Deion Sanders, affectionately known as “Coach Prime,” has taken the college football world by storm. Sanders was a highly successful college coach at tiny Jackson State, and many questioned his leap to major college football. After all, Sanders was a Hall of Fame NFL player, but very often, success on the field doesn’t translate to success on the sideline.
As it turns out, at least through three games, Coach Prime is exactly what college football needs. Not only has his exciting style of play brought immediate excitement to a moribund Colorado Buffalo team, but their 3-0 start has been as exciting a three-game stretch as college football has ever seen.
Sanders took a perennial loser in the University of Colorado and gutted the roster, bringing many of his Jackson State players, including his two sons, with him. Both of Sanders’ sons have played instrumental roles, and his quarterback, Shadeur, is the early favorite for the coveted Heisman Trophy. It’s all quite a first-year leap for Coach Prime.
Naturally, considering Sanders’s status and success, celebrities are flocking in droves to see the phenomenon in person. At the most recent iteration of the in-state rivalry between Colorado and Colorado State, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat star Kyle Lowry, and rappers Lil Wayne, Offset, Key Glock and Master P were among the celebrities in attendance. The game didn’t disappoint, as Colorado won a thriller in double overtime.
Sander’s success has also drawn attention from the mainstream media. “60 Minutes” was in town to see coach Prime, and his interview aired Sunday night, likely with a message that didn’t sit well with the liberal left.
Sanders spoke about the process of taking a losing team and remaking it so quickly: “You take a team that’s won one game, and you fire the whole coaching staff. So, who did the coaching staff recruit? The kids. So, the kids are just as much to blame as the coaching staff. And I came to the conclusion that a multitude of them couldn’t help us get to where we wanted to go.”
It sounds insensitive of Sanders to admit that some of the kids simply weren’t good enough to be there, but in order to remake the program in his image, hard choices had to be made, and feelings had to be hurt. Sanders admitted that he tried to make players quit. He continued: “Now, if you went for that, if you were able to let words run you off, you ain’t for us because we’re an old-school staff. We coach hard. We coach tough. We’re disciplinarians. So, if you’re allowing verbiage to run you off because you don’t feel secure with your ability, you ain’t for us.”
60 Minutes didn’t appear to embrace Sander’s tough-love approach, but Prime stood behind his methodology: “I think truth is good for kids. We’re so busy lyin’, we don’t even recognize the truth no more in society,” he said. “We want everybody to feel good. That’s not — that’s not the way life is. Now, it is my job to make sure I have what we need to win. That makes a lot of people feel good. Winning does.”
While the liberal media and many on the left may not vibe with Coach Prime and his approach, the results are undeniable. He has brought toughness and resiliency to a program and, in many cases, a sport that lacked those traits. It will be must-see TV to see what Deion Sanders can do and what heights Colorado football can attain in 2023. While everyone might not agree with his message, the players do, and it shows.
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