Football

Remembering Larry Zimmer

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Remembering Larry Zimmer Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/04/2024 - 00:00

October 1998

“I don’t think I’ll ever see anything like that again.”

In an October 1998 Coloradan interview, iconic sports commentator Larry Zimmer shared his favorite CU Buffaloes play to date — the Sept. 24,1994 “Miracle in Michigan,” where quarterback Kordell Stewart (Comm ex’95; BA’16) threw a game-winning 64-yard Hail Mary pass to Michael Westbrook (Comm ex’94) in Michigan Stadium.

Zimmer saw much more excitement from there. The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame inductee served as “The Voice of the Buffaloes” for 42 seasons, which included 486 CU football games and 525 men’s basketball games. He called his last game in 2015.

Zimmer died Jan. 20, 2024 at the age of 88.

“His voice was synonymous with our athletic program, and he was most beloved by our coaches, players and fans,” said athletic director Rick George. “He is truly a part of our overall athletic history.”

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Photo by Cliff Grassmick/Heritage Center, Coloradan Collection

Larry Zimmer served as “The Voice of the Buffaloes” for 42 seasons

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Sports Briefs: Fall 2023

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Sports Briefs: Fall 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/06/2023 - 00:00

Prime Era Debuts

Colorado football opened the 2023 season — the “Coach Prime” era — with unprecedented national attention and an undefeated nonconference schedule. Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders was named head football coach on Dec. 3, 2022.

CU opened on the road Sept. 2 at No. 17-ranked TCU. The Buffaloes defeated the Horned Frogs, last year’s national runner-up and a 21-point favorite, 45-42. Colorado went on to beat Nebraska 36-14 Sept. 9 in Boulder before a double-overtime 43-35 victory over Colorado State Sept. 16 at Folsom Field.

“We did some things that showed we were resilient. We showed that we would fight, we showed that we had no surrender or give up in us,” Coach Prime said after the thriller over CSU.

Colorado finished its non conference schedule ranked No. 19 in the nation. All three nonconference games were televised nationally, with Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame show on campus Sept. 9 and ESPN’s College GameDay on campus Sept. 16.

Buffs Bits

On July 27, the CU Board of Regents unanimously approved CU Boulder’s move to the Big 12 Conference effective for the 2024-25 school year. … Four women’s track standouts earned All-American honors at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships; Abbey Glynn (LeadCommEngmt, Psych’24) raced a school record 55.94 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles semifinals on her way to a First Team All American finish. Avery McMullen (IntPhys, Psych’24) earned Second Team in the heptathlon, and Ella Baran (MEnv’24) and India Johnson (MTechMedSoc’24) earned honorable mention in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters respectively. … Women’s soccer closed out its non conference schedule at 8-1 and ranked No. 22 in the nation. Shyra James (MediaSt’24) led the Buffs with seven goals in nine games, and goalkeeper Jordan Nytes (Soc’26) was named National Player of the Week by Top Drawer Soccer on Aug. 29.

Coach Talk

“We have a lot of competitors here. There are a lot of people still fighting for spots, fighting for minutes and fighting for roles.”

— Women’s soccer head coach Danny Sanchez after the start of the season. The Buffs’ overhauled roster has 14 newcomers joining 14 returning players.

Digits

Match play hole difference that eliminated men’s golf’s Dylan McDermott (Mktg’25) at the 123rd U.S. Amateur

Volleyball consecutive wins without dropping a set, Aug. 26–Sept. 2, a streak the Buffs hadn’t accomplished since 1993

1st–4th

Women’s cross-country individual places at Sept. 1 kick-off races in Boulder

100th

Season at Folsom Field began when CU kicked off against Nebraska Sept. 9

3.154

Spring 2023 GPA of CU’s 369 student-athletes, the highest term GPA ever recorded

510

School record passing yards for football’s Shedeur Sanders (Soc’25) in debut win at No. 17 TCU

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Photos courtesy CU Athletics

Debut of the Prime Era

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The Rivalry Continues

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 07:00:00 +0000

The Rivalry Continues Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/06/2023 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

LOOK: CU vs. Nebraska

On Saturday, Sept. 9, the CU Buffs celebrated a 36-14 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The game launched the 100th year of Folsom Field with 53,241 fans, the highest game attendance in 15 years. Enthusiastic students, including the Buffs Going Bananas club (pictured), came in droves to support the team — many as early as two hours prior to the 10 a.m. kickoff.

