From 1982 to 1994, Colorado won a national championship and three Big Eight titles under Bill McCartney. In the background, fueling that success, was a bold sign hanging in CU’s locker room that the head coach had installed. That sacred motto is now at the center of a new war of words, as a former player accuses Deion Sanders of being ‘timid and weak.”

“The pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes will not be entrusted to the timid or the weak,” read the sign, inspiring future players and becoming a program motto. But now, more than 30 years since McCartney’s departure, according to a former offensive guard, Deion Sanders is not living up to that motto. This statement comes after Sanders called out the former Buff and his current employer, 247Sports, for criticizing CU’s recruiting in an April 12 presser.

“The pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes will not be entrusted to the timid and weak, and that at the press conference was both timid and weak. I am not going to sit here and say it wasn’t,” Matt McChesney said about Sanders’ comments on April 14. “Coach Prime, if you really have this much of an issue with me calling out the propaganda podcast host you have or saying that you guys should recruit the state of Colorado because you’re in the state of Colorado.

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“Or saying that, maybe after a win, your guys should know how to sing the fight song when all the ex-players sing the fight song. Your guys don’t just walk out and watch because they don’t know the words. That’s embarrassing. That’s a bad look. But you guys don’t care because you don’t think it’s important, and I do think this back-and-forth b—-t is childish, bro. It doesn’t need to happen like this.”

McChesney’s history with the program runs deep; after a standout career in the early 2000s that saw him win the Derek Singleton award, he was part of the 2004 Buffs team that reached the Big 12 championship, grounding his criticism in a time when the program competed at a high level.

The former Buffs OL tried to get into the program as an OL coach and applied twice. But both times, he didn’t even land an interview with Deion Sanders. Could bitterness be guiding McChesney as he regularly criticizes Deion Sanders’ actions and antics? In reality, McChesney holds his CU memory dearly, and that’s the only place he wanted to go, even leaving his 247 Sports stint as a podcast host.

“I do not regret trying to help my university when I think I can,” McChesney said. “If the job opens again, I’ll try again. So no, I’m not mad at all. I just love that place, and it’s the only place I would leave my own businesses for.”

In recent months, McChesney has been critical of Deion Sanders after the program ended the 2025 season with just 3 wins. He urged Coach Prime to “stop talking about money” and develop a business acumen. The former Buffs OL also called out Sanders for “chasing the (money) bag” in his coaching career, something Sanders has developed an aversion to at Colorado with his players. He also called out Sanders for ignoring in-state recruiting.

McChesney’s criticism of Sanders’ in-state recruiting is backed by hard data. The 2026 class currently has just one player from Colorado, a pattern consistent with the previous two cycles, which also featured only a single in-state commit, fueling the perception that Sanders is ignoring the program’s backyard talent.

Deion Sanders’ dig at Matt McChesney

McChesney’s latest attack on Coach Prime is connected to the latter’s remarks on April 12. When a reporter asked Deion Sanders a recruiting-related question, he assumed the reporter was from 247Sports. It was a pattern we have seen in Sanders’ Jackson State tenure. Control the narrative, steal the spotlight, and challenge the critics head-on. Although the reporter wasn’t from 247Sports, Deion Sanders still called out the recruiting agency.

“Hold on. Jack, let me stop you for a minute,” Sanders said to the reporter. “247, they’re hiring everybody right now. Right. Who else is with 247? I heard something. Somebody must have told me something about somebody else. I don’t know who it was. But I’m like, man, they must be desperate.”

Deion Sanders’ clear dig at the recruiting agency seemed to target Matt McChesney indirectly, as he has been vocal about Coach Prime’s decisions. He even called out Sanders’ inability to retain staff, noting that D-Line coach Domaka Peko departed for the Steelers even after taking a $500,000 pay cut. The former Buffs player also questioned Sanders’ promotion of graduate assistant Dante Carter as the new D-line coach.

“He’s never had a job before, so it just doesn’t seem like 247 is desperate; it seems like you’re desperate to find coaches,” McChesney remarked. “You’re surrounded by guys who are either your friends, your family, or yes men. But your defensive coordinator ran for a job and took a half-million-dollar pay cut to do so. That’s not normal, five days before spring ball.”

There are many questions surrounding Deion Sanders’ decisions this year. But that was also the case when he arrived in Colorado. But in no time, he churned out results, notched a 9-win season, and gave CU only its second Heisman winner. That is also not normal. And it just seems Deion Sanders thrives when things aren’t normal.

Whether Sanders can prove his methods right for a second time will determine if his tenure is remembered for its bravado or its results.