Deion Sanders’s transformation into Coach Prime has been a journey that has taken him to the HBCU coaching spectrum of the SWAC Conference from Jackson, Mississippi, and now to the Pac-12 in Boulder, Colorado. From the beginning, Prime has delivered his gospel that God has called him to elevate Black coaching and provide increased opportunities both on and off the field for student-athletes choosing the pigskin.
However, his early success in his first year as the head coach of the Buffaloes has already created whispers of a potential future on the sidelines in the NFL. For those curious about how high his coaching ambitions go, Prime, as usual, has an answer full of conviction.
College Prime
“I would start with 53 and come out of the locker room at halftime with about 38,” Sanders said on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “I love college. I love that the young men are still impressionable,” Sanders elaborated, his passion palpable. “They’re not so financially wealthy that they can’t hear you. At the next level, some of these guys make so much money they can’t hear. They can’t hear or they can’t see the things that they need to see and hear.
“I would have a hard time motivating a man that makes upwards of 20 and 30 and sometimes 40 million dollars to go out there and do your job. I got a problem with that.” Sanders said.
An NFL coaching job is definitively not in Sanders’s future. College football is a love supreme that has come full circle in the Rocky Mountains, and Sanders couldn’t be happier with his calling.
“I absolutely love it. You know me, I’m a Southern guy with Southern swag,” Sanders continued. “I would have never fathomed that I would be here in Colorado, but thank God that God chose this place for me. I love every minute of it, the fan base that we are creating as well, the support, the city, the young men that we brought inside this locker room, the coaching staff; everyone has been A-1 man.”
Deeper Than The Game
For Sanders, it is not just about on-field wins, although he is competitive and responds in kind to opposing teams who make it “personal.” However, his affinity for the college ranks extends beyond X’s and O’s. It’s about building up men.
“I encourage them in the Morning Message,” Sanders continued. “It’s about: if you’re a person that’s willing to change because of the attention, that means you’ve never had attention, and you ain’t built for this. You’re built to be on a seesaw, you’re up and down, you’re going to only go up when the weight is on, and you go down when the weight is off.
“These kids understand, and we influence them so much emotionally and mentally and psychologically on the trappings of life if you don’t keep the main thing the main thing. We achieved the highest GPA in school history for the football team this spring. I know 85% of them aren’t going pro, so we focus on the academics, and we focus on getting them to the next level with their degree.”
The collegiate ranks will never be the same. Coach Prime has decided to stay in the game.
