The best thing for college football? Deion Sanders. But some think he’s the worst thing as well. Here’s your dose of Daily Deion.
Disclaimer: I have always been a fan of Deion Sanders. Loved him as a player at FSU, in Atlanta and Dallas and even respected him as a 49er against my Cowboys.
Can we just admit that Deion overdid it? I get that it’s his job to provide hype and marketability for the Colorado football program and he did that, but he went too far. Way too far.
From allowing his son to flash bling and his other son to talk trash and his team disrespected opponents after a great 3-0 start, it all looks kind of foolish now that they have lost 6 of their last 7 games. Add in the rappers giving pre-game talks and the celebrities on the sidelines it all looked great for a bit and now it looks kind of sad. Deion and the Buffs have disappeared from any sniff of the national landscape and now the only attention they get is from something dumb he says like comparing Colorado to the Dream Team or saying the NCAA and Rose Bowl should replace the stolen bling of his players. Coach Prime has gone from an amazing national story to a joke and he has no one to blame but himself.
I’ve always learned to be somewhat humble, self-effacing, and certainly never been a bragger. It’s the way of the world but Deion has always lived by his own rules and succeeded— greatly. But that’s because he was an amazing athlete, gifted beyond the 99.9% of the rest of us. As a coach, he’s not gifted. Not even close. I don’t think he’s very good at all. Fans of Deion will point to his record at Jackson State but an argument could be made he had a “Dream Team” compared to the other FCS teams he played. In fact, that’s where that analogy would have worked — not at Colorado.
Now on the Power Five level, he’s been a poor game planner, has failed to make in-game adjustments and even managing his staff has been an issue as the Sean Lewis demotion is just one of many coaching moves that will come — some directed by Deion and others from staffers frustrated with his approach. It’s getting ugly.
It has gone from intriguing to overbearing to a circus and the next step is simply sadness. When everyone leaves and all that’s left behind are the crying clowns at the circus things get dark. And they could get dark very quickly for Deion. He’s gone from a coach who is worth hundreds of millions to Colorado and a hot commodity to other schools to a guy who could struggle to find a new home after his sons leave. I asked many people about Deion and the Texas A&M job and the laughter on the other end of the phone was resounding. “A&M doesn’t need his money and he can’t coach so what does he have to offer” was the most profound response.
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Would a humble Deion have helped avoid all of this? Would answers like “We’re happy we are ahead of schedule but we have a ton of work to do” instead of receipt talk and better get us now nonsense avoid the many victory laps folks are taking? Maybe not as people simply hate Deion for many different reasons. But it wouldn’t have hurt. If you’re going to be brash and challenge people you better not stink — and Colorado stinks.
And honestly, it could get worse. This is a team of transfers that Deion hand-picked and he won’t be able to completely revamp his roster through the portal each year. That means recruiting and developing young high school players and no one is sure he can do that. 2023 recruiting wasn’t as great as many expected based on his name and 2024 isn’t going very well. Colorado is ranked behind teams like Indiana, Syracuse, and even Oregon State and Washington State, two teams with no football schedule for next season. Where is the influx of talent needed to take a step forward in the Big 12 next season? It’s not there as of right now.
This isn’t a victory lap, that will come soon. After all, Deion keeps receipts and so do I, and I’m clearly on his list as evidenced by him blocking my X account. This is more about being humble. It’s okay to talk crap when things are going well but you better expect to hear it when you start to stink. And here we are.
