games of the 2023 season, Sanders’ first in Colorado, “produced $113.2 million in economic impact; direct visitor spending increased by $10 million; the average visitor spent $183 on accommodations last year compared to $102 six years ago.
“Some other facts and figures: Enrollment at CU is at a record, with 38,428 students. Applications from Black candidates increased more than 50% from 2023 to ’24. A record 1,046 students (45 of them football players) transferred to CU this fall, in part thanks to a rule Sanders helped get changed,” AP noted.
If nothing else, Sanders in Arkansas would be a wellspring of great stories. One of the preeminent two-sport players in history, he played 14 years in the NFL and nine years playing “part-time” for five Major League baseball franchises. He’s the only athlete in history to play in both a Super Bowl (winning twice, with San Francisco and Dallas) and a World Series (with Atlanta), and the only man to hit an MLB home run and score an NFL touchdown in the same week.
He resides in the Atlanta Falcons Ring of Honor, the College Football Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was named to the AP All-Time All-American college football team. In 1999, ESPN named him No. 74 on its list of 100 Great Athletes of the Century.
Sanders isn’t an uncomplicated hire, starting with the Brinks truck of funds that it would take to get him. The Sporting News article reported Sanders signed a new extension that pays him $10 million in 2025, escalating to $12 million by 2029. There’s also the matter of his track record. Despite going 27-6 over three seasons with FCS HBCU Jackson State, resulting in two conference titles and two bowl games, Division 1 has proven tougher sledding.
He burst out of the gate to win his first three games, only to come back to earth and finish 4-8 in 2023. He bounced back in 2024, going 9-4, which tied Colorado for first in the Big 12 and sent them to the Alamo Bowl. That year also saw the Buffs’ two-way sensation, Travis Hunter, claim the Heisman Trophy.
“If the Razorbacks do land Sanders, it would be a seismic shift,” wrote Marca.com. “Not only would it alter the balance of power in the SEC West, but it would also signal that Arkansas is unwilling to settle. For now, the rumor remains speculative — but in college football, speculation can quickly steer reality.”
This year, CU has wobbled to a 2-3 start, which gives naysayers plenty of ammo for keeping Sanders off The Hill, but pundits note that doesn’t seem to faze other suitors. Sanders’ name has been casually linked to the current head coaching vacancy at UCLA, and in an ironic twist, he’s predicted to be a leading candidate for at least one position that might open up if the current seat holder heads to Arkansas.
“If [current Head Coach Rhett Lashlee] leaves SMU, Sanders will be tied to the Dallas-based school due to his permanent house being near the metro area,” The Sporting News reported.
Looks like there’s more than one way Coach Prime and Arkansas can cross paths.
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