Long before the recent controversy about jersey number retirements under coach Deion Sanders, the University of Colorado had different criteria for when a player could be eligible to receive such an honor.
A player needed to graduate from the university first, according to the criteria from the 1990s.
But that’s not the case with Colorado two-way football star Travis Hunter or Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son. Both had their jersey numbers retired April 19 but have not graduated yet, according to an athletic department spokesman.
The university instead said the decision to retire a player’s jersey number is at the discretion of the athletic department administration and current head coach. That’s the policy, which strikes some former Colorado players as no policy at all.
“For them to not have a process for the retiring of a number is asinine for an institution like Colorado,” former Colorado linebacker Michael Jones told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s just completely asinine.”
It’s not clear when the criteria changed. University officials downplayed the former graduation criterion, saying it never was a specific policy but instead was the “preference of an academic counselor at the time.”
But former Colorado players say the current lack of defined criteria for retiring a player’s jersey number is a big reason for the backlash the university has received after deciding to retire the numbers of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders less than four months after their final game in CU uniforms. These former players said they feel like the decision to retire Hunter’s and Sanders’ jersey numbers was “premature” and “rushed” while overlooking players from a team that won the 1990 national championship. Jones called it “a serious ERASURE of our football legacy” in a post on Facebook.
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Incidentally, CU does have specific written eligibility requirements for a player to be eligible for its athletics Hall of Fame, even though that honor is less prestigious than retiring a jersey number. To be eligible for the CU Hall of Fame, a player needs to be at least 10 years removed from competition at CU and must be retired from pro sports, according to the nomination form. Winners are voted on by a committee.
Jersey number retirement decisions “should be a policy,” former Colorado quarterback Darian Hagan told USA TODAY Sports. “It should not be at the discretion of the athletic director and the head coach. Head coaches come. Head coaches go. ADs come, and ADs go… We had a policy in place. Where is that policy? We need to abide by that policy.”
Darian Hagan ‘flabbergasted’ by decision
Hagan said he was “flabbergasted” by CU’s decision to retire the numbers of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders but not because he thought those players were undeserving. He thought they deserved it “someday.”
“We were always told there was a waiting period,” said Hagan, now the running backs coach at San Diego State. “There was a policy in place. It had to be voted upon. I was never told that it was at the discretion of the athletic director or the head coach. That was shocking news to me. It was hard to stomach.”
After the university retired the numbers of Sanders (No. 2) and Hunter (No. 12), USA TODAY Sports followed up to examine CU’s policy for jersey number retirements and to get the perspective of Hagan, who has not been quoted on this subject previously and is considered by former CU players to be the most deserving candidate to also get his jersey number retired. He led the Buffaloes to the 1990 national championship and had a 28-5-2 record as a starting quarterback in three seasons, including a 20-0-1 record in the Big Eight Conference. He won three straight league titles with the Buffs in 1989, 1990 and 1991.
By contrast, Shedeur Sanders set over 100 school records but had a 13-11 record as a starting quarterback in two seasons, not including the final game he missed with injury in 2023.
“Thirteen and (eleven) does not rate; I don’t care how many passing records he set,” Jones said of Shedeur’s win-loss record. “By that estimation the greatest quarterback in CU history − I’m sorry, it’s Darian Hagan.”
Jones, a former team captain, played with Hagan on the 1989 Colorado team that finished 11-1.
Previous process included a vote and graduation
In May 1996, USA TODAY Sports reporter Brent Schrotenboer wrote a column for the Colorado Daily that analyzed the prospect of retiring Hagan’s jersey No. 3 after Hagan graduated in 1996. The article cited the graduation criterion and said a decision to retire a player’s jersey number required the player to be nominated for the honor and then voted on by an athletic department committee.
This information came from then-CU sports information director Dave Plati.
“As soon as he gets that diploma, I’m sure he will be nominated,” Plati said in the column that published on graduation day, May 17, 1996.
Hagan never received the honor. Before Shedeur Sanders and Hunter, CU retired only four jersey numbers in football and only one since 1970. That was when CU retired jersey No. 19 for Rashaan Salaam in 2017, 23 years after he won the Heisman Trophy. Salaam also had not graduated but died in 2016. CU previously retired Byron White’s No. 24 in 1938, Joe Romig’s No. 67 in 1963 and Bobby Anderson’s No. 11 in 1970.
Plati said recently that the fact that Salaam hadn’t graduated from CU “had nothing to do with” not retiring his jersey number before he died. “It was just never suggested at the time,” he said.
“We never had a policy for retiring numbers,” Plati said after the recent jersey number retirements. “I would imagine the five we retired before Rashaan (three football, two men’s basketball) were done at the discretion of the head coach. Anyone who would really know is long gone.”
Plati attributed the prior graduation criterion to a former assistant athletic director for academics who was “big on graduation at the time for being a requirement for any post-career honor.”
‘This is no Shedeur hate’
Hagan said the policy requirements for this honor ‘absolutely’ should include graduation, in addition to considering a player’s body of work and championships won. After playing his last season at CU as a senior in 1991, Hagan pursued a pro football career and then returned to graduate in May 1996.
Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy last year, has applied to graduate in fall 2025, according to CU. He was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars with the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft last week.
Shedeur said on his YouTube show in January that he hoped to graduate at the end of the current semester in May. He was selected in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
His father and coach, Deion Sanders, attributed the backlash to the fact the honor was given to his son.
“He said Shedeur is getting all this hate because his last name is Sanders,” Jones said. “If his son’s last name wasn’t Sanders, it would not be happening.”
Jones, now an elected delegate in the Virginia legislature, said it’s not personal with Sanders even though Jones’ son Jalon Jones previously played quarterback for Deion Sanders at Jackson State and transferred out in 2021 after it became clear that Shedeur would soon take the job.
“This is no Shedeur hate,” Michael Jones said. “I don’t care how many stats you got. It’s all about the wins.”
Jones added that Deion Sanders has done a “wonderful job” at CU.
Hagan tried to call Rick George
Deion Sanders, who was hired at CU in December 2022, suggested the recent decision to retire the jersey numbers was made by CU athletic director Rick George. Sanders questioned the need to wait, especially after CU didn’t retire Salaam’s number until after he died.
“I’m thankful Rick shot his shot and moved on what we all know was inevitable in due time,” Sanders said April 17. George issued a statement on the matter April 15.
“Recognizing the accomplishments of a Heisman Trophy winner and record-setting quarterback who ushered in this new era of CU Football now does not detract from accomplishments of the past,” the statement said. “Rather, it adds to the rich legacy of CU Football that has been passed down over the years by everyone who has worn a CU uniform.”
Former CU linebacker Chad Brown, a former teammate of Hagan’s, said the decision to retire the recent numbers was “blind to the greatness of the past,” particularly the national championship team.
“Of anybody who would symbolize that time and be my first choice, I’d put Darian Hagan as the No. 1 guy to have his number retired,” Brown told USA TODAY Sports.
Hagan said his reaction to CU’s decision isn’t personal.
‘I just thought about the pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes,’ Hagan said. ‘That’s what I thought about. That seemed to be diminished.’
Hagan said he tried to call George after he learned of the recent jersey retirements but wasn’t able to connect with him. He wanted to tell him something.
“We just threw history aside,” Hagan said he wanted to tell him. “We went with the here and now. The here and now is gonna be gone. We won a national championship, and that stuff lasts forever. That’s what I was gonna tell him.”
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com