Deion Sanders sold Jackson State a noble but false promise, because “he ain’t SWAC”
Deion Sanders said, “If you into the real. Into the genuine. If you into, ‘Let’s build this thing and let’s get up out of this mess and never look back,’ you need to ride with me.”
It wasn’t a lie, but close.
In the end, Deion wasn’t SWAC.
He’s Deion.
Prime Inc. matters more than the Jackson State, more than the SWAC, or more than any HBCU.
The Sonic Boom emanating from Jackson, Miss. is that of Deion and some of his staff, with probably a player or two, getting up out of that mess and never looking back.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer brilliantly manipulated the media with a noble ideal that he never intended to fulfill to high step around the coaching tree to a Power 5 job.
An FCS coach trying to move up is to be expected.
How Sanders did it, and the message he sold to do it, is nauseating but on brand for Coach Prime.
Deion Sanders has been hired as the head coach at the University of Colorado. He is the Buffaloes’ seventh full-time head coach since 2000.
Hiring Deion is a risk Colorado should take.
In his limited time at Jackson State, Deion showed what was possible and he did undeniable good for the university, and the community.
For every Black coach who aspires to be a head coach, in theory, it would be great if this works.
But Deion is not like every Black coach. He’s Deion.
The (double) standards that apply to the veteran Black assistant coach don’t apply to this self-promoting, highly sensitive gift of gab.
Deion taking the Jackson State job and leaving for Colorado is not the problem. The problem is the message he used.
It’s insulting to every SWAC, or HBCU, coach, player or administrator who bought it. It’s an affront to the legacy of the late Eddie Robinson.
When Deion was hired by Jackson State to be its head coach in Sept. of 2020 he had no major coaching experience. But he was Deion.
Like Colorado, it was a risk worth taking.
His pitch/plan was to convince top players to skip the Power 5 route, and to build up not only a university but to further strengthen and empower his race, was commendable.
This concept had been preached for years by prominent Black members in sports, and sports media.
In May of 2021, Deion told the “I Am Athlete” podcast, “So how do you compete with (Power 5 schools)? You bring in a conduit for change.
“How can we level the playing field? I don’t want to level nothin’. I want to have the advantage.
“You mean to tell me that this brother here coming out of the heart of Miami is better suited to go somewhere like (Florida), than to come to me? When I speak his language. When I know his voice. When I know his needs and his wants, and I sit right where he sat.
“Now, you’re into the glamour? If you’re into the glamour, glitz, go where you want. If you into the real. Into the genuine. If you into, ‘Let’s build this thing and let’s get up out of this mess and never look back,’ you need to ride with me.”
Some high profile high school players bought it, namely the nation’s top-ranked recruit, Travis Hunter, who signed with JSU.
Jackson State won football games. It hosted ESPN’s College Game Day back in October.
JSU had a new practice field and locker room.
Both Deion and Jackson State were featured prominently for a profile by 60 Minutes that aired in October. So much of what aired in that 60 Minutes piece about JSU, Sanders and the city of Jackson itself was sad.
Sanders was bringing change, specifically money, to a place that needed it.
The title of the piece said, “Coach Prime is altering the landscape of sports once again.”
No, he’s not.
He’s just a part of its glamour and glitz.
In that 60 Minutes piece he was asked about what would happen if he was offered a Power 5 job. He said, “I’m going to have to entertain it.”
What he said he was trying to do at Jackson State was going to take years, and that’s best case scenario. If any coach could do it, he was the guy.
That’s the sad part.
He might have looked at what he was trying to do and said to himself, “It just can’t be done,” and was receptive to other offers.
The more likely scenario is that the FSU alum knew this pitch was a fantasy, and he used to it for coverage and attention.
You can’t argue with the results. Jackson State was 27-5 under under Sanders.
Now, he’s gone from the HBCUs, and so too is his “mission.”
Now he’s off to a Power 5 job where his recruiting pitch will sound exactly like the rest: “I can get you to the NFL.”
Both as a defensive back and a salesman, he has no peer.
Do not bet against Deion convincing impressionable, talented teenagers to follow him to Boulder.
This is also Colorado, a place where a lot of good coaches have gone to die.
“University of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders” may work.
It will also have as much of an impact on the future of Black coaches who aspire to be head coaches as Deion had to the SWAC and HBCUs.
Because Deion “ain’t SWAC.”
