- Colorado coach Deion Sanders banned players from wearing gear from their previous teams in Colorado facilities.
- He warned players against having their parents call coaches with grievances.
- The team welcomed several new assistant coaches for the upcoming season.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has so many new transfer players on his team again he’s needed to come up with a rule for how they dress.
Do not wear the gear of your previous team in Colorado facilities, he said in his first team meeting of 2026, as documented in a video posted Friday, Jan. 23, by his eldest son Deion Jr.
Sanders Sr. likened it to a player’s girlfriend wearing a shirt with her ex-boyfriend’s name on it.
“Don’t wear your old team’s gear in this facility,” Sanders told his team. “That’s disrespectful. That would be like your lady that you have currently wearing her ex (boyfriend’s) stuff. How you feel about that? She sitting up here with a shirt on that has her ex’s name… That’s how I feel about that when I see you coming to the cafeteria. You eat our food with your last teams on it? Obviously, if you wanted to stay there, you should have stayed.”
Sanders recruited 42 transfer players to his new team, replacing more than 35 who left for other schools. With so many new faces coming from other places, he’s had to lay down this and other rules for them.
Deion Sanders lays down Colorado team rules
Here’s a partial list of them as told to the team this week:
∎ No profanity outside the team meeting room.
“Profanity needs to stop,” said Sanders, who never uses it himself. “I heard it myself, especially in the dining area. It needs to stop. We’re not the only ones in the cafeteria.”
∎ No cellphones, food or drink in team meetings.
∎ Treat women with respect and address female staff members by calling them “miss” and not their first names.
∎ Sanders also warned players about parents who call Colorado coaches with any grievances.
“When you have your parents call the coaches, the coaches gonna report to me, and I’m gonna call your mom and your daddy and tell them to come and watch you practice, so they can see who you really are,” Sanders told his team. “Because you’re telling them you’re Tarzan, and most of the time, you Jane.”
Colorado football’s new assistant coaches introduced
Several new assistant coaches also introduced themselves at the meeting, including former Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Chris Marve (linebackers coach), former Abilene Christian co-defensive coordinator Aaron Fletcher (cornerbacks), former Gainesville, Georgia high school coach Josh Niblett (tight ends) and former Sacramento State head coach Brennan Marion (offensive coordinator).
Sanders also promoted Colorado staffer Johnnie Mack to running backs coach, replacing Pro Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk, who left to become head coach at Southern.
“There are some things that transpired in 2025 that obviously changed the faces in this room,” returning receivers coach Jason Phillips told the team.
Colorado finished 3-9 in 2025. The Buffaloes open Sanders’ fourth season as head coach on Sept. 5 at Georgia Tech.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
