Estimated read time: 10-11 minutes
College football is a cold-blooded animal. There was no greater example than the cut-throat tone Deion Sanders set when he took over at Colorado before last season.
The Buffaloes were coming off a dismal 1-11 year. Not long after his hire, Sanders announced: "There's no way I can put new furniture in this beautiful home if we don't clean out the old furniture."
It got some laughs.
By the end of his first spring in Boulder, 53 scholarship players were gone. The Athletic tracked down the departing players in a story that underscored the lack of compassion and bad feelings. The whole thing ignited a debate about what — if anything — a newly hired head football coach owes holdover players.
Per the piece:
On the morning of April 23, their group text blew up. Players were called into exit meetings with Sanders and told they couldn't play at CU. One described the experience as going to see the Grim Reaper. (Freshman Chase) Sowell's meeting was his first one-on-one conversation with the head coach.
The following morning, Sowell said, players were locked out of Colorado's football facility. They couldn't grab their things from the locker room. They couldn't grab a meal at the training table.
"When you're gone, you're gone," Sowell said.
Sanders didn't want or need the CU returners. He had 19 in-bound transfers, including his two sons and two-way star Travis Hunter, join the program for spring ball. Colorado started the season with a 3-0 roar but finished with a 4-8 whimper. The Pac-12 schedule was particularly brutal, featuring a 1-8 record.
Beat reporter Brian Howell, who covers the Buffaloes for The Boulder Daily Camera, wondered why the news outlet was drumming up old drama this week. He offered on social media: "The Athletic got what it wanted with that story, but was there a need for yet another story on the players who moved out of the program a year ago? No. Let it go."
I was glad the outlet didn't let it go. The involved people are the best part of every story. I was curious about those ex-Colorado players, particularly given how critical and outspoken Sanders was as he showed a line of them to the nearest bus stop.
Turns out 15 of the transfers ended up with Power 5 programs, 22 went to the Group of 5, and 11 more went to FCS schools or ended up in Division II. A couple of others ended up at community colleges and three ex-Colorado players haven't played since.
Head coaches run off players all the time. It's an offseason ritual. I've talked with several Pac-12 players in the last two seasons who were called in by coaches and told privately: "You need to transfer." They were informed there was no room on the roster and they'd never play.
Was Sanders unnecessarily cruel in the way he publicly ran off the players? Or is he just saying the quiet part of college football out loud? Something else? You tell me. I think the whole "new furniture" thing was part of an act designed to set a memorable tone and brand his program. But by being so vocal about it and embarrassing the departing players, Sanders made it an ongoing story, didn't he?
Spanning the globe…
STORY TIME: I played Division II college baseball. My head coach got fired at the end of my junior season. The university athletic director asked me to be on the hiring committee and participate in candidate interviews that summer. The new head coach — former UCLA player Lindsay Meggs — assured me during the interviews that he would give the returning players a fair shake. That was my primary objective. I felt like I owed it to my teammates.
Shortly after his hire, Meggs held an "open tryout." He invited any student who wanted to try out for the team to attend. More than 100 potential players showed up. Meggs included all the returning players in the tryout and asked everyone to bring a new baseball. Those balls were the price of admission. Meggs collected them in a giant garbage bin as players arrived at the diamond for the event. A few days later, Meggs cut all but a few who tried out.
He kept the baseballs.
Years later, Meggs became the head coach at Washington. He's now an assistant at Hawaii. I wonder if he continued the practice. They call it "show business" and not "show friends" folks.
PRIME-TIME ENCOUNTER: Speaking of Deion Sanders … former NFL wide receiver JJ Birden joined me for a fun talk this week on the radio show and told a great story about playing against the Hall of Fame defensive back.
MORE TO THE STORY: After the interview, JJ Birden told me off-air that the first time Atlanta played vs. Dallas his coach (June Jones) decided to avoid throwing to Deion's side of the field. But Jones noticed something peculiar on film.
"June recognized how many times I beat Deion on the line," Birden said. "So the next game we were going to go at him. Needless to say, it was very unsuccessful."
It wasn't a total wasted effort, though. Birden did draw two pass interference calls vs. Sanders in the rematch.
DUCK TALK: Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens is joining me on the radio show on Thursday at 4 p.m. Listen live in Portland (750-AM), Eugene (102.9-FM), Klamath Falls (960-AM), Roseburg (1490-AM) or stream it. The show airs 3-6 p.m. weekdays.
SEASON TICKETS: The Ducks have about 11,000 new football season tickets sold. But I've been thinking about something UO President Karl Scholz said in our 1-on-1 talk last week.
I asked Scholz about the potential to expand 54,000-seat Autzen Stadium and he said: "We have to look carefully at that. Is that going to be a permanent phenomenon? In which case, we would have to think about expanding Autzen. Or is this, you know, the novelty of joining the Big Ten? Having Ohio State come in? And it falls off?"
