Deion Sanders Has New Colorado AD's 'Full, Unequivocal Support' After 3-9 Season

Colorado has done more losing than winning since Deion Sanders took over as the head football coach, but the Hall of Famer has the full support of the school's new athletic director.

After the school's board of regents approved a five-year contract for Fernando Lovo on Monday, the new athletic director discussed his view of his partnership with the football coach.

"All the coaches I've worked with, it's always been about trust and alignment and making sure that the coaches know that you're in the foxhole with them, and you're going to do everything in your power to support them," Lovo said, per ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. "Coach Prime's got my full, unequivocal support."

Lovo was previously on the football operations staff at Florida before becoming Texas' chief of staff for football from 2016 until he worked with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. He then returned to the Longhorns as a senior associate athletic director until becoming New Mexico's athletic director.

It was there he hired Jason Eck, who led the Lobos to a 9-4 record in 2025 in his first season as head coach. It was just the sixth time in program history that New Mexico won at least nine games.

The Buffaloes are surely looking for the same type of success between Lovo and Sanders, and Colorado chancellor Justin Schwartz told Rittenberg the head football coach was very involved in the AD search.

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It has been an up-and-down start to Sanders' career as the head coach of Colorado.

The team went 4-8 overall and 1-8 in Pac-12 play in his first season in 2023 but took significant strides in 2024 following a move to the Big 12. It went 9-4 overall and 7-2 in the league with Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders leading the way.

Yet the Buffaloes failed to sustain that success after Hunter and Shedeur Sanders left for the NFL.

They were an ugly 3-9 overall and 1-8 in the Big 12 during the 2025 campaign. It felt like a step in the wrong direction for a program that had momentum after an impressive 2024 effort, which means Sanders is now under more of a spotlight entering his fourth season.

He can at least take solace knowing he has the support of the school's new AD as he looks to build a program that can enjoy consistent and sustained success.