When the University of Colorado announced its decision to hire Deion Sanders as its next head football coach, there was no shortage of critics. Sanders’ only college coaching experience was a three-year stop at Jackson State University. His loud, no-nonsense approach led to an unprecedented 50+ players leaving the program within his first few months on the job. And Colorado was on the hook for his five-year, $29.5 million contract — the richest contract in school history — no matter how he performed.
In fact, the move was such a risk that Colorado didn’t even have the money to pay Sanders, with the school’s athletic director telling reporters he “wasn’t worried about it” but now needed to go out and raise the money from alumni and boosters.