Deion Sanders Next Head Coach Job Odds: Colorado School To Beat

Deion Sanders, one of the best college football and NFL players of all-time, has made quite a splash at FCS program Jackson State in his first stint as a head coach at the collegiate level.

Sanders is a candidate for the FCS Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. He won the honor in 2021 and is a favorite to repeat this year with an 11-0 regular season record – the first perfect regular season in school history. Sanders’ overall record is 26-5 (83.4%) at Jackson State. In the past two years, his team has swept through the Southwestern Athletic Conference without a loss.

With his magnetic personality, Sanders has been able to lure some top-tier recruits that otherwise wouldn’t think of playing at the FCS level. For example, Sanders last year became the first FCS coach to land the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in Travis Hunter.

While Jackson State is a powerhouse at that level, the school just can’t offer the money and resources of a major Division I program, so it now seems more likely than not that Sanders will be leaving this year. Let’s break down the sports betting odds of where Deion will be coaching in Game 1 of the 2023 season. He interviewed with TCU and Colorado State last offseason.

Could Deion’s Son Play Role?

Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) passes against Southern University during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Jackson, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Jackson State won 35-0. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Jackson State is actually the -120 favorite. One thing that could entice Sanders to stay is that his son Shedeur Sanders is the quarterback at JSU and won the Jerry Rice Award as the most outstanding freshman in the FCS last year, becoming the first player from a Historically Black college or university (HBCU) to win the award. Then again, Shedeur could simply transfer to wherever his dad may land.

Colorado of the Pac-12 is next on the props list at +290 and South Florida of the AAC is +325.

Sanders has no ties to either program but reportedly already has talked with officials from both programs. The one-win Buffaloes fired Karl Dorrell in early October after an 0-5 start. The one-win Bulls fired Jeff Scott in early November. While USF isn’t a Power 5 program, it does off the fertile recruiting ground of the Sunshine State and obviously Deion played at Florida State.

Auburn is next at +650 and seeing Sanders in the SEC alongside the likes of Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin would bet tremendous theater, but it seems as if Auburn is going another direction – perhaps to Kiffin of Ole Miss.

The other candidates are Georgia Tech (+1200), Arizona State (+1800), Nebraska (+1800) and Wisconsin (+1800). Sanders played part of his Hall of Fame NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons (Tech is in Atlanta) and considers the city among the places that feel like home.