After the game, thousands of fans flooded the field in celebration.

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Photos by Glenn Asakawa and Casey A. Cass

On Saturday, Sept. 9, the CU Buffs celebrated a 36-14 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

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The Coloradan's Q&A with Coach Prime

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 09:00:00 +0000

The Coloradan's Q&A with Coach Prime Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 03:00

Maria Kuntz

The Coloradan sat down with Deion Sanders on the eve of the spring game to discuss leadership, coaching and Buffs football.

What drew you to coaching?

What drew me to coaching was fulfilling a need. I was watching my youngest two sons at football practice, and it was horrible. I mean, the coaches didn’t know what they were doing, and they had these kids colliding and hitting each other. So I went out there and tried to teach them the proper protocol for doing what they needed to do. And I sat back down like a real parent. Then I saw something else and I couldn’t take it. So I went out there and helped them.

By the second or third time, I was running the whole practice. I said to myself, ‘If you’re gonna do this, you’re not going to do it with nobody else. Do it your own way.’

How did you know you were meant to be at CU?

Well, God places you where you’re not necessarily wanted, but you’re necessarily needed. That is not just a need at CU for the football department. There’s a need in this whole city and state for equality and to improve the equilibrium in race. I think we are at 3% Black students on this campus — if that. So God takes me to these types of places so I could bring something to the table that hasn’t been fathomed.

And I’ve always been in those situations — going to play football in Atlanta, going to the Atlanta Braves or Cincinnati … Everywhere I go, I’ve got to be a product of change. I never go anywhere where everything is good, everything is glowing, everything is wonderful, everything is kind, everything is generous. It’s always a situation that needs to be fixed or needs to be improved.

Is there an aspect of Boulder that has surprised you?

The beauty, the serenity, the calmness, the willingness to understand. I love that. There’s so many more, but those are the top ones that get me to the place I want to be.

What is your vision for CU Boulder football and the Forever Buffs community?

It’s hard to just say what the vision is. Let’s talk about the goals. The goals are to win. Winning is not just what is placed on the scoreboard. Because I could win out there every game, but if we failed in graduation rate, we didn’t win. I could win out there every game and we could get all these kids graduated, but if several of them are having a kid out of wedlock and not being a father of their own children, we did not win.

If we’re not maturing these young men to be leaders who understand life and are willing to embrace and love and understand and help and assist, we didn’t win. It’s an enormous challenge. If you sent me your son at 18 and I sent him back at 21 and he hadn’t changed, we lost.

What does leadership mean to you?

Leadership means you’re much more than just the person in the front. You’re much more than the person who may get the first or last word. You’re much more than the person who’s the most visible. A leader doesn’t have to walk in the front. A leader doesn’t have to speak the loudest. A leader does not have to command the most finances in the building. A leader is a leader, and no one can teach you how to lead. That’s in you.

Are there one or two characteristics that define your leadership?

I can’t define my leadership. Someone else would have to define it. Because I walk ... I move different than most. And my music don’t play on the same beat that yours may play. And I’m not looking for your approval. I’m not looking for a check by my Instagram or Twitter. I don’t need validation from others, not whatsoever. Because I have a higher calling, and I could hear [God’s] voice in the midst of boos or cheers. I could hear his voice and know where to go.

Who have been your mentors and inspirational leaders?

My mother is not a mentor — she’s my mama. But she’s always been the one. I had some wonderful men in my life, many of whom have passed away, but they left their imprint on my heart. My youth coach, Dave Capel, who took me from the inner city to the other side of town and opened my windows of life to let me see some things I would’ve never seen.

My high school coach, Ron Hoover, we had a rule: If you get suspended, you get kicked off the football team. And he kicked me off the football team when I got suspended junior year — even though the suspension wasn’t my fault. I was trying to break up something in the library. And my coach was mad and upset, but he kept his word. And that changed my life because now I understood discipline and true leadership.

