Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has made one significant change on his coaching staff.
BuffZone confirmed through a source a report by USA Today that offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was relieved of his play-calling duties after an embarrassing 53-7 loss at Utah on Oct. 25. Tight ends coach Brett Bartolone called offensive plays during the Buffs’ 52-17 loss to Arizona last Saturday, per the USA Today report.
Asked about any changes in duties on the staff during his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Sanders said, “I might have already changed it and you don’t know.”
“I don’t do stuff and blow the whistles and make major announcements, ‘Hey!’ I don’t do that kind of stuff. I do it and I let you guys still take shots. You don’t even know, you may be shooting at the wrong target. So, some things take place that you may not be privy to.”
Asked at what point any changes would be noticeable to outsiders, Sanders said, “That’s up to you to notice them. They may have already happened.”
The reeling Buffs (3-6, 1-5 Big 12) have been blown out in consecutive games and rank 15th in the 16-team Big 12 in scoring (22.0 points per game) and yards (329.8 per game).
CU visits West Virginia (3-6, 1-5) on Saturday (10 a.m. MT, TNT). Sanders announced Tuesday that senior quarterback Kaidon Salter has been benched, as true freshman Julian “JuJu” Lewis will make his first career start on Saturday.
At Utah, the Buffs were held to season lows for points and total yards (140). It was the program’s worst yardage total since Oct. 23, 2021, at California, and their lowest point total since Sept. 23, 2023, at Oregon. The Buffs trailed 43-0 at halftime and had minus-18 yards in total offense.
Against Arizona this past weekend, the Buffs finished with 299 yards in total offense, but 182 of those came in the second half, after already trailing 38-7 at intermission. Four of the Buffs’ first eight possessions in that game ended with turnovers. Salter and backup Ryan Staub both struggled before the Buffs went to Lewis in the third quarter.
In seven games against Power 4 conference opponents, the Buffs have averaged 18.6 points per game, with a high of 24 against Iowa State.
This is Sanders’ sixth season as a college head coach and the fourth time that he has changed his offensive play caller in the middle of the season.
While at Jackson State, Sanders had Michael Pollock as his offensive coordinator going into the 2020 season, but promoted Jason Phillips to a co-coordinator role. In 2021, Phillips was stripped of play-calling duties in favor of TC Taylor. Bartolone was the coordinator and play-caller throughout the 2022 season.
Bartolone, Phillips and Pollock are all still with Sanders, working as assistant coaches for the Buffs. Phillips is the receivers coaches for the Buffs, while Pollock is the special teams coordinator.
After coming to CU in 2023, Sanders hired Sean Lewis as offensive coordinator, but stripped him of play-calling duties with four games left in that season. At that point, he promoted Shurmur from an analyst role to co-coordinator and Shurmur called plays the rest of the year, as well as throughout the 2024 season.
Shurmur, a former head coach for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and New York Giants, and former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, is in the second year of a two-year contract. He is being paid $850,000 this season, making him the highest paid offensive coordinator in program history.
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