With Pat Shurmur joining Deion Sanders' Colorado football staff, here's what to keep an eye on.
The expectation is for former NFL head coach Pat Shurmur to join the college ranks in his next coaching gig by linking up with Deion Sanders at Boulder.
Shurmur is slated to join Sanders' Colorado football staff as an offensive analyst. Although he was dreadful as a head coach with the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants, Shurmur was well-respected as an offensive coordinator, most notably with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings. Of course, his most recent stint with the Denver Broncos went over poorly.
Even if Shurmur has not worked in college football since the late 1990s, his son Kyle played quarterback at Vanderbilt not that long ago, so one would think he is still pretty connected to it.
Here is what to expect with Shurmur coming aboard Sanders' first Colorado staff as an analyst.
What to expect with Pat Shurmur joining Deion Sanders' Colorado football staff
Shurmur may only be joining the staff as an analyst, but there is so much to unpack here. The first is Shurmur's rapport with fellow Colorado staffer Mike Zimmer. He was Zimmer's noted offensive coordinator in Minnesota prior to getting the Giants gig. That 2017 Vikings team did great things offensively with Case Keenum as their starting quarterback. It was cutting-edge and innovative.
So because we know how much Sanders respects Zimmer, we can trust his judgment of bringing Shurmur into the fold. The second component is Sanders' son Shedeur is the Buffaloes' starting quarterback. Few coaches can relate to having their son be a Power Five starting quarterback… but Shurmur can! Colorado landed a bit of a quarterback guru to help in Sanders' first year there.
A third thing to know is Sanders seems to be well aware that if this works out for the Buffs in the coming years, Sean Lewis will be leading his own Power Five team. It was strange to see him leave Kent State to be Colorado's offensive coordinator, but working alongside Coach Prime certainly raises his overall profile. So if Lewis gets hired away in a year or two, you have Shurmur on staff.
And finally, Shurmur would be able to give Sanders some very interesting perspective on what not to do as a head coach. Sanders may have the special sauce to make it work as a CEO-type, but Shurmur's personality never allowed him to fully command a locker room. He was always an X's and O's type of coach. Simply put, you can never discount coaching experience, good, bad or ugly.
Overall, this is a systematic hiring of sorts to give Sanders his best chance at success. He will be able to win in recruitment for sure, given his larger-than-life personality. However, he is well aware that for Colorado to go to new heights, the Buffaloes players need to be coached up. Thus, Sanders has assembled quite the first staff in Boulder, one that looks to be getting even better.
Look for Shurmur to have a bigger role with the Buffaloes in 2024 and beyond if this thing works.
