Michael Gunar William Sanford (born February 4, 1982) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He is the former interim head coach for the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

from 2000 to 2004. He then served as the head coach of the

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers are the athletic teams that represent Western Kentucky University (WKU), located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, competing in the Co ...

(2017–2018). He is the son of former

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

and

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

head coach, Mike Sanford.

Career

Previously, Sanford served as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

and offensive coordinator for Notre Dame. He was the offensive coordinator of his alma mater

, where he played

. Sanford also served numerous positions at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. On November 25, 2018, after completing his second season at the helm of the program, Western Kentucky fired Sanford. Sanford was hired by Utah State as their offensive coordinator after they rehired Gary Andersen following head coach Matt Wells' departure for

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. In January 2020, Sanford was hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. In December 2021, Sanford was hired as the offensive coordinator at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

. On October 2, 2022, Sanford became the interim head coach after head coach

Karl Dorrell Karl James Dorrell (born December 18, 1963) is an American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Colorado. Dorrell most notably served as the head football coach of the University of California, Los Angeles (UC ...

was fired following a 0-5 start to the season. He won his Colorado head coaching debut by defeating the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

20-13 in overtime. Sanford then proceeded to lose his next six games as the Buffaloes interim head coach.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Colorado profile

Utah State profile
1982 births Living people American football quarterbacks Boise State Broncos football coaches Boise State Broncos football players Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Utah State Aggies football coaches Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football coaches Yale Bulldogs football coaches People from Lexington, Virginia {{Amfoot-coach-stub