Coach Prime is CUs White Buffalo

The white buffalo is often an omen because the birth takes place in the most unexpected places and often happens amongst the poorest of people. In the majority of the Indigenous American culture, a white buffalo calf is a sign that prayers are being heard and that the promises of the prophecy are being fulfilled.  The birth is sacred, to the Indigenous American culture, because it brings a sense of hope and is a sign that good times are about to happen. (Source: White Buffalo Significance)

There is no better way to describe the significance of Coach Prime, Deion Sanders, and what he means to the University of Colorado Football program.  While the struggles of the Indigenous American people are not akin to the riches of college football.  Colorado was the most talent depleted program in the Power 5 conferences and was arguably the worst team in 2021 in FCS football, the donor/alumni base was not giving any longer and things only looked like they would get worse.  CU Football lacked hope and it appeared many more years of struggle were on the horizon.  With Coach Prime's hiring at CU hope is at an all time high for Colorado Football.

Coach Prime brings good vibes with him.  He exudes positive energy, excitement and a vision far greater than what many can grasp.  Coach Prime brings an immediate exposure to the herd that appeared to vanish after nearly two decades of famine in Buffalo nation.  If you do a search of Colorado football from the past 18 months, prior to Coach Prime's hire, anywhere from Google to Podcasts to YouTube, there isn't much besides what Brian Howell and Adam Munsterteiger have continued to grind out.  All podcasts regarding CU football had vanished with the most followed fanbased podcast, Freebalin, saying No Mas and signing off in July.  With the diehard fans checking out and having no longer anything nice to say or any sense of hope the Buffaloes needed the great white buffalo to be born.

The whispering winds of November came blowing down the Flatiorns and December 3, 2022 Colorado Football got their great white buffalo with the hiring of Coach Prime.  But Coach Prime brings more than hope to Colorado Football, it brings hope to the University of Colorado and state.  Coach Prime brings exposure and a curious eye from non-football fans and NFL only fans and the buzz is deafening.  Do a search for just the past month with Coach Prime and Colorado and it's a thunderous rumbling of the Rocky Mountains that spreads across the country and across all walks of life.  The exposure CU is getting in less than a month is likely more than what their 1990 National Championship brought.  There is no need to pump the brakes here, the internet, social media and availability of information at your hand all day makes this the most buzz Colorado Football has ever seen.  Prime being one of the most flashy athletes with something to say and never one to shy away from a camera has put a spotlight on Boulder and no matter what social media avenue you navigate, you can't not see what Coach Prime is doing.

Okay, so what has Coach Prime done exactly besides generate views and create this deafening buzz?  Well, he took one of the most talent depleted programs and currently has the 3rd ranked transfer portal recruiting class and 22nd ranked class overall.  The 4-5 star recruits looking at CU and putting the Buffs in their Top 5-10 went from almost zero to dozens.  Why?  Coach Prime is an electrifying man that preaches to young men and sells a vision of what they can become under his guidance.  It is a vision much like  previous CU coach, Bill McCartney, sold where their faith in God and using their amazing ability to speak and relate to young men is almost scary in what they share... HOPE.  The difference between the two is Coach Prime doesn't need to build up a program to show this vision, he has built up his own brand to show this is capable anywhere with the vision he holds.  His window isn't 3-4 years down the road like it was for Coach Mac and would be with a Ryan Walters, Purdue's recent hire and former CU player, type of hire at Colorado but it's immediate because he can battle anyone for a top recruit and get transfer portal players to make the move that just doesn't happen Day 1 at any other 1-11 team.  

CU's record the last two years means nothing going forward.  The transfer portal rules changing to allow a player immediate eligibility means you can no longer measure a team by returning starters and last year's record.  USC and TCU both used the transfer portal to go from disappointing 2021 seasons to Top 10 2022 seasons.  TCU went from 5-7 to 12-1 with a new coach, hitting the portal hard and using the talent that remained to build one of the best two deep teams in college football.  CU has a much smaller talent pool that remains, but has grabbed players in the transfer portal to solve their issues at Quarterback, Wide Receiver, TE and Offensive Line.  This offense may have only 1-3 returning starters which is a good thing for one of the worst scoring offenses in college football.  Pieces have been added to the worst scoring defense in college football, but additional talent will be needed to this group to make it as exciting as what this offense appears to have ahead.  Fortunately Charles Kelley, former  FSU Defensive Coordinator and Alabama top recruiter and assistant, brings years of knowledge and a regular Top 40 defense ability with him and he can recruit and fill the holes he needs to make his defense as strong as what the offense appears capable of becoming immediately.  

Prior to Deion's hire, there were 3 things Colorado needed in order to improve: Coaching, Talent and Money.  I hammered this every time I talked to someone about CU football's needs and why I felt Coach Prime was the best man to solve those issues.  The exposure on social media is getting talent, money and great coaches into the program.  Coach Prime's glow at CU has brought hope and what he's done in the short time here shows that good times are about to happen.

Coach Prime Seizes The Moment at Colorado

 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.  

The last thing, money.  Why is money such a hinderence at Colorado while other schools swim in it?  CU has not had the backing from businesses and boosters like they did under McCartney.  It was there under Barnett,  but it slowly died and got ate away at over and over and over again with each losing season and lack of bowl win.  The Pac 12 media rights went from looking like most handsome to amongst the lowest in Power 5 conferences.  Rick George came in and brought an influx of money to Colorado to get some much needed upgrades done.  However, money quit rolling in after a single 2016 season showed the Rise was Surreal instead of Real.  CU crashed to Earth and the money trickled in instead of pouring down.

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!

Deion Sanders to Colorado? Prime Time No Doubt!

I started this article with a loser mindset talking about the 5 stages of grief, the 16 losing seasons in 17 years and all the stats about arguably the worst year in CU football history. Instead, I chose to focus on what Deion Sanders would bring to Colorado and why he is the perfect fit to correct the wrongs CU has written for the better part of the last two decades.

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. 

Deion Sanders persona, talent and exudation of confidence and love for sports, and particularly the game of football, has made him successful in each step of his life to what he has become today, a successful football coach generating money and attention to a HBCU college football program that few had heard much of before he stepped foot in Jackson, Mississippi.

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!