Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk will start his college coaching career with $400,000 in compensation during his first year as running backs coach at Colorado under head coach Deion Sanders, according to employment documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports.
Faulk, 51, earned nearly $50 million during his NFL career from 1994 to 2006 and had not coached college football until now. His appointment letter at CU said he will earn $300,000 in base pay, plus $100,000 in community outreach to promote the university’s mission and message – an amount that will increase to $125,000 in his second year of employment.
Those are the same terms that Colorado’s previous running backs coach, Gary Harrell, had in his contract before he left the staff.
Faulk replaces Harrell and is tasked with helping improve a running game that ranked dead last in the nation in rushing yards per game in Sanders’ two seasons as Colorado’s coach in 2023 and 2024.
According to his appointment letter, Faulk also will get a courtesy car or $600 per month in lieu of a courtesy car for in-state car travel, as well as $20,000 for moving expenses.
Other staff news under Deion Sanders
Faulk will join a staff that includes three Pro Football Hall of Famers now, including himself, Sanders and graduate assistant coach Warren Sapp, who started last year with $150,000 in annual pay.
Colorado last week also approved a new two-year contract and big pay raise for defensive coordinator Robert Livingston, who is now the highest paid assistant coach in school history at $1.5 million this year after making $800,000 in 2024.
Livingston’s defense led the Big 12 Conference in quarterback sacks and helped the Buffaloes improve from 4-8 in 2023 to 9-4 in 2024. But the Buffs still struggled to run the ball and protect the quarterback on offense. The offensive line still gave up the most quarterback sacks in the Big 12 with 43. Last year’s offensive line coach, Phil Loadholt, since has left to take a similar role at Mississippi State. Gunnar White, a former quality control analyst at Colorado, has been promoted to help coach the offensive line at $275,000 annually, up from his previous salary at Colorado of $73,000, according to Colorado records.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
