Deion Sanders watched as embattled Florida State University football coach Mike Norvell marched his team to an impressive 9-3 record and a berth in the Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma.
Had Norvell not turned it around in 2022, Deion Sanders might have returned to the school where he played as its head coach.
Sanders is saying goodbye to Jackson State University after three years for a Power 5 Conference School – and it is far from a power.
Sanders will take over as Colorado head coach after Saturday’s Celebration Bowl against North Carolina Central in Atlanta. The Buffaloes went 1-11 in 2022.
Money is an influencer. Sanders will receive a reported $29.5 million over five years before bonuses and incentives. A $5 million salary pool has been created to hire assistants and staff.
His four-year agreement with JSU was worth a reported $1.2 million, and Sanders must pay a buyout of about $300,000.
Somehow, his departure speech to his team reached social media moments after Sanders concluded it. Go figure.
“I would like for y’all to hear it from me and not anyone else,” said the Florida native. “In coaching you get elevated, or you get terminated. Ain’t no other way. I have chosen to accept the job elsewhere next year,” he said.
Later, he spoke to his new players in Colorado. He was blunt to say the least.
“Those of you that we don’t run off, we’re going to try to make you quit,” Sanders said. “I want ones that don’t want to quit, that want to be here, who want to work, who want to win.”
He told them current JSU players, including his quarterback son, Shedeur, and five-star receiver recruit Winston Watkins, would be joining him at CU.
“When I get here, it’s gonna be change. So, I want you all to get ready to go ahead and jump in that (transfer) portal,” Sanders said.
It’s bold talk, and Sanders knows it. He knows that most of the players on the 1-11 team he was talking down to would start for most HBCU teams, including his 2022 Jackson State Tigers.
I wish Sanders good luck. I hope the fan base and Colorado administrators have patience. This job will not be easy. The remaining members of the PAC-12 Conference could care less about “Coach Prime” and his promises.
CU Athletic Director Rick George said, “It had to be a redo from top to bottom.”
“That’s why I’m going to give Coach Prime the latitude to do what he needs to do. We’ve talked about resources and what he needs. He’s going to shoot for the sky just like we did in this hire. We shot for the highest point we could, and I think we got what we shot for.”
Only time will tell if Colorado has shot itself in the foot.
The Reid Roundup
The US Men’s National Soccer Team reached the knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup, only to lose to the Netherlands 3-1 in the round of 16. In four games, the American’s scored three goals. The team’s next goal should be finding more talent, and that will happen when it starts finding more players of color…Fred McGriff was unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Hall’s “Contemporary Era” committee. Players needed 12 votes to reach the Hall. Don Mattingly received eight and pitcher Curt Schilling, who has no problem with sharing his racist and homophobic views, received seven votes. Seven-time MVP Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young Award winner pitcher Roger Clemens received less than four votes. And baseball wonders why it has a problem…Deshaun Watson took over as Cleveland Browns quarterback last Sunday and was awful. He was 12-for-22 for 131 yards and threw an interception. Watson also refuses to comment on the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him…Bradley Beal signed a five-year, $251-million free-agent deal to remain with the Washington Wizards last summer. He didn’t sugarcoat why in an interview on former NBA star Gilbert Arenas’ podcast. “I’m just being frank. There was nowhere else for me to go [as a free agent] where I can be like, ‘Oh, I can go win.’ It was teams that strategically wasn’t what I wanted.”