Mickey Andrews and Bobby Bowden when I went on to college and the other different coaches that I had in my life — it was a plethora of coaches, teachers, people and positions that God took me through on my journeys that I had to pass by and pass through. But I took something from them and kept them sacredly.

How do you motivate players?

You don’t try to motivate players. You are who you are. Every player is not the same, but that [relationship] comes from sitting on that couch with the mother or father or uncle or friend or aunt or coach — someone in his life who has been a value. You’ve got to know those things.

So I may whisper to a kid, ‘Mama have to work today.’ That may not mean nothing to you, but a mama told me she was driving an hour and a half to work every day to support his little butt. Now he’s coming to college trying to make it happen. He’s forgetting that Mama’s still driving to work every day while he’s out there loafing. But he made Mama promise that one day he was going to take care of her. So all I have to do is say, ‘Mama have to work today.’ And he reflects on that moment.

It is an open relationship because I want them to understand my ‘why.’ I can’t just tell these guys, ‘Hey man, I don’t want you laying down on the field.’ That’s one thing to say that but it’s another thing to say, ‘You know what? I played the game 14 years. No one ever had to get me off a field.’

One time I fell and cracked my eye socket. I remember the guy who played cornerback on the opposing team played with me a year prior. I heard his voice and I said, ‘Push me the way my sideline is.’ And he pushed me that way and I ran off the field. Next thing I know, I’m in the ambulance and I had surgery like two days later there, but never did they have to get me off the field. But if the kids don’t understand that story, they don’t understand my why.

What do you want your legacy to be?

That I’m the best father that ever lived. That’s it.

Now that you have the tools of social media, what is the story you’re trying to share with the world?

Hope, man. I instill hope. We’ve got another hour. We may have another day. Even if we don’t, what are you going to do with your now? We’ve got so many people in life upset with yesterday and so afraid of tomorrow that they’re missing their now. I dominate my now, every darn moment God gives me, even this moment right now, I’m going to dominate it because this is my now.

I’m going to win today, which is going to prepare tomorrow. And I forgot about yesterday. I ain’t got time for it.

What’s important to you that you want readers — CU Boulder alumni, fans and supporters — to know?

As much as they think they need me, I need them just as much because of what we’re trying to accomplish. I need them to see what can possibly be and what’s going to be. And I need them to forget about what was. I need them to be all in. I need them to get in the game.

It’s one thing to be in the stadium, but it’s another thing to be in the game. One thing to be in the crowd, but it’s another thing to be in the game. It’s one thing to be over there cheerleading with pom-poms, but it’s another thing to be in the game. It’s one thing to have an instrument, blowing the tuba or whatever they’re playing in the band, but it’s another thing to be in the game.

I need everybody in that stadium to be in the game because this is the genesis of what’s coming, and that starts tomorrow.

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Photos courtesy CU Athletics

Read Coach Prime's winning mentality and leadership philosophy

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Sports News Briefs: Summer 2023

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Sports News Briefs: Summer 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Andrew Daigle

Dramé Apparel

Jaida Drame (IntPhys, Soc’22), a track-and-field walk-on who didn’t run in high school, is departing CU as a world-recognized sprinter — and entrepreneur.

Drame tried out for track her sophomore year. She practiced 200- and 400-meters, trained solo and set personal records. She made the team in fall 2019, but then the pandemic struck. Eager to challenge herself and also bored during quarantine, she began altering and then designing clothes.

“My mom had bought me a sewing machine. I alter my clothes — I have long legs,” said Drame.

Drame modified athleisure styles before shifting to performance wear. She named her operation Dramé Apparel. Then, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) changes in 2021 allowed her to become a profiting business owner.

“Before NIL, it was Dramé Apparel or track. No crossover,” said Drame. “Now, I can push my own company.”

Drame will be in Boulder next year training with her running coach.

“I’m running for Senegal professionally,” said Drame. “And I hope to be wearing my uniforms.”

