Deion Sanders is an enigma. Some people love to love him, and others love to hate him.
While the Colorado Buffaloes won just four games in 2023, it was a loud four wins and three more than an ugly 1-11 2022 campaign that led to Sanders’ hiring in the first place.
Whether Sanders improves the Buffaloes again in 2024 remains to be seen, but he won’t try alone. He’s also made a few shakeups to his coaching staff in Year 2.
Colorado Buffaloes Coaching Staff
Sanders is the highest-profile coach in college football, and he brought some other big names with him in 2023.
A few coaches are gone, but Sanders won’t coach alone. Who else is on Colorado’s 2024 coaching staff?
Head Coach, Deion Sanders
“Coach Prime” is the most famous (or infamous?) coach in college football. Known for his brash, straightforward talk and a flair for the dramatic, Sanders’ actions aren’t all that different than those of other coaches. However, his words and the no-nonsense way in which he delivers them captivates (or infuriates) the college football world.
For example, Sanders isn’t the first college football coach to blacklist a reporter. However, he is the first since Steve Spurrier to do it so publicly.
But for all of the off-field flair, the Buffaloes weren’t terrible on the field last year. Colorado lost four one-score games last season against a fairly difficult schedule. Sanders had some recruiting wins, but couldn’t overcome a porous offensive line and thin secondary.
2024 will be a critical year for the program’s trajectory, but finding six wins and a bowl game might prove difficult, as the coaching staff has plenty of new faces, including two new coordinators.
Defensive Coordinator/Safeties, Robert Livingston
Robert Livingston got his start at Furman in 2010 as safeties coach before moving to Vanderbilt. He then had a 12-year stay in the NFL.
Livingston was a Cincinnati Bengals scout for three years from 2012-14 before moving into a coaching role as a defensive quality control assistant in 2015. The move worked as he was quickly promoted to defensive backs coach in 2016.
Livingston was one of the few coaches retained by Cincinnati when Zac Taylor was hired in 2019 and he’s been considered one of the best defensive back coaches in the NFL.
Livingston doesn’t fit Sanders’ pattern of “flashy” hires, which might be a good thing. While he doesn’t have a proven track record of recruiting, Livingston is a strong teacher and developer of talent, which is incredibly important in Boulder as long as the Buffaloes can retain that talent.
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, Pat Shurmur
Shurmur was on staff last year as an offensive analyst, taking over as offensive coordinator midway through the year. He’s another coordinator with NFL experience, which he has a lot of.
Shurmur is entering his first year as a college position coach since 1998, when he was the offensive line coach at Stanford. His background is as an offensive line coach, with nine years of experience at the position, including three under Nick Saban at Michigan State.
Shurmur’s offensive philosophy is the opposite of flashy. He loves a power rushing attack and will likely spread the ball around a bit more rather than just feeding Travis Hunter.
His coaching style might look like it contradicts Sanders’, but that might be to the benefit of the Colorado players.
Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach, Gary Harrell
Though there’s a lot of upheaval on the Colorado staff, Gary Harrell remains with Sanders.
Harrell is a former head coach at a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). He spent five seasons in two separate stints at Howard University.
Harrell wasn’t extremely successful as a head coach, but he’s been with Sanders for five years, dating back to his time at Jackson State.
Tight End, Brett Bartolone
Brett Bartolone, too, journeyed with Sanders from his JSU staff. The offensive coordinator at Jackson State, Bartolone was originally a wide receivers coach at Colorado but will transition to tight ends in 2024.
He’ll replace Tim Brewster, but Bartolone still provides some much-needed stability to a staff that lacks that at most coaching positions.
Wide Receivers, Jason Phillips
Sanders turned to a familiar face to fill out his offensive staff, re-uniting with former Falcons teammate and one-year JSU offensive coordinator Jason Phillips.
Phillips has coached all over the United States, and, recently, Canada, and he comes to Boulder by way of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, where he was also a receivers coach.
Phillips has years of experience coaching the position and gives Sanders another familiar face on his new-look staff.
Offensive Line Coach, Phil Loadholt
Phil Loadholt will make his on-field coaching debut for Colorado in 2024. He’s spent the past few years as an offensive analyst at Oklahoma and was on the player personnel side of things at UCF and Ole Miss before that.
Loadholt was a standout offensive lineman at Oklahoma and spent six years in the NFL before becoming a coach. He’s another former player on a staff full of them.
Defensive Tackles, Damione Lewis
Like an alarming number of coaches on this new-look Colorado staff, Damione Lewis is making his college position coaching debut in 2024. He’s been a defensive assistant with the Seahawks since 2020 after a 10-year playing career with the Rams, Panthers, and Patriots.
Lewis’ only college coaching experience was on the player personnel side of things at FIU in 2019.
Defensive Ends, Vincent Dancy
Vincent Dancy might be new to Power Four coaching, but that doesn’t mean he lacks experience. In fact, he’s one of three former HBCU head coaches on staff after a five-year stint at Mississippi Valley State. It wasn’t very successful, but his head coaching experience will be valued as he coaches edges.
Dancy was on staff at Jackson State in the early 2010s, but he coached safeties there, so this is his first time as an EDGE coach.
Linebackers Coach, Andre Hart
Andre Hart has been with Sanders since his days at Trinity Christian. The two have become good friends, and Hart is a valuable member of the Colorado staff.
On a staff with plenty of new faces, Hart is one of the few who is consistent. He’s already made some headway on the recruiting trail, landing several quality linebacker prospects.
Cornerbacks Coach, Kevin Mathis
A nine-year NFL veteran and former teammate of Sanders with the Dallas Cowboys, Kevin Mathis has been with Sanders since the Trinity Christian days. He, too, followed Sanders to Jackson State and Colorado.
Mathis wraps up a defensive coaching staff that has had a bit more continuity than the offensive staff.
