Alamo Bowl to finish the team's season at 10-3, but he and Sanders, along with nearly all of the remaining staff, were let go after Bill Callahan was appointed as Nebraska's 31st Head Football Coach. North Carolina Sanders was named as co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs Coach at the struggling North Carolina for 2004. After finishing just 2-10 in 2003 before his arrival, Sanders helped the Tar Heels improve to a 6-6 (5-3 ACC) record and posting the lowest yards allowed by a UNC defense in three years. Under Sanders direction, UNC improved over 60 spots nationally in total defense. UNC Head Football Coach John Bunting was fired halfway through the 2006 season, and replaced by Butch Davis for 2007. Davis did not retain Sanders in his new staff. Nebraska under Bo Pelini After a one-year absence from coaching, Sanders was again brought back to Nebraska following the firing of Bill Callahan after a four-year record of 27-22. Callahan's replacement was former Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini, who had also been let go along with most of Frank Solich's staff after 2003. Pelini installed Sanders as the Secondary Coach for the Cornhuskers as part of his effort to turn around a program that had struggled under Callahan. Nebraska's Blackshirts defense improved to rank as the second best in the Big 12 Conference in 2008 after languishing near the bottom of the pack nationally in the years prior. In 2009, two of Sanders' players were named to the All-Big 12 first team, and the Nebraska secondary was among the highest ranked in the nation with the highest-rated pass defense and highest-rated scoring defense, and among the top ten nationally in rushing defense, sacks, and total defense. The 2009 Nebraska secondary intercepted 18 times while only allowing seven touchdown passes all season. Sanders resigned from Nebraska on February 3, 2011, citing personal and family reasons. USC Trojans After agreeing to be FAU's defensive coordinator under new head coach Carl Pelini (Bo's brother) on December 5, 2011, Sanders left to become the USC Trojans defensive backs coach on February 12, 2012 under head coach Lane Kiffin. USC had gone through the whole 2011 season without a defensive backs coach as former coach Willie Mack Garza left days before the season opened stemming from his connection to Willie Lyles while at Tennessee. Sanders was the first coach hired by Pelini, as the Owls defensive