Ex-Buffs OC Sean Lewis takes high road on time with Coach Prime

Former CU Buffs offensive coordinator Sean Lewis was demoted by Coach Prime this season.

So, he went and found a new and better opportunity.

After losing play-calling duties to Pat Shurmur at Colorado, it felt inevitable Lewis would leave Boulder. It didn’t take long for him to become the new head coach at San Diego State University.

And at his introductory press conference on Wednesday, Lewis was asked about his time with Deion Sanders. Rather than be bitter about how the season played out, Lewis took the high road. He offered a ton of praise for how Coach Prime is running the program at Colorado.

“Coach does an unbelievable job of telling a story, of giving unfiltered access. I think that’s a beautiful way to tell (things) and the uniqueness of the characters that are within our club,” Lewis said.

He certainly has that right. CU drew some of the highest TV ratings in the country, and while Prime didn’t provide a ton of access to traditional media, behind the scenes stuff from his in-house staff routinely goes viral.

Lewis also pointed out Sanders is a strong motivator.

“Coach Sanders does an unbelievable job of speaking belief into existence, right? There’s an unwavering belief of how he does things and the conviction that gave the whole team as we went forward,” Lewis said.

A 3-0 start was amazing, but things fell off a cliff, as the Buffs finished 1-8 the rest of the way. The change from Lewis to Shurmur didn’t help, as the offense sputtered after a disastrous collapse against Stanford.

Still, Lewis said all the right things about his time with Coach Prime.

“Those two lessons learned were invaluable from our time that we shared together and I’m thankful for the opportunities that I had with him,” Lewis said.

It was the only question Lewis received about his tenure at CU, and he handled it well. But it’ll be fascinating to watch the Aztecs next year, and see if Prime made a mistake demoting Lewis and then eventually letting him leave.