Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders went 45–31 as a head coach, 2020–2026, at Jackson State and Colorado. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–3); by them his record is 45–30. Share
Three seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2020–22 at Jackson State. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 45–31 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Aug 9, 1967
- Best season
- 2024 9–4, No. 25
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Jackson State * | 4–3 | T–2nd | |||
| 2021 | Jackson State * | 11–2 | 1st | Celebration L | 22 | |
| 2022 | Jackson State * | 12–1 | 1st | Celebration L | 16 | |
| 2023 | Colorado | 4–8 | 12th | |||
| 2024 | Colorado | 9–4 | T–1st | Alamo Bowl L | 25 | |
| 2025 | Colorado | 3–9 | 15th | |||
| 2026 | Colorado | 2–4 (Wikipedia: 2–3) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
Players he coached
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Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 12 | 2–10 | 17% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| Against rivals | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
| Conference games | 30 | 9–21 | 30% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 0–1 | 0% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 17 | 7–10 | 41% |
| At home | 22 | 11–11 | 50% |
| On the road | 19 | 7–12 | 37% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 0–2 | 0% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 12 | 8–4 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 31 | 10–21 | 32% |
His own 43 games on file, 2023–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Whittingham 2023–2025 | 1–2 | Utah | 3 |
Deion Sanders’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Utahseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Arizonaseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Colorado Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Arizona Stateseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Georgia Techseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Nebraskaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Baylorseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| TCUseries | 2 | 1–1 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Colorado for the 2023 season from Jackson State, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Other roles
- Team captain, Florida State 1988 (his playing career)
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–13 | Prime Prep Academy high school | Head coach | |
| 2015–16 | Triple A Academy high school | Head coach | |
| 2017–19 | Trinity Christian high school | Offensive coordinator | |
| 2020–22 | Jackson State | Head coach | |
| 2023–present | Colorado | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Assistants who became head coaches
- Ron Dickerson Jr.Gardner-Webb, Benedict
- T. C. TaylorJackson State
- Mike ZimmerMinnesota Vikings
- Tim BrewsterMinnesota, Charlotte
- Bill O’BoyleChadron State
- Brian CabralColorado
- Charles KellyJacksonville State
- Pat ShurmurCleveland Browns, New York Giants
- Sal SunseriPittsburgh
- Sean LewisKent State, San Diego State
- Vincent DancyMississippi Valley State
- Josh ConklinWofford
- and 1 more
Coached under him, later head coaches (13)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Dickerson Jr. | Jackson State, 2020: special teams coach | Gardner-Webb, Benedict | |
| T. C. Taylor | Jackson State, 2020: wide receivers and tight ends coach; 2020: interim offensive coordinator; 2021–22: offensive coordinator and wide receivers and tight ends coach | Jackson State | |
| Mike Zimmer | Jackson State, 2022: analyst and consultant; Colorado, 2023: analyst and consultant | Minnesota Vikings | |
| Tim Brewster | Jackson State, 2022: tight ends coach; Colorado, 2023: tight ends coach | Minnesota, Charlotte | |
| Bill O’Boyle | Colorado, 2023: offensive line coach | Chadron State | |
| Brian Cabral | Colorado, 2023–26: character coach | Colorado | |
| Charles Kelly | Colorado, 2023: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Jacksonville State | |
| Pat Shurmur | Colorado, 2023: offensive analyst and co-offensive coordinator; 2024–25: offensive coordinator; 2025: quarterbacks coach | Cleveland Browns, New York Giants | |
| Sal Sunseri | Colorado, 2023: defensive tackles coach | Pittsburgh | |
| Sean Lewis | Colorado, 2023: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Kent State, San Diego State | |
| Vincent Dancy | Colorado, 2023: defensive quality control coach; 2024: defensive ends coach | Mississippi Valley State | |
| Josh Conklin | Colorado, 2025: defensive assistant | Wofford | |
| Brennan Marion | Colorado, 2026: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Sacramento State |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis Thurman | Jackson State, 2020–22: defensive coordinator; Colorado, 2023: defensive quality control coach | |
| Mike Markuson | Jackson State, 2020–22: offensive line coach | |
| Robert Livingston | Colorado, 2024–25: defensive coordinator | |
| Brett Bartolone | Colorado, 2025: offensive coordinator | |
| Chris Marve | Colorado, 2026: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Clancy Pendergast | Colorado, 2026: analyst | |
| Xavier Adibi | Colorado, 2026: defensive analyst |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Sanders’s teams went for it on 21% of fourth downs and on 35% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 59% of plays and took 25.0 seconds a play, 2023–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 12 g | 15 of 101 15% | 29% | 64% | 23.8 | +0.08 | |
| 2024 13 g | 21 of 88 24% | 34% | 64% | 26.1 | +0.09 | |
| 2025 12 g | 22 of 101 22% | 34% | 51% | 25.7 | −0.06 | |
| 2026 6 g | 14 of 50 28% | 43% | 52% | 23.7 | −0.05 | |
| All 43 g | 72 of 340 21% | 35% | 59% | 25.0 | +0.03 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.
Books
Books: Open Library (CC0); most-reissued first, each linked to its page there.