The 3–9 season hit Colorado harder than most people realized.
During a recent appearance on the Inside Colorado podcast with Phillip Dukes, Deion Sanders Jr. offered a candid look behind the scenes at what went wrong last year and how it has reshaped the program under his father, Deion Sanders.
“Last year was terrible for everybody, but it was good,” Sanders Jr. said. “You know, sometimes when you don’t go through them doors, God has to push you through them with different things that’s supposed to happen.”
It was an honest reflection on a season that fell well short of expectations in Boulder. After the early hype and national attention, the Colorado Buffaloes stumbled to 3–9, and the back half of the year exposed cracks that had been masked during the September spotlight.
According to Sanders Jr., one of the biggest differences this offseason is his father’s level of involvement.
“Last year, he didn’t really micromanage a lot. Now he’s involved in everything,” Sanders Jr. said. “Last year, he barely came out of his room at this point in the offseason. But this year, he literally watched every single person’s film before they got an offer.”
Sanders has always projected intensity and accountability, but Sanders Jr. described something even more direct this time around. “It’s just that 3–9 does something to you, bro, so now he’s 1,000 percent involved in every single thing,” he said. “He’s always been a no-tolerance person, but now it’s a no-tolerance zone over the whole school. Because it’s like, ‘This ain’t going to happen again.’ This is embarrassing.”
Colorado’s first few years under Sanders generated attention and momentum, but it did not deliver many wins. Now, the tone appears sharper. More hands-on. Less margin for excuses.
Whether that translates to a bounce back on the field remains to be seen. But if Sanders Jr.’s comments are any indication, the 3–9 season did more than bruise egos. It forced a reset inside the building.
