The Colorado Buffaloes are reportedly keeping head coach Deion Sanders from publicly speaking about a change he intended to make for 2024. Sanders confirmed in November he hired NFL Hall of Fame legend Warren Sapp to be on the Buffaloes coaching staff for 2024.
However, the university has not officially introduced Sapp as a football staff member. And that might never happen.
The Colorado Buffaloes send Deion Sanders a message
According to Brent Schrotenboer with USA Today, Colorado said they had no conversations about hiring Sapp with Sanders. Furthermore, the school said Sanders will not comment anymore about hiring Sapp:
“There have been no conversations about hiring Warren Sapp for an assistant coach position at the University of Colorado,” said Steve Hurlbert, spokesman for CU Boulder.
USA TODAY Sports then asked if there were conversations about hiring Sapp for any job there.
“Not at this time,” Hurlbert replied.
Hurlbert also said Sanders isn’t going to comment beyond what he’s already publicly said about Sapp, which included him saying he was excited about “Coach Sapp” joining his staff.
This appears to be a sore subject between Colorado’s administration and Sanders. Per the USA Today report, Violence Free Colorado submitted a statement to the outlet claiming Sapp’s hiring would undermine what the university has done to address the problem of domestic violence.
However, Sanders recently told radio host Rich Eisen that Colorado had better allow him to hire Sapp.
Why hiring Warren Sapp is considered controversial
Per a 2015 ESPN report, Sapp pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor domestic violation charge. He pleaded guilty to two charges related to an arrest for assaulting and soliciting a prostitute. The solicitation charge was later dropped.
Per Schrotenboer’s report, there were other troubling details in Sapp’s timeline.
Those incidents occurred almost a decade ago, and Sapp should be free to seek employment in a profession he understands. However, Colorado has a responsibility to protect their students, and the football program’s reputation regarding assault.
Former Colorado safeties coach Joe Tumpkin resigned in 2017 due to a domestic violence case.
Sanders will have to decide if hiring Sapp as an assistant is worth the headache he’d have to go through in order to make that happen in Boulder because Colorado is giving serious pushback to any possibility Sapp will be an employee of the Buffaloes’ football program.
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