Buffs Bits

Jana Weinberger (IntlAf’06) was named CU’s director of skiing and Ian Lochhead as head alpine coach. … After women’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearance, Quay Miller (Soc’23) and Jaylyn Sherrod (Soc’22, MSOL’23) announced they will return for their fifth and final seasons of eligibility. Head coach JR Payne signed a contract extension through 2028. … Lacrosse (11-8, 7-3 Pac-12) concluded 2023 with a run in the Pac-12 Tournament, ultimately falling 12-6 to USC in the championship on May 6. Charlie Rudy (StComm’22, MBus’23) and Sam McGee (MSOL’23) were named First Team All-Conference. … Buffs tennis (12-12, 3-9 Pac-12) advanced to the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament and earned a trip to the inaugural National Invitational Championship (NIT). … In April CU began a $12.3 million Athletics improvement project. The upgrades include lighting for soccer night games, a new training center for the ski team and track-and-field updates before CU hosts the 2024 Pac-12 Track & Field Championships.

Coach Talk

"We’ve got an extremely resilient group who genuinely love one another. It’s really gratifying to see them enjoy the fruits of their labor. This group does the work.”

— Tennis head coach Anthony Pham after CU defeated Oregon on April 26 to win its first Pac-12 Tournament Match in program history.

Digits

Filip Forejtek (CompSci’22, MDataSci’23) won the men’s giant slalom Individual National Championship on March 8 at the NCAA Ski Championships in Lake Placid, New York.

Buffs from the 2022 football team signed free agent contracts after the conclusion of the 2023 NFL Draft in April.

Washington tennis’ national ranking when the Buffs came back from down 3-0 to win 4-3 on April 9.

CU student-athletes received their degrees following the spring 2023 semester.

47,277

Sold-out attendance at CU football’s Black & Gold Day Spring Game on April 22.

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Photo courtesy CU Athletics

Jaida Drame's clothing company and other sports news.

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Leadership Lessons from the Football Field

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Leadership Lessons from the Football Field Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Phil Distefano

If I’ve learned anything about leadership in my time at CU Boulder, it’s that excellence is rarely achieved by shrinking our ambitions.

So when it came time to find the next Buffs football coach, we knew we needed a leader who could establish an ambitious vision, galvanize the players and fans, and handle the pressures of reestablishing a powerhouse program.

We needed, as our motto suggests, to Be Boulder.

Our campus and our athletic director Rick George were fortunate to find that type of bold leadership in Deion Sanders.

In just a few months, “Coach Prime” has started the restoration process. Where there was discouragement and apathy, we are experiencing new waves of enthusiasm and support for the Colorado Buffaloes.

While I’m ecstatic to see Buffs fans optimistic again, I’m equally excited to see the ways Coach Prime is starting to make an impact off the field.

He attended the grand opening of the Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS) in February, and he’s spoken at the Leeds School of Business and Colorado Law. And he has been working with the College of Media, Communication and Information on a partnership that would help students develop skills in social media content creation.

As one campus unit worked to recruit a talented Black scientist for a position this spring, Coach Prime spent 45 minutes with her talking about CU Boulder. A recruiter never stops.

In all my years working alongside collegiate athletics, I have never encountered a head coach who has been so engaged with the rest of campus in such a short amount of time.

When skeptics question the hype around college athletics — and as an academic, I understand the concerns — I point to moments like this as evidence of how a top athletics program can positively impact the university’s reputation. An outstanding football program has the potential to add to the existing culture of excellence stemming from our research, teaching and creative work.

Leadership, particularly in times of change, can be uncomfortable. It is often met with suspicion, misunderstanding or criticism.

Coach Prime has shown he’s ready for all of it, bringing confidence, pride and optimism to bear. We cannot predict what the next season will hold, but I trust that good things will come when the CU Boulder community stands shoulder to shoulder.

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Photo by Casey A. Cass

We needed, as our motto suggests, to Be Boulder.

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The Buzz Is Back in Boulder

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

The Buzz Is Back in Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Pat Rooney

Parking was a pain. Finding tickets, at least at the eleventh hour, was even more so.

And, as often happens in a Colorado spring, the weather refused to cooperate.

No matter. This was a moment Colorado football fans had been pining for over the better part of two decades.

