On November 21, I texted my brother-in-laws and said, "If CU gets Deion I will cry". There had been talk that week that CU was interested in Sanders/Coach Prime becoming their next head coach after their disastrous 2022 season where emotionless Karl Dorrell was fired on October 2nd and the team would finish 1-11. It seemed too outlandish. Prime Time was from the South, he coach in the South, he had committed his own money and put a ton into Jackson State. Why would he come to a once proud football program that had turned into a punching bag for a ESPN Bottom 10 Rankings joke for Colora-duh?!
But the chatter went back to early November by some circles hearing CU had reached out to Coach Prime. Pompous Denver Post sports reporter, Sean Keeler, started a November 5th article "Russell Wilson will curse in a kindergarten class before Deion Sanders rides into the Flatirons to rescue CU football". Well, Sean, you may want to take your bad opinions and eat you own shoe and while you're at it learn how to talk into a microphone for God sake (Keeler was the dude that yelled into the microphone during Coach Prime's introductory presser).
When Coach Prime took the mic, the crowd was the most excited it's been at a press conference maybe ever in CU history. There had been some excitement on signing days and some hooting and hollering over some of the things Mel Tucker showed he can do, but the electrifying nature Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, brings is unmatched. He has been a dynamic personality since I first saw him on the TV as a kid getting drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. He screams "Look at me" but doesn't have to say the words, you just want to see him.
Coach Prime took the mic, observed the room and said, "Wow, I'm not lost for words... I'm just trying to seize the moment."
It reminded me of one of my favorite lines in Jerry Maguire where Rod Tidwell awakes from getting knocked out and says, "Wait, just let me enjoy this for a minute."
His next words were what we heard from Bill McCartney in the last 80s and early 90s when he would preach during his press conferences giving credit to God. He preached to the room and showed something he rarely needs to, humbleness. But, after his speech and showing humility, excitement, passion and his vision we saw Prime Time during the question and answer aspect of the presser where the spotlight was on him and every question was a way to show he had answers.
Answers are what CU Football program needs to the many question and problems they faced after the mostly downhill slide they have made since firing Gary Barnett in 2005. The past 17 years has seen one winning season and ranking to end the year. It's been miserable. What are the problems CU had faced most of all?
A lack of the most important 3 things in college sports: Money, Talent and Passion. Without a program that has all three of these, none of these three things matter if one of them is missing. CU has always had a passionate fanbase, but this is the first time in my 23 years of rabid fandom and 33 years of fandom I said, I'm done, I have better things to do. Many I know echoed the same sentiment. Many I've known have fallen off long before this year. They looked wise focusing on their own life and family. Rather than absorbing the embarrassment and disappointment of nine-4 score losses and try to find something from it, I was done. My family group bumped their ticket allotment from 6 to 8 tickets years ago with the addition of grandkids, but this year we had games where no one went. Still, somehow my daughters and my in-laws used all 8 tickets. We were ready to cut the ticket allotment in half. At Thanksgiving weekend before we went to bed, my mother-in-law told me we are going to cut the tickets down, I said, I agree UNLESS they hire Deion Sanders.
The passion seems to always be there, but it had taken a huge hit. It's been there pretty well considering 80% of the stadium was full during a terrible last year run and last decade and a half run. But the Utah game to close the year was the lowest paying attendance since the 80s.
Was talent that bad? I don't know how to put this, but you just need to look at who left CU last year, look at how many players from the 2023 CU commit list and watch this video of Coach Prime talking to the team for the first time to understand, CU's talent is not at a level that wins games. He didn't pull punches and some people may not like to hear this but being a former coach and athlete, this is real talk that a losing culture needs to hear. Deion Sanders is a winner in everything he's done in life, he doesn't understand the losing. culture and mindset and won't accept it. It's what makes him great.
Okay, well, how does Deion improve the Money, Talent and Passion?!
I had not heard Colorado talked about like it has in two days for 20 years when they last had two big seasons back to back with a Fiesta Bowl and Alamo Bowl appearance. But still, THIS level of passion goes back to the Bill McCartney days. People are passionate, the ticket office doesn't know how to handle the sudden influx of ticket requests. Folsom will be packed this year like it got to in 2016, but standing room only potentially. The radio waves were abuzz on a Monday after a Broncos game with talk about CU, print media, podcasts, search Deion Sanders and Colorado and holy cow. There are more talk about this than what was accomplished in 20 years combined potentially. The internet and social media allows this material to hit masses on a larger scale. The passion is back. CHECK!
Talking sellouts to games is just a start, but people are handing checks to Rick George. It's not just the fan money, it's the sponsorships for NIL that will come with a team that has the camera on Deion Sanders. This is the fucking Truman Show I just realized as I started this sentence. So, I kept that sentence there because all Buffs eyes and eyes around the world will be on Coach Prime. Can he turn around a once proud program around and how quickly can he do it. Money is going to be rolling in. Check!!!
How quickly you turn around a program that has brought back passion and an influx of money, TALENT. Talent is the last piece in order to turn those things into what is most important for success, WINNING. Deion pulled the number 1 recruit from Florida State and said come play for me at Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi. A once beatdown athletic factility at Jackson got an influx of talent from the recruiting Deion did. People want the exposure he brings which got his team to win the SWAC in just his second full football season since 2020 was cut short. His team is covered with Divsion 1 transfers and a few recruits a cycle that should be playing Power 5 ball but instead are drawn to the light Deion emits. As you can see in the video posted above and talked all over the social media world on, Deion's bringing his bag of talented players... "and it's Louis". The current recruiting commit list has been cut to nearly half from twenty in just two nights with more expected to be told their scholarship is not honored any longer. While Deion's speech to the team was strong, he has 58 scholarship players that he has to cut down. There is not the talent in that group to compete as the 1-11 record showed. He had to test the weak and see who couldn't handle the honest words that he was bringing in guys that were more talented than what we saw from CU. I can assure you, a SWAC team named Jackson St, would have came into Boulder and rolled them.
Back to this talent, it would not be any surprise if half of the team are guys that were here already between the roster and 2023 commits and transfers/commits that Deion and CO bring on. Coach Prime is targeting top talent. He has attracted top talent to a FCS SWAC school. With money, TV, P5, exposure unprecedented over any other program, look for Deion to make this the most talented team we've seen since the early 2000s and potentially the early 1990s. There is no limit to the talent that could be coming into Boulder. Check mark 3/3!
Coach Prime has seized the opportunity and appears prime to make CU a nationally prominent team nearly immediately. Buckle up, it's going to be fun!
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