Standing by himself in a nearly empty Folsom Field, Fernando Lovo savored a noise-induced vision.
Since moving to Boulder as Colorado’s new athletic director last winter, Lovo has been laser-focused on improving the fan experience at CU’s venues, particularly at Folsom Field. That includes pumping up the volume.
Lovo has spent time at Florida, Ohio State and Texas. He knows what big-time college football looks like. And sounds like. So as a test run for the sound system blared across the stadium’s vacant seats, Lovo could almost picture the Folsom frenzy.
“When the music was cranked up and I was looking around the stadium, I imagined it packed full — 50,000 Buffs fans screaming — and I got chills,” Lovo said. “This to me is one of the most iconic venues in all of college football, and I’ve been really fortunate enough to be at many of them. Fans travel from across the state, across the country, to come out and support.
“I watched it from afar when I was at the University of Texas, the year with Travis (Hunter) and Shedeur (Sanders). Thatap why I’m working so hard to get our fans to come out and support. Because I think when this stadium is full and everybody’s yelling and screaming, this really is one of the hardest venues to play in, in one of the most iconic settings.”
Of course, nothing stirs the masses in Boulder more fervently than wins. Those were in extremely short supply in 2025 and, outside a few thrills in 2024, they generally have been hard to come by through three seasons under head coach Deion Sanders.
Still only in the second season of a five-year, $54 million extension signed after the 9-4 campaign of 2024, the highest-paid coach in CU history takes a 16-21 mark into his fourth season leading the Buffs (9-18 in conference games). Yet in many ways the Buffaloes are leaning into a fresh-start approach.
After battling through bladder cancer prior to the 2025 season, Sanders has regained the spring in his step and reclaimed the offseason responsibilities he was forced to delegate last year, particularly in evaluating possible transfer additions. There are new coordinators on both sides of the ball — Brennan Marion and his unique Go-Go attack on offense, Chris Marve on defense — to lead units that battled for the tag of “most disappointing” a year ago.
The revamped rosters on both sides have come with a shift in attitude. Leadership and fortitude were problems for the 2025 Buffs. The new-look 2026 Buffs opened the preseason with a week of training in Colorado Springs during which phones were left in the dorms, continuing the quest for improved intensity and camaraderie.
“It did change,” said offensive lineman Yahya Attia, a three-year Buff, of the team’s attitude. “We’re more rough now. Character. Pride. And straight-up coaches. Itap always hard when you bring in people from different places and experience. It don’t really matter if they’re experienced or not. Thatap why we’ve got coaches that are going to hold us together and make sure we’re on the same page. We want to win, thatap the reason. We know how it was last year. We gotta change it this year.”
Sanders has touted his staff as the best he’s had at Colorado. Marion will be the third full-time offensive coordinator in four seasons under Sanders. Same with Marve on defense. In 2025, the Buffs’ lack of toughness reared itself in early losses against Houston, BYU and TCU, all of which saw CU outscored in the second half. After a possible season-saving win against a ranked Iowa State team, the Buffs came out of a bye and rolled over in a 53-7 defeat at Utah. The Buffs never recovered, finishing the year with five consecutive losses.
The goal is for a more energetic, engaged Sanders and his staff to steer the Buffs through rough waters, particularly in a wide-open Big 12 Conference expected to feature one close game after another. If that happens, then maybe Lovo’s vision of a rockin’ Folsom Field will come to fruition.
“Not only experience, but understanding the group of young men that we have,” Sanders said of his staff. “We’re not just speaking to the football guy. We’re speaking to the young man thatap maybe has just broken up with his girlfriend. That is mismanaging his money. Who wants to be that guy but doesn’t understand the work ethic that comes along with being that guy. They understand how to communicate with the young men that we have.
“These men on the staff. And they love this game.”