On April 22, Boulder became something it hadn’t been since the early 1990s: the focus of the entire college football world. And this was for a spring game — held about five months after the Buffaloes turned in arguably the worst season in the program’s rich history, and four months before the Buffs were set to kick off the 2023 season with a whole new set of expectations.

The reason, of course, was the new coach in town — Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, hired on Dec. 2 to reinvigorate the CU program. He’s done that already without yet coaching a real game.

A total of 47,277 fans attended the sold-out spring game at Folsom Field. The comparative numbers are staggering: An estimated 1,950 fans watched the previous year’s spring game. Even fewer, an estimated 1,000, did so in 2021. The most recent spring game attendance would have been the third-biggest crowd at Folsom during the 2022 regular season, and it was less than 600 fans off from topping the No. 2 crowd in 2022.

In fact, the previous seven springs combined featured an attendance of 30,450. This year, the Buffs’ spring game was the only one in the nation broadcast live on ESPN, and the Buffs have suddenly become a regular feature on national talk shows.

Already “Coach Prime” has done the impossible. CU football once again is relevant nationally. What does it mean for Boulder? There will be a significant financial impact, but anyone who has been trying to rent in town or who pays property taxes understands the city isn’t exactly hurting.

Still, new revenue streams will help both the city and the campus (CU hadn’t even sold spring game tickets since the 1980s). And football often remains the gateway to major universities. Like myself, my wife, Andrea Nozykowski (Jour’99), is from South Bend, Indiana. She fell in love with CU Boulder while watching the epic Notre Dame-Colorado battles of the late 1980s and early 1990s, then following the Rashaan Salaam (Soc ex’95) and Kordell Stewart (Comm ex’95; BA’16)-led Buffs while she was in high school.

Much to the chagrin of her parents, she traveled the roughly 1,100 miles to Boulder for college, in large part because of what she watched during football games. She graduated from CU in 1999.

No doubt, the buzz is back. If Coach Prime sees his vision through, the Buffs will be as well.

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Photos courtesy Tyler Davis, CU Athletics

On April 22, Boulder became something it hadn’t been since the early 1990s: the focus of the entire college football world.

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The Prime Effect

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 06:00:00 +0000

The Prime Effect Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/10/2023 - 00:00

Kasim Kabbara

The “Prime Effect” has arrived in Boulder … but what, exactly, is it?

Is it the fact that the Colorado Buffaloes — a football team that won one game last year — became the only team in the nation to have their spring game aired live on ESPN this year?

Is it the 600% increase in followers to CU football’s social media accounts since Deion Sanders, known as Coach Prime, was hired in December?

Is it the way Coach Prime merchandise initially sold out after each restock in CU gear shops around Colorado?

Perhaps it’s all of that and more — it’s even bigger than sales and stats. The Prime Effect is also about Coach Prime’s “Midas Touch” — the way he seems to enhance situations and environments once he enters the picture.

Deion Sanders spent three seasons at Jackson State �Թ�� (JSU), where he put an ultra-positive jolt in the backs of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He generated the equivalent of $185 million in advertising and exposure revenue for the JSU athletic department in less than a year on staff, according to an April 2021 article in USA Today. JSU’s football team went 27–6 — a complete turnaround from the continuous under .500 team records in the years before Coach Prime’s arrival — and on College GameDay 2022, ESPN entered Jackson, Mississippi, for the first time in history.

The Prime Effect transformed Jackson State, and Buffs are ready to see what effect it will have on Boulder.

The Prime Effect Is Unapologetically Black

“Coach Sanders’ impact as a father figure for students on campus and his players is amazing.”

2020 census data shows that Colorado has experienced growth in racial and ethnic diversity in the past 10 years, but CU Boulder remains predominantly white.

CU’s total enrollment is over 36,000 students. Roughly 66% of those students are white, 12% are Hispanic, 9% Asian American, 7% international, 1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 1% American Indian/Alaska Native, 1% unknown and almost 3% are Black, or approximately 800 undergraduate students and 150 graduate students.

Already, Coach Prime is making an effort to support Black community members at CU, and in turn, they’re rooting hard for Coach Prime and the team to succeed.

