Deion “Primetime” Sanders has become a sports icon after his decades at the forefront of the sports world. The former Falcons and Cowboys cornerback enjoyed a prolific 14-year career in the NFL where he racked up 8 Pro-Bowl selections, 6 All-Pro Selections, 2 Super Bowl rings, and a Defensive Player of the Year award. His spectacular superhuman abilities also allowed him to play baseball professionally in the MLB for nine seasons as a Centerfielder for the Yankees, Braves, and Reds.
Now after a number of years as a sports entertainment personality, Primetime has decided to translate his football intelligence to the sidelines and has become a coach in College Football.
After multiple years building his coaching experience at the high school level, Sander was hired by Jackson State University in September 2020. Below I’ll go through Sanders’ coaching career up to this point and what lies ahead for the newly hired Buffaloes coach.
Start at Jackson State University
Jackson State University, an HBCU in Jacksonville, Alabama, were the first college football program that decided to take a chance on Sanders after hiring the former superstar. The FCS SWAC football program, which had once enjoyed historic dominance, had fallen into a bit of a slump prior to his hiring and were hoping that Primetime would be the guy to turn things around.
Deion Sanders inherited an abysmal team with 4-8 record in 2019, and was able to match the team’s win total from a season prior in his first game despite playing five less games, as they finished 4-3 in 2020. However, things really turned around in 2021, after he led the Tigers to a 11-2 record and the schools first SWAC conference championship in 14 years, while also earning SWAC Coach of the Year Honors.
He continued to strengthen the program after attracting the number 1 recruit in the 2022 class, five star cornerback Travis Hunter, who played both sides of the ball his freshman year and helped his team achieve the programs first 12-win season, after JSU finished 12-1 in 2022. Sanders’ stellar team won another SWAC championship and gave him another SWAC Coach of the Year award.
Recent Hire in the Power 5
After his third year with Jackson State, Sanders decided to move on and signed a five-year $29.5 million dollar deal with the University of Colorado, which saw him become the newest head coach of their football program. This move is quite a big step for Sanders’ coaching career, as he’s joined a much bigger Power 5 conference program.
Similar to Jackson State’s situation when Sanders arrived, the Buffaloes’ football program is in shambles after finishing last in the Pac-12 with a 1-11 record. However, Sanders will have a lot to work with in Colorado, as 17 athletes have already declared their intentions to transfer to his football program, including star athlete Travis Hunter and 6 other former Jackson State athletes.
The road to success will be long and hard fought for Sander at Colorado, but based on what he’s shown so far in his coaching career, he has the ability to build a winning football program. It will be exciting to see what lies ahead for Deion Sanders as he’ll try to mold the shaky Buffaloes football program into champions.
