Leading the Colorado Buffaloes’ defense to a resurgence in 2024 has landed coordinator Robert Livingston a contract extension and significant raise.

On Thursday, the CU Board of Regents approved a new contract for Livingston that will make him the highest-paid assistant coach in school history and one of the highest-paid assistants in the Big 12 Conference.

Livingston’s new contract is a two-year deal through the 2026 season worth an average of $1.55 million in base and supplemental salary. Livingston will make $1.5 million in 2025 and $1.6 million in 2026. In addition, Livingston would receive a $100,000 retention bonus if he is still on the CU staff on Sept. 1, 2026.

The new deal replaces the two-year contract Livingston signed a year ago when he was hired by CU and head coach Deion Sanders. He made $800,000 in 2024 and was slated to make $995,000 this year.

Livingston was a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, which honors the top assistant coach in college football, after helping CU to a 9-4 season and a trip to the Alamo Bowl.

“Coach Prime and I have worked extensively to build on the incredible momentum that has been created with our football program over the last two years,” CU athletic director Rick George said in a statement provided to BuffZone.

“Robert Livingston is a top caliber coach, and this new contract illustrates the investment Colorado Athletics is making to ensure our program remains among the nation’s best. I’m thrilled that Coach Livingston will continue to mentor our student-athletes for years to come.”

Prior to this new contract for Livingston, the highest salaries ever for a CU assistant were the $850,000 salaries of former offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and former defensive coordinator Charles Kelly in 2023.

According to USA Today, Utah coordinators Andy Ludwig ($2.05 million) and Morgan Scalley ($2 million) were the only assistants among the 13 public institutions in the Big 12 to make more than $1.2 million last season. Only 26 assistant coaches around the country made at least $1.5 million during the 2024 season.

A first-year coordinator who came to CU from the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals a year ago, Livingston engineered a dramatic turnaround for the defense in 2024.

The Buffs were sixth in the Big 12 in scoring defense (allowing 23.1 points per game) and eighth in total defense (allowing 351.9 yards per game). In 2023, before Livingston was hired, CU gave up 34.8 points and 453.3 yards per game.

The 2024 season was the first time in CU history that total defense improved by at least 100 yards (101.4), and the 11.7-point improvement in the scoring defense was the best for a CU team in nearly 40 years (the 1985 team made a 19.1-point improvement).

In addition, CU also led the Big 12 in sacks (39) and tackles for loss (93), finished second with 27 takeaways, and had the Big 12 defensive player of the year in cornerback Travis Hunter.

Per the terms of Livingston’s contract, if he were to leave CU during the next 120 days for a position with another school in the NCAA, he would owe CU 80% of this year’s salary ($1.2 million). If he leaves for an NCAA position at any other time during the first year of the deal, he would owe 35% of this year’s salary ($525,000).

Leaving CU for another NCAA position in the second contract year would require Livingston to pay 25% of that year’s contract ($400,000). An additional 10% would be added to the liquidated damages if Livingston leaves CU for another Big 12 Conference school during the term of the contract.

Liquidated damages will be waived if Livingston leaves CU for an NCAA head coaching job or an NFL head coach or defensive coordinator job. He would owe 10% of his salary if he leaves CU for an NFL coaching position that is not as a head coach or defensive coordinator.

If Livingston is fired without cause during the term of his contract, CU would owe him the full remaining value of the deal.

Hall of Famer Faulk to coach RBs

Sanders has hired a Hall of Famer to coach the Buffaloes’ running backs, announcing Thursday night that former NFL great Marshall Faulk is joining the staff.

Faulk becomes the third member of the coaching staff with a gold jacket, as Sanders and defensive assistant Warren Sapp are also members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sanders and Faulk were part of the same Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Faulk is replacing Gary Harrell, who coached the Buffs’ running backs the previous two seasons.

“Marshall is one of the smartest offensive human beings that I’ve been around,” Sanders said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show on Friday. “What he’s gonna attract there, but not only that, the standard that he’s gonna demand — just like the standard (Damione Lewis) and coach Sapp demands on the defensive line — it’s unbelievable.”

Earlier on Thursday, in an interview by Front Office Sports, Faulk was asked about rumors he could be joining the CU staff and his interest in coaching.

“Coaching, in a sense, nah, but helping these kids develop and get to the next level,” he said, while also praising how Sanders lifts others up.

Faulk then added, “We’re good friends, and whatever I can do to help him out, I’m gonna do.”

Although Faulk, who will turn 52 on Feb. 26, does not having coaching experience, he brings an exceptional resume as a player. Also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Faulk was a three-time All-American at San Diego State and, from 1994-2005, he was one of the best running backs in the NFL.

During a brilliant three-year college career at San Diego State from 1991-93, Faulk rushed for 4,589 yards and 57 touchdowns. He was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy in 1992 and was fourth in Heisman voting in 1993.

The No. 2 overall selection in the 1994 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, Faulk played five seasons with the Colts and seven with the St. Louis Rams.

Faulk was the NFL Most Valuable Player in 2000 and the NFL Offensive Player of the Year three years in a row from 1999-2001. He is fifth in NFL history for career yards from scrimmage (19,154), seventh in total touchdowns (136), and 12th in career rushing yards (12,279).

For more than a decade, from 2006-17, Sanders and Faulk worked together as on-air talent for the NFL Network. Faulk’s time with the NFL Network came to an end, however, after he and others, including Sapp, were named in a lawsuit filed by a woman who worked as a wardrobe stylist and accused them of sexual misconduct.

Although the NFL Network filed documents denying the allegations, Faulk and others were suspended in December of 2017. In 2018, the NFL Network reached a settlement with the accuser and the case was dropped, but Faulk and others did not return to the network.

Faulk has worked in the financial and men’s health industries in recent years. He also created the Marshall Faulk Foundation for underprivileged youth and provided funding for YMCA youth programs, the Boys to Men mentoring network and 9th Ward Field of Dreams.

Having worked since 2018 as a financial professional for WealthWave, a financial education and financial services marketing company, Faulk could be an asset to the Buffs off the field, too.

In the NIL era of college sports, student-athletes are making more money than ever before. Prior to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio in December, Sanders was asked what he would do if he could change one thing about college football.

“I think financial literacy classes should be mandatory so these kids understand how to manage their money when they get their money,” he said, while adding he would also add a pay scale.

In addition to coaching running backs, Faulk could make a significant impact on CU players with his ability to teach financial literacy.

On the field, Faulk will work with Tommie Robinson, who was named last month as the Buffs’ assistant running backs coach. Robinson, 61, has nearly four decades of coaching experience, including as a running backs coach at Texas A&M, LSU, USC, Texas and the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals in the past 15 years.

Gurode to help coach offensive line

One of the top players in Colorado Buffaloes history is coming back to Boulder.

On Friday, BuffZone confirmed a report that former CU great Andre Gurode has been hired by head coach Deion Sanders as an assistant offensive line coach.

Gurode, 46, will work with co-offensive line coaches Gunnar White and George Hegamin.

A four-year starter at CU from 1998-2001, Gurode was a consensus All-American in 2001 and was inducted into the CU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

Gurode was selected in the second round (37th overall) of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He played nine seasons in Dallas and was selected for the Pro Bowl five times. Gurode also played with the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears and Oakland Raiders.

Following his playing career, Gurode got into coaching. He worked at one point as a defensive assistant for the Cowboys. Most recently, he has worked in the XFL as an offensive line coach for the Houston Roughnecks (2023) and San Antonio Brahmas (2024).