BOULDER — As the audience roared, the star of the show fought back tears.
“You guys are gonna make me cry,” CU Buffs coach Deion Sanders told a crowd of roughly 4,600 at the CU Events Center on Wednesday night for a special screening of the Amazon Prime reality television show “Coach Prime.”
“You have been the best set of fans I have ever experienced in my entire life.”
After thanking those fans, who sold out CU’s football season despite a 4-8 finish and a 1-8 mark in Pac-12 play, Buffs faithful were treated on the arena jumbotron to episodes two and three of the reality program’s second season, which detailed the NFL icon’s move to Boulder last December and his debut campaign with the Buffs.
Episodes 1 and 2 of “Coach Prime” are slated to drop Thursday via Prime Video.
Sanders addressed the crowd and thanked Sports Illustrated, which recently named him its 2023 Sportsperson of the Year, via a makeshift stage on the Events Center floor.
While CU finished last in the Pac-12, interest in Sanders’ FBS debut as a head coach was such that the Buffs wound up playing in two of the top 10 most-watched college football games of the 2023 regular season.
CU’s 42-6 loss at Oregon finished No. 2 in the regular-season ratings, with 10.03 viewers, while the Buffs’ 43-35 overtime win over CSU in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Folsom Field drew 9.3 million, which ranked fifth in viewership.
A few minutes before the coach’s presentation, Sanders, his family and CU luminaries such as former Buffs quarterback Kordell Stewart, a longtime Coach Prime friend and confidant, walked through a quick series of “gold carpet” interview sessions backstage.
“I mean, this is what it’s about, right?” Stewart reflected when asked about the first year of Sanders’ reign in Boulder.
“Imagine if we have social media back when. I’m talking (from ex-CU QB) Sal Aunese to the Darian Hagans, the Charles Johnsons. And then coming in and having a chance to be a part of it.
“So at the end of the day, man, it’s a new time. It’s a new day. The landscape was totally different. But it’s still transparent …
“But it couldn’t be any better this.”
And on a night to celebrate his 1-year anniversary at CU, Sanders woudn’t leave the stage without trying to raise the bar for Year 2.
“It’s my challenge … that we’re gonna get Peggy (Coppom) to a bowl game next season,” Sanders said of the CU superfan, who was also in attendance.