Report: Deion Sanders stripped Pat Shurmur’s play-calling duties following Utah loss

The Colorado Buffaloes stripped Pat Shurmur of his play-calling duties following the Buffs' first blowout loss against Utah, and gave the responsibility to Brett Bartolone for the Arizona game

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Nov 5, 2025, 10:36 AM

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Deion Sanders was reluctant to give any answers about potential changes to his coaching staff during his weekly media availability on Tuesday. Instead of being straightforward with the fans, who have been calling for offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to be demoted for weeks, Sanders opted to keep his decision with his play caller shrouded in mystery.

“That’s up to you to notice them. They may have already happened,” he said.

As it turns out, Shurmur wasn’t the man on the other side of the headset in Colorado’s 52-17 loss against Arizona, the second straight blowout loss the black and gold suffered after the bye week. Instead, it was Brett Bartolone, CU’s tight ends coach and passing game coordinator. USA Today was the first to announce the move.

Would Sanders have announced the move if the Buffs scored 35 points on Saturday? Was he being cryptic with his messaging because the offense looked just as poor with the change in play calling and he didn’t want to admit that change yielded almost nothing?

The move happened after the Buffs put up just 140 yards of total offense in the 53-7 trouncing against Utah two weeks ago. There were a few differences that were spotted in how the Buffs’ carried out their offensive attack in the Arizona game, but plenty of the issues were still there. The offense was discombobulated at times and didn’t line up correctly, which led to penalties, Kaidon Salter still looked like a deer in the headlights and the run game wasn’t able to get going.

The cherry on top was a play Bartolone called on a third and nine when the Buffs sent just two receivers out into the pattern. Spoiler alert, no one was open, and Salter had to scramble.

He was responsible for this play call on 3rd and 9?!? Yeah get him out of there too. You HAVE to clean house https://t.co/J9UTkGMY5a pic.twitter.com/0jGDAfyNkB

— Buffed Prime T-Cal (@BuffedInPrime) November 5, 2025

This is still Shurmur’s offense at the end of the day, with all of his concepts and play designs. Now, it’s just Bartolone trying to execute the same, poorly designed plays. It’s going to be hard for there to be much change without scrapping the playbook entirely — something that can’t happen until the offseason — but fans should be pleased to see some kind of change.

Shurmur’s contract is up after this season, and this move should be a sign that he won’t be getting an extension to stay in Boulder for the Julian Lewis era. Will Bartolone do enough to earn himself the job next year? Or will the Buffs look externally for a candidate?

DEION SANDERS MADE A SIMILAR CHANGE WITH PAT SHURMUR IN THE PAST

Back in 2023, Sanders made a similar move after the Buffs lost 28-16 to UCLA and dropped to a 4-4 record. He made Shurmur a co-offensive coordinator alongside Sean Lewis and gave the longtime veteran the play calling duties. While Sanders hasn’t officially changed any titles yet, he still made the important change of swapping the play-calling duties to Bartolone.

Was that change the right one for the Buffs? Lewis ran an Air Raid offense, similar to Bartolone, while Shurmur is known for his pro-style scheme. Lewis is now down at San Diego State as the head coach of the Aztecs, who are 7-1 and in first place in the Mountain West, and seems to be doing just fine while the Buffs have been rolling out a lethargic scheme week after week.

GET TO KNOW BRETT BARTOLONE, COLORADO’S NEW PLAY CALLER

Bartolone isn’t new to the play-calling realm by any means. He came to Boulder in 2022 alongside Sanders as the team’s wide receivers coach, and has since shifted to the pass game coordinator and the tight ends coach. In 2022, he was the offensive coordinator at Jackson State with Sanders and his son Shedeur, when Sanders won league MVP honors and led the 10th-best passing attack in the nation.

Before that, Bartolone spent two years at Nevada as the Wolfpack’s assistant quarterbacks coach and an offensive analyst. He mentored Carson Strong to back-to-back Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year Awards and helped coach a pass attack that had the fourth-best output in the country.

He also played at Washington State, where he learned the Air Raid offense under the late, great Mike Leach. If run correctly, it can be one of the best offenses in college football, and he’s shown his ability to coach it successfully at lower levels. If he gets the nod as CU’s next offensive coordinator, there will be optimism that he could do the same with a star QB in Lewis.