Reiland Rabaka, founder and director of the Center for African & African American Studies (CAAAS) and a professor in the ethnic studies department, is already impressed by the man CU hired to lead its football team.

“Coach Sanders’ impact as a father figure for students on campus and his players is amazing,” Rabaka said. “The man truly cares about his community.”

On Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, the CAAAS hosted its grand opening — and Deion Sanders was there. Feb. 1 was also National Signing Day, a pivotal day for high school senior athletes. It’s the day many athletes sign a national letter of intent, declaring where they intend to play Division 1 football. Coach Prime spent part of his day with future Buffs headed to the football team, and he also celebrated with Black Buffs on campus, creating and continuing a legacy of African Americans in Boulder.

“He’s almost a sensei; that brother is a blessing for this university,” Rabaka said. “Most coaches don’t realize it’s not always about what you do on the field, but off the field, and Sanders showing up for us on this day of all days shows me the type of man he’s developing in that locker room.”

The Prime Effect “Ain’t Hard to Find”

The 2023 CU spring game sold out with more than 47,000 in attendance (tickets cost $10). That’s more people for a single scrimmage than the past nine spring games combined, all of which were free — and completely shatters the record of 17,000 attendees in 2008.

The spring game, which was broadcast on ESPN, hosted 260 members of the media. The school record for most media credentials at one game is 601, a record set in 1989 when Colorado beat Nebraska to head to the Orange Bowl. The university made around $200,000 net profit from the game, including $123,000 in merchandise revenue, and about $143,000 in concessions.

The buzz around this team is simply hard to ignore, and everyone even remotely involved is benefiting. It’s been 27 years since CU has sold out season tickets, and it’s the first time they sold out before August.

“The thing that I think I’ve noticed more than anything on campus is the excitement level,” said Patrick Ferrucci, CU Boulder associate professor of journalism. “Being here eight years, I think there was maybe one year where people kind of even really cared about the football team. I was at a university meeting where they were joking about how they used to give away tickets, and they were like, ‘Just know that that’s not going to be the case this year.’”

His first night in Boulder, Coach Prime said, “I’m coming,” which has remained a catchphrase. A few days later he quipped, “I’m not hard to find,” referencing his social media presence. Surrounded by his son, Deion Sanders Jr., and a team of content creators, he’s constantly posting footage from practice, his office and even local hangouts.

This always-on, insider approach to CU Boulder football has catapulted his accounts to a whole new level: As of June 2023 he had 3.3 million followers on Instagram and 291,000 YouTube subscribers.

Sanders has posted reels of team practices, reviews of Boulder restaurants and CU facility tours with Colorado legends like former NBA Final MVP Chauncey Billups (Soc ex’99) and Kordell Stewart (Comm ex’95; BA’16), high-profile fans like rapper Lil Wayne and even his mother.

“Sanders and his team, with the way that they use social media, do a great job, especially emotionally,” Ferrucci said. “In our program, we teach social media storytelling, and I think there’s a lot that our students could learn from the way that they use [it] to get their stories across in a way that resonates with a lot of students and alumni.”

Bigger Than Football

“Sanders and his team, with the way that they use social media, do a great job, especially emotionally.”

Teaching associate professor Jamie Skerski taught the “Communication, Culture & Sport” course at CU, a campus favorite where students discuss the intersection of athletics, sexism, racism, culture and politics. Since 2020, when CU students joined nationwide racial inequity protests and Black Lives Matter demonstrations, she’s noticed a shift in students, she said. With Coach Prime’s arrival, classroom conversations are becoming increasingly nuanced, too.

“I feel a shift in the level of conversations about and around privilege in my classroom,” Skerski said. “That’s not to say that there are not structural problems at CU or in Boulder, because there certainly are, but students can recognize and talk about them with more sophistication. The arrival of Coach Prime comes at a time when many students can appreciate that the moment is here, and is bigger than football.”

Skerski believes white students at CU Boulder are starting to check themselves and their classmates when conversations about racial inequalities arise, especially relating to Coach Prime’s position on campus and the world.

