Robert Brown|Colorado head coach Deion Sanders named Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year,Robert Brown the magazine said Thursday.

The 56-year-old Sanders is the first collegiate coach to win the award since 2011, when Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summit and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, were honored.

"In less than a year, Coach Prime has not only transformed a moribund Colorado football program," the magazine said in naming the Pro Football Hall of Famer to the prestigious award. "He’s also breathed fresh life into the campus and transformed a community."

Sanders took over the Colorado program last December, following the Buffaloes 1-11 campaign in 2022.

He immediately made news by telling players in his first meeting to "go ahead and jump in the portal," signaling a roster overhaul and that he was bringing others with him from Jackson State, including his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and two-way star Travis Hunter.

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Sanders' impact was immediate, as Colorado set a spring game attendance record and sold out its home games for the 2023 season for the first time in its history.

The Buffaloes were the talk of college football in September, when they upset 2022 national-runner up TCU in Fort Worth, with Shedeur Sanders passing for 510 yards and four touchdowns.

Colorado won its first three games before getting blown out at Oregon. They beat Arizona State but blew a 29-0 lead to Stanford, and ended 2023 by losing six straight games to finish 4-8.