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Head football coach Deion Sanders and the University of Colorado have dramatically increased their investment in coaching the team’s offensive line after it gave up the most quarterback sacks in the Big 12 Conference in 2024 (43) and the second-most sacks in the nation in 2023 (56), according to records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Since the end of last season, the Buffaloes have:
∎ Hired former Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl offensive lineman Andre Gurode, a former Colorado star, to serve as assistant offensive line coach at a salary of $250,000.
∎ Promoted Gunnar White to co-offensive line coach at a salary of $275,000 after he previously made $73,000 at CU as a quality control analyst.
∎ Moved former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman George Hegamin to be the co-offensive line coach with White at a salary of $250,000. Hegamin last year served as the team’s director of leadership and engagement at a salary of $100,000.
Those three coaches help replace last year’s offensive line coach, Phil Loadholt, who left to take a similar position at Mississippi State after making $325,000 last year at CU.
The increase in staffing on the offensive line – and the increased pay – reflect an NCAA rule change last year that allows for an unlimited number of on-field coaches instead of the previous limit of 10 assistant coaches, in addition to the head coach. This allowed Sanders to hire two co-offensive line coaches, plus Gurode as an assistant line coach, instead of just having one main offensive line coach.
Deion Sanders’ hiring strategy
In theory, major college football teams can hire as many assistant coaches as they want now. They’ve just got to come up with the money to pay for it while also coming up with the money to pay players soon under the terms of a pending legal settlement. The three offensive line coaches for CU…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/colorado-increases-investment-offensive-line-120418837.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2025-03-01 12:04:00
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