Legendary player Deion “Prime Time” Sanders is best known for high-stepping in the Super Bowl and taking at-bats in the World Series. Yes, Sanders did play in both the NFL and MLB. But, as of recently Prime Time has turned into Coach Prime.
Ever since Deion left professional sports he has had an array of jobs from analyst to reality star to football coach. Deion started coaching his son’s teams when they were young which would then develop into him becoming the local high school football team for the town he and his family lived in Texas.
However, Covid would hit and the black lives matter movement would start, demanding change in America. Deion would feel a calling this time, one that was bigger than just coaching his son’s local high school football team. In an interview with 60 Minutes, he stated, “Some folks sit back on the Twitter fingers and sit back and say what they’re going to do and I wanted to go do it.”
Deion would coach three seasons at Jackson State before leaving to go to under a much bigger spotlight: Colorado. Deion came to Colorado in December of 2022, sending shockwaves to the sports world. Despite being a Pac-12 team, Colorado has been terrible in recent years, winning just one game total last season.
Coach Prime is known for his flamboyant style and he brought that to Colorado in full force. Cameras, new uniforms, celebrities, you name it Deion probably brought it, did it, or said it. This style drew attention from all over the sports world from recruits, to athletic directors, to prime-time media. This caused a lot of animosity towards the Colorado football team. Landon Penca ‘24 hates the Buffalos saying, “I hate everything about them”. JJ Momper ‘24 agrees with him by saying, “I think they’re overhyped. They have a good offense but their defense is terrible.”
This criticism is deserved as the Buffalos are 3-2 and, recently got blown out by Oregon 42-6. However, confidence is key, and Coach Prime believes this is just the beginning. Where the Buffalos go, we do not know but there is no doubt that Coach Prime should be coach of the year. Taking over a 1-11 program is a challenge in itself but Coach Prime looks confident as ever. While this isn’t their season, the chances they will have down the road are as high as the rocky mountains that overlook their stadium.
