Colorado athletic director Rick George to transition to advisory role after 2025-26 school year
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Colorado athletic director Rick George is stepping down at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
The school announced that George would “transition to a role as Special Advisor to the Chancellor and Director of Athletics Emeritus” on Thursday night. George is in his 13th year at Colorado and hired Deion Sanders from Jackson State to coach the football team.
George made sure to mention Sanders in the news release the school issued about his new role.
"It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as Athletic Director for the University of Colorado for the last 13 years, but after considerable thought and discussions with my family dating back to last spring, I have decided it is time for new leadership to guide the department," said George. "I wanted to make this announcement now in order to give Chancellor [Justin] Schwartz plenty of time to find the right person for Colorado, and I look forward to doing everything I can to ensure a smooth transition. I also wanted to time my announcement so that I could support Coach Prime and our football team this season, which I'm looking forward to continuing in my new role.
Sanders has made Colorado a nationally relevant program even if the results on the field have been uneven. The Buffaloes went 9-4 in 2024 as they had their first winning season over the course of a full season since 2016. However, Colorado was 4-8 in Sanders’ first season in 2023 and is currently 3-7 with two games to go in the 2025 season.
George took over as Colorado’s athletic director not long after the Buffaloes had moved to the Pac-12. Colorado left the Big 12 after the 2010 football season for the Pac-12 in a move that helped kickstart conference realignment as Nebraska left for the Big Ten and Missouri and Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC.
The Buffs’ time the in the Pac-12 lasted just 12 seasons and they found themselves back in the Big 12 after the 2022-23 school year following the Pac-12’s demise. Colorado joined the conference along with Utah, Arizona and Arizona State.
George came to Colorado from the Texas Rangers. He spent fewer than three years with the franchise as their COO after working for the PGA Tour. Before working for the Tour and the Champions Tour and in the golf world, George worked for eight years at Vanderbilt.
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