I’ve seen all the coaching hot boards, I’ve read all the takes, but I’m going to agree with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith – and I cannot believe I’m doing that – and say the top target for Texas A&M should be Deion Sanders.
“They should buy Primetime Deion Sanders out of his contract at Colorado because he’s going to get some hogs to show up there,” Smith said Monday on the network. “That vote they got at Texas A&M, that’s oil money down there. That’s oil money. Put that brother PrimeTime Deion Sanders in the SEC, let him get some dogs, some rough riders, some hogs up in there and watch what he does. He wouldn’t be on a four-game losing streak with a 4-6 record at Texas A&M.”
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There are a few caveats.
If Oregon’s Dan Lanning wants the job, hire him now. But Monday night, Lanning didn’t mince words like pursued coaches often do by couching their words when he said there was “zero chance” he would be coaching anywhere else.
If Florida State’s Mike Norvell wants the job, hire him, too. But the Seminoles could be marching to the College Football Playoff, and I don’t know if the Aggies can wait around that long for Norvell, who has done a phenomenal job in Tallahassee.
So who’s realistically left?
Mike Elko has done wonders at Duke, but does he move the needle in the SEC West and clashes with Nick Saban and Brian Kelly to win that division? Do we see Elko taking down Kirby Smart and the Georgia machine?
Same question goes for Washington’s Kalen DeBoer, who is a massive winner everywhere he’s ever coached, but coaching in Sioux Falls, Fresno State and with the Huskies is not the same as the constant dogfight of the SEC.
If Kansas’ Lance Leipold, Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, Arizona’s Jedd Fisch or UTSA’s Jeff Traylor were hired, there might be a revolt in College Station because the fans want a blockbuster hire, a blockbuster name.
I will admit Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin would be interesting. Given the resources and the money (and he’d finally be able to stop crying about NIL and the transfer portal), Kiffin has shown a phenomenal maturity in his coaching job at Ole Miss, especially this season.
Also, the Philadelphia Eagles came after Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann for a reason - because he’s a brilliant mind and one of the best young coaches in the game (ala Lanning) but he has zero head coaching experience.
This is why Sanders makes more sense than some are willing to admit - and where Stephen A. Smith is wrong about one thing: Texas A&M already has the hogs. Sanders would just add a whole lot more.
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The Louis Vuitton - at least on defense - is already in College Station.
Colorado was the dregs when Sanders got there, and immediately the entire enterprise from the football program to the fan base changed for the better. Just look at ticket sales and social media engagement.
In short order, Sanders revitalized the Buffaloes’ program through the transfer portal, and while there were critics along the way Sanders did what he thought best to quickly juice the roster with elite players. He just doesn’t have enough of them yet.
There is no offensive line depth there. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders is getting squished like a grape sitting in the pocket. Colorado can’t run the ball because of it. So everyone knows they’re throwing it and adjusts because of it.
The Buffaloes started 3-0 and now sit at 4-6, but four of the losses are by a touchdown or less. With all those issues included. In total, Sanders has done a phenomenal job in year one with the hand he was dealt - and it certainly wasn’t aces.
The decision to demote former offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, who left a head coaching job to join Sanders’ staff to promote Pat Shurmur, a well-traveled NFL coach who won less than 30% of his games as a pro head coach, seemed reactionary and wrong. I wonder if over time Sanders will regret it.
But if Texas A&M is looking for perfection, it doesn’t exist in coaching.
There are hurdles here. If Sanders left Colorado and his sons, Shedeur and Shilo, don’t opt for the NFL Draft they’d have to apply for a tricky waiver to go play at Texas A&M or tough it out with whoever Colorado brings in for one season. Also, his daughter, Shelomi, plays on the Colorado women’s basketball team so that could also be a deal breaker.
The same goes for five-star talent Travis Hunter, who is like a son to Sanders, and that might put him in a predicament since Hunter definitely has to play one more season of college football before declaring for the draft.
But opportunities don’t come along like this often. Texas A&M has all the resources in the world and a roster built to win.
Sanders knows how to find those final pieces that could take them where the $100 million man Jimbo Fisher couldn’t.
The more I consider this, the more Deion Sanders to Texas A&M makes total sense.
