Sanford's Rebels achieved one of the biggest victories in UNLV football history, a 23–20 overtime win at 15th-ranked Arizona State on September 13, 2008.
[1] On December 14, 2012, Indiana State hired Sanford as the school's twenty-fourth head coach, taking over for Trent Miles who went 7–4 his final year.
[2] The ensuing regime change for the Sycamores led to a season fraught with a struggle to adjust to the system implemented by Sanford and his new staff, multiple injuries to several key starters, and many off-field issues which led to Indiana State losing all but one game that season (a 70–7 victory over Quincy).
After suffering an early defeat at the hands of Big Ten member Indiana University; the Sycamores followed a dominant performance against Tennessee Tech by completing an upset victory over the Division I FBS and historic rival Ball State Cardinals to reclaim the Victory Bell for the first time since 1987.
Since then, he has served as an assistant coach for numerous teams in the collegiate and professional ranks, including San Diego City College, the United States Military Academy, Virginia Military Institute, Long Beach State, Purdue, USC, Notre Dame, the San Diego Chargers and Stanford.
The next year, the Utes repeated as conference champs and finished the season 12–0, including a win over Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl.
Sanford's offense averaged 45.3 points a game, and quarterback Alex Smith was MWC Player of the Year as well as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
On December 22, 2009, Sanford was named offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at the University of Louisville.
[4] After a lackluster offensive performance against Marshall on October 1, 2011, Sanford did not travel with the Cardinals for their next game, against North Carolina.
[7] The following Monday, October 10, Strong announced that Watson would serve as offensive coordinator for the remainder of the season, but that Sanford would remain on the coaching staff in another capacity.
He served as a consultant under head coach Gary Anderson and offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr., his son.