- The University of Colorado has hired Fernando Lovo as its new athletic director.
- Lovo, previously the athletic director at New Mexico, will replace the retiring Rick George.
- He faces the challenges of improving the football program and addressing a $27 million budget deficit.
There’s a new sheriff in charge of Deion Sanders.
His name is Fernando Lovo. He’s 37 years old, 21 years younger than Sanders, Colorado’s football coach. But now he’s Sanders’ new boss after the University of Colorado’s Board of Regents on Monday approved the hiring of Lovo as Colorado’s new athletic director.
Lovo previously served for about a year as the athletic director at New Mexico. He will replace Rick George, who is stepping down to another role, and will immediately inherit two daunting challenges in his first year on the job:
∎ Making sure the football program gets back on track after the Buffaloes went 3-9 in Sanders’ third season. Sanders has four seasons left on a contract that pays him more than $10 million annually.
∎ Finding new sources of revenue for the Colorado athletics department, which is facing a $27 million budget deficit in the fiscal year that ends in June 2026.
To attack those two problems, Colorado invested in Lovo at the price of $1.2 million per year through the year 2030, according to his contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports. One of the regents thanked Colorado chancellor Justin Schwartz for making a different kind of hire for this position.
‘I’m excited that, chancellor, you looked beyond age and were willing to consider someone who wasn’t 55-plus to lead this institution,’ Regent Mark VanDriel said at a board meeting Monday, Dec. 29 that approved Lovo’s hiring.
Why did Colorado hire Fernando Lovo?
By hiring him, Colorado is getting an energetic, young up-and-comer with experience as a former chief of staff for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, along with two different stints as an administrator at Texas. New Mexico hired him in December 2024, setting the stage for a banner year in which the Lobos grew their overall operating budget by 17.6% with record marks in ticket sales, multimedia rights and fundraising, according to the university. Lovo last year also hired football coach Jason Eck, a former Colorado graduate assistant coach whose Lobos team finished 9-4.
Lovo will start his new job Jan. 1 with George transitioning to a new role as emeritus athletic director.
‘We are in a time of extraordinary change in college athletics and Colorado should lead the way in shaping what comes next,’ Lovo said in a statement.
George served as Colorado’s athletic director since 2013 and was making $1.1 million annually. He hired Sanders in December 2022 and gave him the autonomy to build the program his own way, which included a heavy reliance on the transfer portal and no off-campus recruiting visits for Sanders.
If the next football season goes sideways like it did in 2025, the big question for Lovo will be what he does about it. Colorado has lost several top players to the transfer portal so far, including safety Tawfiq Byard and receiver Omarion Miller. But Sanders is expected to welcome a bevy of incoming transfers, too, when the portal officially opens Jan. 2.
Colorado expected to buy out Lovo’s New Mexico contract
Colorado’s search for a new athletic director this time was aided by CSA Search and Consulting, the firm led by former Washington athletic director Todd Turner and his son Drew. Their fee for this search was $125,000, according to records obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Colorado also presumably will buy out Lovo’s contract at New Mexico for about $800,000. He had four years left on his contract there and was making $500,000 per year, including $400,000 in annual base pay. If he quits to take another job, his contract calls for him to owe New Mexico half of the base pay left on his contract, which is $1.6 million over four years, according to the contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com