“In terms of understanding larger cultures and racial inequities coinciding at the same time, I know at least my students are much more aware of their white privilege and have a stake in the way these conversations are happening inside and outside of the classroom,” she said. “They for sure see this Deion Sanders moment as an intersection of all of the things we teach in our course.”

And Coach Prime, who is unapologetically himself, is making an impact on the Boulder community in unexpected ways.

When he visited Village Coffee Shop as part of his food review tour, he gave them an “A-.” They could have had a higher grade, he said, but Coach Prime appeared jokingly appalled that the cafe, like many others in Boulder, did not serve grits, an African-American staple food dating back to the transatlantic slave trade.

Since Coach Prime posted the video, there has been a surge in Boulder diners serving grits and other traditionally African-American fare. Two local restaurants even named items on the menu after Coach Prime.

A simple gesture like a restaurant serving grits can help build a sense of community and belonging — creating unity among fans and the coaching staff.

Coach Prime’s presence in Boulder and on social media is igniting conversations about important social issues. He may be here to coach football, but his impact is far greater.

Once in a Lifetime

Regardless of the Buffaloes’ success on the field, wins are — hopefully — guaranteed. Everyone will find out when the Buffs kickoff against Texas Christian �Թ�� on FOX’s Big Noon telecast. But the community and player development are worth more than any Pac-12 championship trophy.

This year, the Buffs are transforming their outlook and building a program that fits Sanders’ vision of a winning team — both on and off the field. And that is the Prime Effect.

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Illustrations by Timba Smits

Surging social accounts, sold-out tickets and ESPN are just the start.

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Sports Briefs Spring 2023

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 07:00:00 +0000

Sports Briefs Spring 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/06/2023 - 00:00

Andrew Daigle

Sanders Named Football Coach

Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders was announced as Colorado’s 28th full-time head football coach on Dec. 3.

“Not only will Coach Prime energize our fanbase, I’m confident that he will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character,” said athletic director Rick George.

Sanders comes to CU after three seasons as head coach at Jackson State �Թ��, where his teams went a combined 27-6 and earned consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championships (2021 and 2022).

Before coaching, Sanders was a two-sport athlete. Twice named a first-team All-American defensive back at Florida State, he went on to play in the NFL (14 years) and MLB (9 years). In the NFL, he was the 1994 Defensive Player of the Year, a two-time Super Bowl champion and 2011 Hall of Fame inductee.

Sanders takes over a 1-11 football program that saw head coach Karl Dorrell dismissed in October. Sanders pledged: “This is my job and my occupation and my business and my dream to bring you back to where you know you should belong.”

Buffs Bits

Women’s cross-country won its second consecutive Pac-12 Championship on Oct. 28. Bailey Hertenstein (MIntPhys’24) won the individual championship. The women went on to place 11th at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 19, with Hertenstein and Ella Baran (MEnvEng’24) racing to All-American finishes. … Men’s cross-country placed second overall at the Pac-12 Championship and then finished eighth overall at NCAAs. … For the first time since 2018, women’s volleyball reached the NCAA tournament. The Buffaloes (20-11, 12-8 Pac-12) were eliminated by No. 20 Rice in a first-round match on Dec. 1. Middle blocker Meegan Hart (Soc’21; MSOL’23) was named All-Pac-12 First Team. … Women’s soccer finished the 2022 season 8-7-5 (2-6-3 Pac-12) after a 5-0-2 start had the Buffaloes ranked No. 19 nationally. … Ambassador David Bolen (Mktg, MBA’50), CU’s first Olympian, died on Dec. 10, 2022. Bolen placed second in the 440 yards at the 1947 NCAA Championships and fourth in the 400 meters at the 1948 London Olympics. He went on to a distinguished career in the foreign service, including appointments as U.S. Ambassador.

Coach Talk

“Change is evident. It’s going to happen. … Whenever you dominate a space, there’s elevation.”

— Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders in the February 2023 issue of GQ.

Stats

77-67

Score after women’s basketball beat the previously undefeated and No. 8-ranked Utah Utes on Jan. 6 in Boulder.

