This article explores the impact of Deion Sanders, better known as 'Coach Prime,' on the University of Colorado's football program. It examines his unconventional approach, his focus on discipline and character, his ability to attract talent, and the controversies surrounding his methods. The discussion also highlights his journey from professional athlete to coach, and his success in turning around struggling programs at both Jackson State and Colorado.
In 2022, Deion Sanders , known as “Coach Prime,” became head football coach of the University of Colorado Boulder . Sanders was hired to bring CU’s struggling football program, which had only one winning season in the previous 15 years, back to glory.
I really enjoyed reading the case, and one of his players, Travis Hunter, won the Heisman Trophy Award, that’s an amazing achievement. The biggest award in college sports and Coach Prime was there. It just lucked up that way, and so it really allowed us to really think about can what he did at a historically Black college, work in a Power 5? At the time of meeting him we didn’t know. We had no idea, and it was really like pulling this all together real time, so it was an amazing opportunity to see something at the very beginning.
BRIAN KENNY: I was surprised to read that in the case. because he says, he says, “This is not me. What you’re seeing is a character that I’ve created, and people who know me know that that’s not what I act like on a day-to-day basis.” But that’s all we’ve ever seen of him, so it’s hard to wrap your brain around that.
That’s the idea. Now, when we consider that Jackson State at the time did not have the same facilities that Mississippi State has. There’s a water crisis in Jackson. There’s not enough good housing in Jackson for students, so he is dealing with a lot of barriers, and funding and resourcing which means as the coach, he invested his salary into the program. That’s unusual.HISE GIBSON: Created a practice field. They were practicing at a high school before he showed up.
BRIAN KENNY: In reading the case I was thinking, really the only similarity between the 2 roles was that both teams were terrible when he got there, but in Colorado you’ve got probably a completely different mindset. They’ve got much nicer facilities; they’re recruiting from probably other parts of the country where they’re better off. Are they going to be as open to the way he’s doing things? And it seems like initially the answer is no.
HISE GIBSON: Yeah, and I think it’s also about what is not understood is that people believe that they just kick people off the team. That’s actually not what happened. You have to now compete, and when you come into in an environment where you have a team that was just 1 in 11, one win 11 losses, and they’re the worst team in college football, do you really have a lot of folks on that team that want to compete? Possibly not.
HISE GIBSON: One of the coolest things I observed, and as a person who used to lead people, is that he wasn’t sitting with his son, the quarterback. He wasn’t sitting with Travis Hunter, his amazing two-sport athlete. He was sitting with a couple of the trainers. Couple of the kickers. And he knew exactly who they were. He knew that the kid whose parents were, Colorado Buff alums and legacy, knew whose dad was doing what and whose mom was doing what.
BRIAN KENNY: Yeah, and I think another one also is the traits that he looks for in the players that he recruits, could also be the traits that you look for in the people that you’re going to bring into your organization. Right? BRIAN KENNY: How does he respond to the critics? He has a lot of critics; we should point out. A lot of people have criticized the way that he handled things when he first got to University of Colorado, and he’s been criticized off and on throughout his career for maybe talking too much in the wrong situation or saying things that are controversial. How does he respond to that?
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