Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders leaving Jackson State University to coach the Colorado Buffaloes received mixed reactions, with some disappointed that the NFL icon departed an HBCU to coach a PWI. Others, including Howard University football coach Floyd Keith, viewed it as a stepping stone for other Black coaches.
Keith, 75, noted to the Associated Press the powerful influence Sanders’ coaching of the Buffaloes holds. Despite losing to Oregon on Saturday and being knocked out of AP’s Top 25, there’s still accrescent positive attention on Sanders’ impact on the team.
The 75-year-old coach believes the 56-year-old former NFL player is breaking down barriers and cultivating opportunities for fellow Black coaches.
“There was maybe this model that everybody (thought they) had to follow,” Keith stated. “There was this blueprint of the way it’s done. Well, I think Deion shattered that.”
He continued, “What I judge is the results and what he’s done. I think he has taken — and I might be early in this — but I think what he’s done now is he’s opened the door for not only coaches of color but coaches to be real. And I think that’s a great thing.”
Keith is impressed at how Coach Prime led the team that won one game in 2022 to defeat Nebraska, TCU and Colorado State while maintaining his loud and courageous personality.
Unlike the former Jackson State coach, Keith never coached a major D1 program despite battling for the opportunity, which he’s still doing. However, his resume remains impressive. Coaching Howard University, one of the top HBCUs in the nation. He has also coached Colorado in the ’70s and Miami, Ohio.
Keith isn’t the only one impressed by Sanders’ new job with the Buffaloes. N. Jeremi Duru, the director of the Washington College of Law’s Sport & Society Initiative at American University, expressed how proud he was of Colorado making a move that not many other PWI schools are willing to make.
“Who would have thought that Colorado, all the stakeholders involved in that program, would have chosen Deion?” Duru asked. “And they did, and boy, are they profiting from it. It’s an extraordinary turnaround. So it may be that other organizations are more willing to take that step than have been in the past.”
