By Scott Salomon
The Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Award has been won by the likes of Michael Jordan, Muhammed Ali, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Michael Phelps, and J.J. Watt. These people were at the pinnacle of their respective sports, dominating as no one had before.
In 2023, the magazine (published by the Arena Group, the same publisher as this very website), gave the prestigious award to Deion Sanders for the work that he has done at Colorado during the calendar year 2023.
Let’s examine what Prime did in 2023.
First, upon arrival in Boulder, he besmirched and sullied the hearts of 64 Buffaloes players who had a dream to play for the University of Colorado. He jettisoned them out like packages UPS will be delivering for Christmas.
He then went to the transfer portal to get players that he hand-selected to make the Buffaloes a better, championship-caliber team. However, by season’s end, he called out his offensive line and said that they all needed to be replaced and that the replacements were coming.
Prime also allowed his team to get complacent with a 29-0 halftime lead against Stanford, only to allow the Cardinal to come all the way back and win the game in overtime.
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Solid coaching, Prime.
Coach Prime is here, and he's just getting started
Deion Sanders is SI's 2023 Sportsperson of the Year! https://t.co/Xebtm9bmNZ pic.twitter.com/Sdt500V93u
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) November 30, 2023
Oh yeah, did I also forget to mention that the Buffaloes lost eight of their last nine games and finished the season a miserable 4-8? Somebody better give Deion a plate to eat off, because with four wins, you don’t qualify for a Bowl.
I understand that Colorado only won one game in 2022, but SI is comparing apples to oranges. Deion, a.k.a. Coach Prime, won three more games and gave the team a spiritual uplift, but he did it with different players than those who played for the Buffs in 2022 under Karl Dorrell.
This is mediocrity at its finest, and Sports Illustrated is rewarding him as the Sportsman of the Year.
According to sources, SI’s official nominees included Steph Curry, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Rafael Nadal and Armand Duplatis. Any one of these nominees would have been more qualified by miles. A fantasy football owner who won their league title would be more deserving of the award than Coach Prime.
The question is, “What did Coach Prime do to win this formerly prestigious Award?”
Yes, he raised more money for the University and the City of Boulder than any prior coach in recent memory. He created a buzz and excitement that has not been found in Boulder for many football seasons.
But, in coaching, he is not a winner in 2023.
The Deion that I knew — the one that coached at Jackson State — would have been more deserving of the award. He took a program from rags to riches and won championships. He turned the Historic Black College world on end and made people take notice that there were great athletes in the HBCUs, and showed that they were just as good as some FBS teams.
When he was at Jackson State, Coach Prime checked his ego at the door. He brought attention and money to HBCUs and was a credit to the profession. Even if he wasn’t SWAC enough for Eddie Robinson Jr., what Sanders did for the Tigers deserved to be venerated.
Taking over a small school in Jackson, Mississippi, must have been very humbling yet gratifying for him. But it’s too bad he left in the middle of the night for the biggest bag he could grab, and, in the process, took all of the assets of the JSU program with him to Colorado.
When Deion was at Jackson State, there were no rappers giving speeches in the locker room. There were no superstars from the past on the sidelines, aside from Deion. He did not become egocentric until he arrived at Boulder and held up the Coach Prime jersey that was presented to him.
Remember, I have said this all season. Coach Prime is a brand; it’s all a shtick, not a person. What other coach is referred to by his nickname or his brand name? Would previous collegiate coaching winners of the award, John Wooden, Dean Smith, or Joe Paterno, refer to themselves by their nicknames in public? I don’t think so.
What is next? Where do we go from here?
How about giving some respect to a women’s hoop star like LSU’s Angel Reese or Iowa’s Caitlin Clark? Reese has more endorsements as a college cager than any woman in anyone else in college or the WNBA. She won a title for Kim Mulkey at LSU. She actually won something.
Deion was a superstar athlete and a great football player. A definite Hall of Famer and one of the best to ever play the cornerback position. However, for 2023, I can think of dozens upon dozens of other people who are more worthy of this award. But they might not sell enough magazines with their pictures on the cover.
