Deion Sanders brings PRIME TIME, he is an enigma, a persona that has been unmatched by any pro football player of the last 30 years. He set the bar for an athlete that put in the hard work with a big mouth that he could back up every play, every day. He's the last two sport professional athlete that played games in two different sports in the same week. With the focus on a single sport specialty, he may be the last to be able to do it with the work ethic it takes to be great in just one sport.
As a person in their early 40s, I've seen Deion evolve from a superstar at Florida State to an NFL All-Decade 1st Team at both Cornerback and Punt Returner to NFL analyst to commercial actor to successful college head coach. Almost everyone over the age of 10 has heard of Prime Time.
What makes Colorado attractive to someone that is winner? Someone that could find another Division I gig closer to the South he grew up in by going to USF? Well, MONEY, SWAG and PRIME TIME!!!
If you watch a CU news conference of the last 20 years, only Gary Barnett and Mel Tucker could win a room. Only Bill McCartney has completely took over a room with his vision. They were the only coaches that have made a chancellor and athletic director supporting cast or extras in what they were building. Rick George was a good supporting cast member to Mel Tucker, but Tucker stole the show. He was a persona that brought talent to CU, brought donors to the table and made people want to be a part of what he is was building before he slithered away into the midnight. The problem is the face of the program during the Embree, MacIntyre and Dorrell era was a weaselly old man that has mixed academics and athletics for far too long in Phil DiStefano. I've talked about this and we know Phil DiStefano must be forced to retire. Mel Tucker seemed to cast a very large shadow over anything DiStefano said or tried to do while DiStefano's been at the forefront of the least successful run in CU football ever. DiStefano treats Colorado like it's Stanford and it's not and never will be. It's a very solid university with a lot of great degrees but it doesn't give the oh wow factor a degree from Colorado School of Mines holds, so why is it held to a higher standard of education than a UCLA or USC where their programs rate higher than Colorado's? Blind ignorance that is finally being challenged and needs a strong minded coach to kick it into full gear.
How does Neon Deion change that? The money and presence Deion brings is nothing like CU has seen. It's been talked about what he brings, but his own son has NIL deals attending Jackson State because of who he is and who is father is. His players get recognition and he gets recruits that would NEVER go to a NIL school if it were not for the persona of Deion. Deion puts DiStefano in the background because his vision is always bigger than life and is bigger than some old man past retirement age. Rick George and CU President Todd Saliman know what is at stake with college football today. The Pac 12 is on life support losing their LA bedrocks in USC and UCLA. Amazon Prime is looking to spend money and they've already built a relationship with Sanders. Having Deion be the face of the Pac 12 deal with Amazon Prime is a potential cash cow that will last beyond his time at Colorado, no matter how short it may end up being.
Ridding CU of this mentality that they are above other great institutions enrollment for transfers, money and a winning mentality/persona are things that CU needs to have change immediately. Prime Time brings that, Pac 12 After Dark become Pac 12 Prime Time with Deion. He's rebuilt a Jackson State team, he knows how to talk to young men, he knows how to generate money and he knows talent is key to winning. Deion is everything that CU needs for a quick fix. If he leaves after a year and changes CUs culture to a winning one with money, who cares?! CU was 4-2 the year after Mel Tucker, it wasn't Karl Dorrell, it was the mentality and attitude that group had after a year with a winner. You can't be afraid to hire the best man for the job if he may have a better opportunity come along. I'm sure there will be safety valves in the contract and a succession plan developed this go around. Despite the disdain towards Rick George, let's remember that his top two guys were Ryan Day and Mel Tucker the first go around and he had nearly inked a deal with Steve Sarkisian before Nick Saban told him to wait for the UT job.
So again, why would Deion come to CU? CU has had a black head coach in 3 of their last 4 hires. Oh great, Andy ruined it and just played a Race Card. Not the case, simply pointing out a fact that CU isn't afraid to give a coach an opportunity other schools will not. While other schools have had more black Athletic Directors/Head Football coaches, CU is the only school to ever have three African American Head Football Coaches . Why wouldn't Deion go to a school in the South? Well, other than HBCUs, south of Virginia you haven't seen a lot of black head coaches hired. Hell, Auburn set their sites on Hugh Freeze and his sexual misconduct, completely skipping over Sanders. A fun fact we got from this weekend is Cadillac Williams was the first black head coach ever in the Iron Bowl's 100 plus year history. Currently, the talk is that only CU and USF have had serious talk with Deion Sanders in bceoming their head coach. Why would Deion choose Colorado over South Florida, he's a Ft Myers kid, he went to college in Tallahassee? South Florida brings little more than what Sanders has at Jackson State minus coaching in FBS but it's not Power 5 and it's not Prime Time. South Florida's budget is roughly 40% of what CU's $50+ Million budgets and CU has the potential to double that projection if the Pac 12 can land the lucrative deal Amazon Prime Video is dangling over their head. Colorado can pay assistants, they have facilities that are ready now!!! Tampa is a beautiful city, but USF shares a field with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and are years from their future on-campus stadium. Their vision reminds me a lot of CSUs a decade ago, they have had a couple years of success in the last decade but are on the downslope and will build a stadium despite not having the diehard fanbase to fill it in down times. CU has hit rock bottom, yet churns out 40K fans. CU has a beautiful stadium and backdrop with facilities that compete with more successful Power 5 programs. They have tradition and a fanbase that holds on to hope of what they say into the early 2000s.
What CU is lacking is a consistent donor base, NIL backing and an influx of cash along with talent returning year after year. Again, PRIME TIME GIVES YOU THAT IN WAVES. Sanders generates his own cash flow and you can pay him every bit you did the last coaches and more because you get an immediate known return on investment. It's like selling an old house with known issues, putting twice what it was bought for and you get cash the second you put it on the market. Deion beat Florida State for the #1 recruit at Jackson State! Imagine what he can sell in a conference where the best team is leaving and the teams beyond that can never seem to take the next step.
Deion brings something CU can't buy with any other coach they could hire right now, MONEY and TALENT. The two most important things where coaching really depends on how well you work with that talent. Deion has shown he understands what it takes to get that talent to play at a high level for you. Something other people of his talent struggle with when they have coached. CU has to make Prime their hire!
