Paul Finebaum says Deion Sanders will look for 'exit strategy' after 2024 season
Paul Finebaum has never been one to mince words. The veteran ESPN analyst is one of the most respected names in college football, so it’s always interesting to hear his latest takes.
Well, after Week 2, Finebaum has seen enough from Colorado to make some bold claims. First, Finebaum claimed that the team will not make a bowl game in 2024.
Then, Finebaum went a step further, claiming that Deion Sanders will look for an “exit strategy” following the 2024 season.
“This season, when they fail to go to a bowl game, he’s going to look around and try to find an exit strategy. No more Travis, no more Shedeur. What’s the motivation for him to beat himself up?” Finebaum asked.
Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are easily the team’s best players, and with both likely heading to the NFL after this season, it’s not hard to imagine some regression in 2025.
Will Sanders really stick around to rebuild? Or, will the coach be in the running for an even more prestigious gig at another school? Sanders’ name will continually be attached to attractive jobs like Florida or Arkansas that may become available.
Like Finebaum mentioned, the rest of the 2024 season may be tough sledding for the Buffaloes. After falling to Nebraska in Week 2, the Buffaloes take on in-state rival Colorado State in Week 3 before diving into Big 12 play.
ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives the Buffaloes just over a 52% chance to win 6 games and reach a bowl. With or without a bowl, Sanders may have a decision to make after this season.
Paul Finebaum predicts Deion Sanders will leave Colorado after this season:
“This season, when they fail to go to a bowl game, he’s going to look around and try to find an exit strategy. No more Travis, no more Shedeur. What’s the motivation for him to beat himself up?”
(via… pic.twitter.com/XnNTqQmIsU
— On3 (@On3sports) September 8, 2024
Deion has made a fortune in advertising since the media fell in love with him as a coach with no experience coaching a position or coordinating an offense or defense. I doubt seriously Florida or Arkansas would be stupid enough to hire someone as a head coach that does not know how to coach, and is just going to bring them a lot of publicity even as they lose.
“Sanders’ name will continually be attached to attractive jobs like Florida or Arkansas that may become available.”
The level of stupi dity in this statement is mind-numbing.
He’s going to the Gators. It is already a done deal.
That’s funny… I don’t think Deion will wear blue jeans, though…
Stupidity is running rampant among American voters these days, so all this media marketing for Prime Time is totally predictable… He belongs on TV, not on a football field or the sidelines. He is an entertainer…
It is stupid, but it won’t be wrong, his name might not be on the short list of anyone doing the hiring, but the media will be floating rumors about it even still.
ROTFLMAO x 10!!!!
Florida is were coaches with good records go to die; coaches who had accomplished something before they went to UF. As much as I would love to see UF hire Deon it won’t happen in a million years.
Even if Deon was qualified would UF hire a former FSU player?
Deon needs to go apprentice under Joel Olsten and Creflo Dollar then start his own mega-church, he’d be the first billionaire preacher.
Georgia hired a former Auburn player. Some guy named Dooley.
Yes and Auburn hired a former UGA player, some guy named Dye.
Would UGA hire a former GT player? (Have we ever?)
UGA might hire Buster Faulkner back someday, but you can argue whether or not he is really GT anyway… Probably just a stepping stone for him.
Well they hired that Will Muschamp guy that played for Georgia so…
Yeah, Muschamp wasn’t the face of UGA football like Deon was. I’d be surprised if Deon didn’t talk some smack about UF at some point in time.
Muschamp was a walk-on then was “sanitized” by Saban at LSU and Brown at Texas.
Hopefully a UF fan will chime in, I thought UF/FSU was next level compared to UGA/UF.
Are you kidding? Either UGA or GT would thrash FSU or Florida on the field this year. UF/FSU is a step down from almost anywhere these days… Free shoes U versus bluejean rednecks…
Now I can see FSU replacing their ten million dollar crybaby Michael Norvell with Deion Sanders. They love to waste money on huge contracts for overrated coaches.
Gator fan here – hell no we do not want slime prime – we already got silly billy we are trying to get rid of.
That’s a good idea. He could also replace the guy at MyPillow.com…
Perhaps dominating at the HBCU level isn’t a good indication of whether a coach can (1) win at the Power 4 level and (2) turn around a program that has struggled for decades. People got caught up in the media hype.
Look at the past history of Jackson State. I think every coach has been a winner there in the last 60 years or so. They are the top of the HBCU food chain, so Deion winning there is not a surprise. He does not know how to coach and lets his assistants do the coaching. At Colorado he is showing that he does not know how to run a program, at least not one on the level of a P-4 team.
PrimeTime sells!
Maybe…just maybe Deion should not have run off all of the big guys in the trenches in favor of his HBCU skill players coming in.
With how Deion has treated his players, I wouldn’t want him as coach even if he got to a bowl game every year.
Same here. I have no interest in him. I’ve always found him to be a narcissistic jerk.
slime prime is going to jump ship! how could colorado ever believe he was going to stay – this was about his ego and his sons.
I think Pawl has it right. Prime will leave at the end of the year. Any AD silly enough to hire should be fired for gross incompetence. I think he will land a network gig, maybe doing the headgear think—hopefully for the entire program.
Deion Sanders was a gifted athlete. He is also charismatic, but not in ways that help American culture as he tries to outdress ghetto pimps. What he is not is a coach. His charisma brough in some highly rated BLACK players who wanted to play for a BLACK coach. We won’t get into the simmering racism involved when people make decisions based on skin color. Anyway, whatever coaching he as pulled off was based on recruiting these sorts of players while slickly marketing himself using his charisma. The Colorado University senior leaders who actually hired this clown should be fired themselves. That is some very expensive virtue signaling, folks. Anyway, Mr Prime Time will leave the Buffs in worse shape than he found it. The sooner, the better…
Deion will take Nick Saban’s place on ESPN next year after Saban replaces Lerch as head ball coach at The ohio state university… The bucknuts.
Once a couple of these players check out for Colorado, Deion will too.
Heard the greatest line ever today on Basilio; Deion will be the first Opt-out coach before the end of the year.