Deion Sanders makes personnel move that likely signals end of $850,000 Colorado Buffs football coach’s tenure originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders doesn’t let bad seasons get away from him without making major changes to his team. Just like in 2023, when Coach Prime demoted then-lead play-caller Sean Lewis, Sanders is making a move at offensive coordinator.
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According to USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer, Pat Shurmur has now been demoted just like Lewis was in 2023, when the former was promoted to co-offensive coordinator with the latter. Tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone reportedly took over after a 53-7 loss to the Utah Utes.
“Colorado football coach Deion Sanders stripped play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur after the Buffaloes lost at Utah Oct. 25, demoting him to quarterbacks coach before the team got beat again last week against Arizona, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports,” Schrotenboer wrote.
“The person didn’t want to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. The person said Colorado tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Brett Bartolone has called plays instead of Shurmur since the Utah game.
“Colorado didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment. But Sanders hinted at coaching staff changes Tuesday during his weekly news conference in Boulder.”
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Bartolone’s debut came in a 52-17 loss to the Arizona Wildcats, the worst home loss of CU’s “Prime Time” era, so demoting Shurmur didn’t lead to an immediate fix.
It’s clear what it will lead to, though.
Pat Shurmur isn’t long for the Colorado Buffaloes
When you’re a nearly 40-year coaching veteran and you’re demoted midseason, there’s not exactly much hope of regaining that position back. Not when the program’s offense has fallen off a cliff after historic offensive highs from a season ago.
Unfortunately for Shurmur, it looks like his best role was to get Shedeur Sanders to the NFL. Which he did. But he’s worn out his usefulness in Boulder by not figuring out how to best utilize the several million spent on quarterbacks this offseason to put a passable product on the field.
Shurmur probably isn’t finding a new job like Lewis did with the San Diego State Aztecs. He could need to go the offensive analyst route for a year in the NFL before getting another serious look.
