On a recent edition of Keyshawn, JWill & Max on ESPN Radio, the topic of Deion Sanders taking the Colorado job was discussed and the opinions centered around it being the “perfect situation” for Prime Time to move up in the coaching ranks.
Those were Keyshawn Johnson’s word as he went on to say the Colorado job is absolutely elite enough for Sanders to take it, that the school has facilities and money and that Sanders would be able to recruit California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and keep all the in-state talent home to play for the Buffaloes.
Those are some fair points.
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But Johnson also brought up that he would like to see Colorado get back to the glory days under Bill McCartney “when they were winning championships.”
And in this, reality is detached from the hope Sanders could be the one to turn Colorado’s program back into national relevancy.
If the idea for Sanders is to move on from Jackson State to a bigger program to prove his bona fides that he can coach at the Power Five level, Colorado isn’t it.
First, he has absolutely zero connections to that region of the country. Everyone knows Sanders’ name and maybe he can pull some current Jackson State players there with him but do we really believe the best players in California and Texas, even Arizona, will flock to Colorado just because Sanders is the coach?
I don’t.
As for returning to the great days under McCartney. Well, his last season was 1994 so there is no connection to that time, the sport has completely changed in every way imaginable and Johnson is speaking and remembering a time when he was at USC during those years.
Since McCartney, Colorado has churned through seven coaches in Rick Neuheisel, Gary Barnett, Dan Hawkins, Jon Embree, Mike MacIntyre, Mel Tucker and Karl Dorrell.
The last five full seasons for the Buffs have been losing ones. Fifteen of the last 16 seasons have been losing ones in Boulder. There has been one or two winning campaigns in the lifetimes of every recruit Sanders would be going after.
Sanders is a high-profile guy who has been phenomenal at Jackson State but I find it hard to believe elite players from talent-rich states are going to risk their college careers and their professional development to go play for him at a program that has shown no signs of winning in literally decades.
Sanders has been offered the Colorado job. He should say no.
If he wants to move on from Jackson State, where he’s 22-2 over the last two seasons and famously flipped No. 1 overall prospect Travis Hunter in the 2022 class from Florida State, he should vie for the South Florida job.
It’s not Power Five. It, too, has not had recent success although there have been many years of impressive performances. It’s not as high-profile as Colorado but it’s a place where Sanders could win at a stepped-up level from Jackson State and then propel himself into a job particularly in the Southeast where he could actually have a chance to win.
Sanders is from Fort Myers, Fla. He played at Florida State. He could legitimately win recruiting battles in the state and there’s a ton of talent in that area of Florida.
He could win there, enough to catapult himself to an elite job . I’m not convinced Prime Time could ever do that at Colorado.
