Colorado, Deion Sanders boost investment in coaching offensive line

Head football coach Deion Sanders and the University of Colorado have dramatically increased their investment in coaching the team’s offensive line after it gave up the most quarterback sacks in the Big 12 Conference in 2024 (43) and the second-most sacks in the nation in 2023 (56), according to records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Since the end of last season, the Buffaloes have:

∎ Hired former Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl offensive lineman Andre Gurode, a former Colorado star, to serve as assistant offensive line coach at a salary of $250,000.

∎ Promoted Gunnar White to co-offensive line coach at a salary of $275,000 after he previously made $73,000 at CU as a quality control analyst.

∎ Moved former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman George Hegamin to be the co-offensive line coach with White at a salary of $250,000. Hegamin last year served as the team’s director of leadership and engagement at a salary of $100,000.

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Those three coaches help replace last year’s offensive line coach, Phil Loadholt, who left to take a similar position at Mississippi State after making $325,000 last year at CU.

The increase in staffing on the offensive line – and the increased pay – reflect an NCAA rule change last year that allows for an unlimited number of on-field coaches instead of the previous limit of 10 assistant coaches, in addition to the head coach. This allowed Sanders to hire two co-offensive line coaches, plus Gurode as an assistant line coach, instead of just having one main offensive line coach.

Deion Sanders’ hiring strategy

In theory, major college football teams can hire as many assistant coaches as they want now. They’ve just got to come up with the money to pay for it while also coming up with the money to pay players soon under the terms of a pending legal settlement. The three offensive line coaches for CU still earn less combined than what some individual offensive line coaches make around the county, including Jim Harding at Utah ($850,000 last year).)

In Sanders’ case, his strategy has been to hire prominent former NFL players in coaching roles, hoping their NFL backgrounds and name recognition help bring in recruits even if Colorado might not be able to pay as much to players as teams in richer leagues, such as Ohio State. Sanders also recently hired former NFL defensive lineman Domata Peko to be help coach CU’s defensive line at $300,000 in his first season.

“When kids come to play for me at Colorado, they came to play for me and the coaching staff that we assembled,” Sanders said on ESPN’s First Take in February. “They hadn’t come to play for money, because I let them know that will maintain you, (but) that pro contract is gonna sustain you. So we’re chasing that thing. And I don’t attract those type of kids that’s playing for a bag (money).  I attract those types of kids that’s just playing because they love the game. That’s what I want.”

Betting on NFL experience, not college

In recruiting, major college football teams are still limited to having only 11 “countable” coaches who are allowed to recruit off-campus. Sanders has employed a unique strategy of not recruiting off-campus at all as head coach. Several of his new coaching hires also have no apparent previous college coaching or recruiting experience, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk (running backs).

Gurode previously coached with the Cowboys and other pro football leagues. Hegamin coached high school football. Peko recently coached as an assistant with the Cowboys.

That lack of college experience might not matter, however, even if recruiting is a huge and unique part of the college game. Sanders has shown he’s more about the vision ahead than the track record left behind.

For example, Robert Livingston, a former NFL assistant coach with the Cincinnati Bengals, had little prior college coaching experience and no experience running a defense before being hired last year by Sanders as the team’s new defensive coordinator. His defense led the Big 12 in quarterback sacks in 2024, when the Buffs finished 9-4 after going 4-8 in Sanders’ first season in 2023.

Colorado also recently gave Livingston a new two-year contract that boosted his pay from $800,000 last year to $1.5 million this year, a school record for an assistant coach. The CU board of regents said in a statement that it was necessary “in light of the prevailing market conditions and competitive employment agreement practices nationwide.”

Big 12 rival Utah had the highest-paid, public-school defensive and coordinators in the league last year at about $2 million each.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com