19.56

Distance, in meters, of indoor track and field’s Gya’ni Sami’s (EthSt, Soc’23) weight throw, a new CU record by over a foot, at the Air Force Holiday Open on Dec. 2.

96%

CU student-athlete Graduation Success Rate announced by the NCAA in November, an all-time high for the university.

262nd

career win for men’s basketball head coach Tad Boyle when the Buffs beat Southern Utah 86-78 at home on Dec. 21, making him the winningest head coach in program history.

1st

Offensive tackle Tommy Brown (MSOL’24) signed with Boulder-based Shinesty to become the first-ever college football NIL underwear model.

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CU Alum Is Planning Super Bowl LVII

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 07:00:00 +0000

CU Alum Is Planning Super Bowl LVII Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 00:00

David Schwartz

Jay Parry (Fin’80) got a healthy appreciation for sports from her father, who would shuttle her and her two older sisters around Del Mar, California, and beyond.

“He literally took us to every sporting event he could find in Southern California,” she said. “Sports were important growing up. He really opened us to all the possibilities.”

Decades later, the former banking executive would make her name in the same field, but this time off the playing surface — with the WNBA, the NBA and, now, the Super Bowl.

Parry currently serves as the public face of the group responsible for Super Bowl LVII in Arizona, and the rest of the world will be watching.

“What drives me is that I love putting together an all-star team and creating something that seems like it’s going to be a challenge, but ultimately we make it look easy,” said Parry, president and chief executive of the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, during a break in her schedule in Phoenix. “I get excited about that.”

This is the second time around for Parry, who helped lead the effort to host the NFL’s big game in Arizona in 2015. This time, the stakes are even higher.

Delayed by the global pandemic, her 20-person staff has had to move quickly to prepare for the multitude of tasks in the months leading up to the opening kick-off.

The fundraising goal to defray the cost of putting on the game is $50 million, roughly $20 million more than the last time the desert played host. Sponsorships need to be inked. Some 5,000 volunteers need to be recruited. A full calendar of events must be put together and executed.

“We have a great road map from 2015,” Parry said. “Now the challenge is how we elevate our game and set new records for the Super Bowl and Arizona — and create a really fun fan experience for everyone.

“Sports is business, and creating a business plan for how to host the best Super Bowl yet is the goal.”

The California transplant took her first formal steps into the business world at CU, arriving at the never-before-visited school looking for a change in scenery, and decided that finance and marketing would serve her well. Parry said she came away with a degree, lasting memories and lifelong friendships — and she fulfilled her father’s request that she take up skiing.

The lessons she learned at CU Boulder helped provide a foundation for a 17-year career at Bank of America, where she steadily rose through the ranks. She left as an executive vice president overseeing 10 states.

The challenge is how we elevate our game and set new records for the Super Bowl and Arizona — and create a really fun fan experience for everyone.

“I thought, ‘There’s a great big world out there,’ and I needed to make sure that I was experiencing different aspects of it,” she said. “It seemed like the time had come to make a move.”

Parry launched a second career in sports as a top executive with the Phoenix Mercury basketball team of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), landing the job through a connection at the bank. That led to a stint as a senior vice president with the Phoenix Suns. And another connection from the bank and others, along with her track record, helped land her the top job running the Super Bowl for the first time and again a second time last year. In between, she served for two years as the WNBA’s chief operating officer.

She’s worked in largely male-dominated organizations throughout her career, but she downplayed any suggestion that her gender served as an obstacle.

“It’s about knowing your business and being prepared,” Parry said. “I think there’s a lot of progress being made around bringing women into the conference room and the board room. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Parry said she has learned over the years that a formula for success in any organization is creating and encouraging a culture of inclusion, and having a highly qualified group of professionals who make it work.

As for the future, Parry is taking a “wait and see” approach, concentrating on her team and the months until the big game.

“We’re really focused on delivering a really great experience for Super Bowl LVII,” she said. “And then we’ll all take a step back, take a breath and decide what comes next.”

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Photo courtesy Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee

After serving as an executive with the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury and as COO for the WNBA, Jay Parry is now heading up the planning for Super Bowl LVII in Phoenix — for the second time.

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