It made me wonder if a large number of the new season tickets sold are Ohio State fans who plan to travel and see the Buckeyes' game in Eugene on Oct. 12. Will those customers then dump the rest of the UO home games on the secondary market? Oregon knows the billing zip codes on those season ticket sales. I'll ask Mullens about it.
OREGON STATE AND WASHINGTON STATE: The Beavers and Cougars are putting the final touches on a media-rights deal for their 13 home football games next season. I expect news anytime now. Per an involved source, the sides are working out "the smallest of details" at this point.
I expect the media deal to be with The CW and include wide distribution and favorable kickoff times for the fan bases. OSU/WSU would be wise to pair the games with an edgy, fun national marketing campaign that draws some attention to their ongoing saga. There has never been more interest in the two schools.
CBS AND FOX: The Beavers and Cougars will play four road games each vs. Mountain West Conference opponents next football season. The MWC controls the media rights for those games. The broadcasts are part to the league's contract with Fox and the CBS Sports Network.
MARTINEZ LANDS: OSU transfer running back Damien Martinez committed to the University of Miami this week. I saw that one coming. Coach Mario Cristobal knows exactly what to do with Martinez. Cristobal also got quarterback Cam Ward (Washington State) in the portal.
Cristobal told me as the portal window closed: "The roster is getting closer to what it needs to be."
OREGON STATE TALK: Long-time OSU broadcaster Mike Parker will join me on the radio show on Thursday at 3:20 p.m. Tune in. He's always informative and fun.
WAITING FOR UTAH: Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan tells me his football season ticket numbers boast a 97 percent renewal rate. The Utes are not only sold out of season tickets, they have more than 3,000 on a waitlist.
Kyle Whittingham's football team is my way-too-easy pick to win the Big 12 next season. He's got Cam Rising back at quarterback. They'll win that conference.
CANZANO & WILNER: If you're not already listening to "Canzano & Wilner: The Podcast" give it a listen. Episode No. 99 deals with Reggie Bush's Heisman, the ticking doomsday clock in college athletics, and the 43 Pac-12 players picked in the NFL draft.
CAL HOOPS: Can we take a moment to appreciate the job Mark Madsen has done in his first year on the job? Madsen's team finished 9-11 in Pac-12 play, earning him a two-year contract extension.
Madsen landed Andrej Stojakovic, a Stanford transfer, late last week. It was a big get for Cal. Madsen also got Mady Sissoko, a 6-foot-9 post player in the transfer portal (Michigan State). Things are shaping up nicely for the Bears.
HUSKIES AFTER DARK: I love that Washington's spring game on Friday is scheduled as a "Pac-12 After Dark" event. The Huskies are kicking off the scrimmage at 6:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Network) and billing it as "Dawgs After Dark." Broadcasters Elise Woodward and Nigel Burton are working the game.
HURLEY WINNING: A source at Arizona State confirmed that Bobby Hurley is in talks with producers about a television docu-series about the coach. The project was first reported by Jeff Goodman. I'm told it will be a behind-the-scenes look at Hurley and his program. The coach is wisely looking for an angle to leverage some corporate partnerships that can help with exposure and revenue in the NIL space.
"Every kid wants to be a movie star," said the ASU source.
Hurley had a very nice week. Five-star center Jayden Quaintance, a former Kentucky signee, committed to the Sun Devils on Monday. He's only 16 years old and is a consensus top-10 recruit in the 2024 class. The prevailing thought is that Hurley can keep him for multiple seasons given that he won't be eligible for the NBA Draft until 2026. I wonder if he'll end up on TV.
DRAFTING: The University of Arizona had a first-round NFL Draft pick for the first time since 2008. Tackle Jordan Morgan went No. 25 overall to the Green Bay Packers. The Wildcats also had receiver Jacob Cowing (49ers) picked in the fourth round. It was the best draft in a while for Arizona and evidence of the program trajectory. I'll be curious to see how new coach Brent Brennan does in the coming NFL Drafts.
THE LITTLE THINGS: Anyone else notice how Brennan goes out of his way to do the little things? His Twitter feed is a line of birthday wishes and pats on the back for the unsung heroes in his program. Brennan even reposted a tweet thanking the equipment managers for their performance in spring football.
PUCK DROP: Jason Puckett has me on his new show every Tuesday. He asked me to give way-too-early predictions for the Washington and Oregon football programs next season. I have UW starting the season 5-0, but finishing 7-5 in Jedd Fisch's first season. I picked Oregon to be 11-1 in the first season in the Big Ten. You? "Puck" and I also talked about OSU/WSU, the glamour of TV dinners, and the future of college athletics on the podcast.
Read more of columnist John Canzano exclusively at JohnCanzano.com.
