Deion Sanders expresses confidence he can get CU Buffs on track

From the time he was hired as Colorado s head football coach in December of there has been outside chatter about where Deion Sanders might go the following year In there was talk of Florida State Auburn or other big-time programs that might lure him away from Boulder In and early this year there was speculation he might jump to the NFL As the Buffaloes season has fallen well short of expectations particularly Sanders own standard and he continues to battle soundness issues selected have suggested he should be fired or wondered if he d bail on CU None of that chatter has ever come from Sanders himself though and during his weekly news conference on Tuesday he certainly didn t sound like a man ready to leave Boulder Quite the opposite in fact You got the right man leading the initiative commented Sanders in the first year of a five-year million contract extension I promise you you do and I m gonna prove that to you I am Just give me an opportunity and give me a little more time and I m gonna prove that to you I will I promise you that Sanders - at CU entered this season telling anyone who would listen that he felt the Buffs had a better overall club than the group that went - a year ago At - - Big CU hasn t come close to that The Buffs who host Arizona State on Saturday p m ESPN in the home finale will miss out on a bowl battle for the seventh time in nine years Given the struggles of this season and the soundness issues he s battled in up-to-date years including bladder cancer and blood clots this year Sanders could easily walk away from the challenge ahead of the Buffs focus on his wellbeing his business deals a TV career and watching his son Shedeur play in the NFL Instead Sanders appears geared up for the challenge of getting the Buffs going in If anybody is built to overcome situations and trial and tribulations I am he reported Sanders is facing a similar challenge that several up-to-date CU coaches have faced Gary Barnett was the last head coach to lead CU to back-to-back bowl games in and Sanders is CU s sixth head coach since Barnett None of them have taken the Buffs to two bowls let alone two in a row In fact in the past seasons there s been at least three losing seasons in between each of the Buffs four bowl appearances The lack of consistent football success has frustrated not only Sanders but athletic director Rick George who informed last week that he ll step down at the end of the academic year to take on a lesser role George advised BuffZone this week he s a firm believer Sanders can do what others haven t done in the past two decades His discipline that he has his accountability all the things that I ve seen before here at CU when we ve had that discipline and that accountability and what that can do for us moving forward announced George who first worked at CU under head coach Bill McCartney who led the Buffs to the national title Sanders is very visible as we all know but he s got the right morals he s got the right compass that guides him And I just feel strongly that he s the person that can consistently make this campaign great With two games left Sanders revealed the Buffs will do everything they can to win but there s no question the process of improving for is already under way Event day is the future he reported You win it helps the future You want to win but you re evaluating You re evaluating young men as well as the staff Like where do you go So you re doing a lot of evaluations when it s coming down the home stretch Related Articles Deion Sanders emotional moment Shedeur s NFL debut with the Browns James Franklin hired as Virginia Tech s coach just over a month after Penn State fired him Rick George on why he s stepping down as CU Buffs athletic director It s time Renck vs Keeler Better job for Kordell Stewart or anyone CSU head coach or CU AD Versatile Yahya Attia a boost to CU Buffs offensive line Those evaluations will help him get a jump on making sure next year is better This will be just the second losing season in Sanders six years as a college head coach and he s confident he ll get it right next year I haven t forgot how to coach in a year he disclosed A lot of these wonderful coaches out there that s not winning this season they hadn t forgotten how to coach in a year We did selected things we shouldn t have done That s on us The record to me is not indicative of who these young men are or who these coaches are in between these walls or who this project is The ball just didn t bounce in our way and we ve got to do something about it And we re going to do something about it as soon as the season is over Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams