Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders always had a plan for college football. As a visionary, Sanders knew he would be misunderstood and must withstand the doubters on every rung he planned to travel in the collegiate game. However, the Prime effect is intact after winning the first game of the season as the new coach of the Colorado Buffaloes against the highly favored TCU.
Sanders donned a white cowboy hat and outfitted his team in a crisp, new, all-white uniform with gold numbers and trim. The drip is just part of the package of unapologetic confidence from a cultural juggernaut unlike the NCAA football spectrum has ever seen.
When attached to a more extensive program like Colorado, it only elevates Sanders’ ethos as he continues his crusade to change the game for coaches in college football.
Confident Black Man
“We’re doing things that have never been done, and that makes people uncomfortable,” Sanders said in the postgame press conference after the 45-42 win over the TCU Horned Frogs. “When you see a confident Black man sitting up here talking his talk and walking his walk, coaching 75 percent African-Americans in the locker room, that’s kind of threatening.
“Oh, they don’t like that…but guess what, we’re going to consistently do what we do, becomes I’m here and I ain’t going nowhere, and I’m about to get comfortable in a minute.”
Sanders gave more visibility to the HBCU ranks when he brought his son, rising star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and highly recruited cornerback Travis Hunter to Jackson State University. Sanders led Jackson State football to two straight SWAC Championship wins before departing for Boulder.
Although he was criticized for leaving the HBCU system, he only raised its profile and forced the NFL and more to pay attention to HBCU players. Now at Colorado, his latest challenge is to disrupt how coaching is done and perceived at the highest levels of college ball. The job won’t be easy, regardless of his talent-rich team and great start to the season.
However, Team Prime is everywhere and acting like watchdogs during Prime’s tenure. Media and culture personality Jemele Hill called out what she believed was potentially undercover critiques of Sanders by the commentators during Saturday’s game.
“Really interesting listening to some of the commentary around this Colorado-TCU game. Lot of coded stuff,” Hill posted. Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt were the commentators. When one X user posted that Johnson “removed the dog whistle filter” on TV, Hill responded, “Sure did. I knew my brother from Detroit was going to hold it down.”
Let Coach Cook
She also pointed out amid the shock and awe of the TCU upset win that his current path forged in Jackson, Mississippi, as coach of the JSU Tigers.
“Him leaving JSU was inevitable, but sometimes it’s about how you do things,” Hill posted. “Think he made some comments that rubbed folks the wrong way. Understand this: Colorado doesn’t happen without JSU. They gave him an opportunity that not a single Power 5 school was willing to give him, and he proved he knew what he was doing. His path to success happened because of a HBCU, and that can’t get lost in his story.”
Deion Sanders has always had a plan for college football. Now, the world is tasting what he’s been cooking.
