Move over Deion Sanders.
A current SWAC head coach, also a former long-time NFL defensive back, just moved past Coach Prime's infamous "Who is SWAC, if I ain't SWAC?"
Cris Dishman, second-year head coach at Southwestern Athletic Conference program Texas Southern and former 13-year NFL veteran, casually stood at the microphone Monday afternoon and delivered the Press Conference of the Year before college football's first full opening weekend.
Dishman's Texas Southern squad battles longtime rival Prairie View A&M Saturday in the 40th annual Labor Day Classic in Houston's Shell Energy Stadium, home of the Major League Soccer Houston Dynamo. First-year Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson was seated mere inches from Dishman when he opened his remarks with a slam on Jackson's singing abilities.
"First and foremost, I'd like to thank Tremaine for his wonderful song he gave us. I wonder if he can sing that song after. Yeah, you was horrible," said Dishman, a former Houston Oilers NFL Draft pick who spent nearly a decade with that franchise. "So, I think you keep the day job and coaching's not second.
"It's going to be a very exciting game, and there's a formula I go by. Win third down, win the red zone, less penalties than your opponent and you should win the game. Our 11 is better than their 11. It's not about Tremaine and I; it's about our 11. Our 11 is better and we should win the game."
Dishman wasn't remotely finished. He encouraged Jackson to take a piece of stadium grass home with him from the press conference and then forcefully disagreed after Jackson called his team's personality "dogmatic" and referred to his players as "dogs," as in tough individuals.
"Make sure that when you leave, you take a piece of grass because when you leave on Saturday, you're going to be taking a lot of grass," Dishman said.
"It gives you a lot of momentum for your fans, your school and your team. We're trying to get one up and prepare ourselves for winning the West. Our goal is to always win the West; our goal is to win in Atlanta. That's our goal, and they're in our way of doing that."
With Dishman at the helm, Texas Southern snapped a years-long losing streak in the series last season with a dominant, 27-9 win for the Tigers to reclaim the rivalry's Durley-Nicks Trophy. He took issue with a reporter who termed that victory a surprise.
"I have to correct you when you say surprised, because we expected to win that game. It wasn't a surprise," Dishman, a former Purdue star, said. "Now, maybe the outside world was surprised, but inside that locker room we weren't surprised. That was part of our plan to win that game. We go into the season and try to go 11-0. Every game we win, we're never surprised about winning. We're expecting to win this week. That's part of our goal. ...
"Coach Tremaine mentioned dogs. Our young men would never be dogs. Our young men are young men. They're educated young men and they are God-fearing young men. That's what I expect. They understand my culture, they understand what I expect, they understand what I want. But I would never call a young man a dog, because he's not. He's an individual who will go out there and work for us."
After a short but decorated run atop traditional NCAA Division II powerhouse Valdosta State, Jackson said he's brought the same standards for Prairie View A&M.
"Obviously, anytime we walk out there and play football, we expect to win. We expect to do what it takes to win," said Jackson, 40 career wins in little more than four full seasons as an NCAA head coach. "It is a unique situation; it's not a pressure situation but it is very unique in the way that you prepare. There's no School of the Blinds to get ready for and try some things. You've got to be clicking on all cylinders, which we welcome that challenge. We've been here before. This ain't my first rodeo as a head coach.
"We look to prove that we are who we say we are, what we think we are, and let the chips fall where they may. We came here to be successful. We make no qualms about that. I didn't leave where I was to come here and be anything less than that."
Jackson labeled his program a tough one built on respect.
"There's a lot of people scared to do things the way that we do them. We're not scared of them," he said. "There's a lot of people that bow down to young people. We don't do that. So, there's no bubblegum and butterflies in our program. We are who we are. We're hard-nosed. We don't stand on 360s and dance with them in recruiting.
"We tell them exactly who we are and they choose to be a part of it and adhere to how we do things, which is why we've had successes in the places we've had success at. We expect no different here at Prairie View A&M."
Jackson did sound off to reporter Brandon Harris.
"There were some shots taken that's not our profession. But I understand what it is and what some people have to do," he said on video. "We don't have to do that. We just go about our business, man, and we been on this hill working for a long time. We're going to get the chance to come off.
"Yeah, there is a different level of focus with us right now but we've been like this since Jan. 7. We don't allow people to toy with our kids or our program. This ain't your uncle's Prairie View A&M football team. This is us. This is a new feel around here. We don't take shots or disrespect kindly."
Jackson concluded with this warning:
"Man, I went to Oak Forest Elementary, Class of '94. I didn't go to recess. I don't play. We don't play," Jackson said. "That's not us. That's not how we go about it. So, I don't know what that is. That's not how we do things. Shout out to Ms. Rector, my fifth-grade teacher, for not making me go to recess because I didn't play no games."