Deion Sanders is coaching his last game today as Jackson State’s boss, but Sanders isn’t mincing his words on his way out of the HBCU program that’s appearing in a second consecutive Celebration Bowl as Southwestern Athletic Conference champs.
No, no. Sanders is laying bare some of the misconceptions and truths he believes are being glossed over by his imminent return to University of Colorado, where Sanders is working toward the future as the Buffaloes’ head coach.
“Let’s get the cat out of the bag. Let’s go on and talk about that,” Sanders said during a Celebration Bowl press conference. “Never once did I say they’re going to put a tombstone with my name on it at Jackson State.
“So, I wasn’t going to die here, y’all know that. Everything I said I would do, I did.”
Coach Prime’s impact on the JSU program – and the SWAC as well as HBCU football in general – is undeniable as the team seeks to polish off a 13-0 regular season.
The Tigers are winners in 23 of their last 25 games in Sanders’s two full seasons, pending the final result of the Celebration Bowl against North Carolina Central. They now own countless school records on the field and in the stands, where the Tigers’ crowds stand as the largest in school history.
“Everything I said I wanted to happen, I’ve tried my darnedest to make it happen,” Sanders said. “We’ve exceeded, I think, expectations in some realm. But when I don’t fit into someone else’s plan and purpose, now there’s ridicule. But you forgot about my plan and God’s purpose. That’s where the dysfunction comes.
“I reached a point where I said to myself, ‘We’re going to go out there and recruit another great class,’ and we were. And T.C. will. And we’re going to win again. So at what point do we keep dominating that you don’t get mad at us for dominating. Because it’s a level of dominance where you start to turn, and I felt that. We start to get tension from our own people. Because you’re dominant. And people start saying, ‘Well, that’s Prime. He can recruit that. We ain’t got that, we don’t have this.’ We heard that last night, you’re four- and five-stars. Yeah. Because we recruit those and they signed.”
Saying he would love for Jackson State to depart the SWAC for another conference destination, Sanders made clear that he believed he could not be the only person driving change.
“It comes a time that that’s not what it’s all about for me. I’m a winner. I’ve always won. I’m gonna win. Y’all know that,” he said. “But it’s bigger than that. It’s about increasing enrollment, it’s about the safety of students, it’s about going to the next level not just in football. I would love to go to another conference. Is the rest of the school ready? Is the baseball team ready? Is the basketball teams ready? Or just the football team? See you make it just about football, and it’s not just about football to me. It’s about our trainers and kids that the fire alarms may go off and not be turned off at 3:15 in the morning. It’s about people that may not have the proper safety on a campus that they should. I’m not just talking about Jackson State; I’m talking about everywhere.
“So, the things that I want to accomplish, I can’t do it by just being the dern football coach and winning games. I can’t do it. And I reached a point where I had a real conversation with the Lord.”
Sanders then took direct aim at detractors who have questioned why Coach Prime did not elect to stay longer as Jackson State’s coach.
Here at the @CelebrationBowl where @DeionSanders just set the record straight about his time at @JacksonStateU and a host of other things. No lies told. Take a listen. @WNCN pic.twitter.com/EDwKj9eXtw
— Chris Clark (@ChrisClark_) December 16, 2022
“It’s funny how you believe the Lord when He said to come here but you don’t believe me when I tell you the Lord may tell me to do otherwise,” Sanders said. “It’s like my god is talking to you about me. I don’t think He works like that. But it’s so much more than I can’t do because that’s not my occupation. I’m a football coach and a darn good one. Name one thing in football that we haven’t accomplished that I said we would. But it’s bigger than that. Until we address these underlining issues that nobody wants to talk about, ain’t nothing going to change. Football, yes. But what else is going to change? And I’m a change-agent. That’s what it’s all about to me. I’m not just attached to the football players, the equipment persons, the trainers, the academic persons. Everybody on campus.
“When we leave you’re going to find out what all we did. Because they don’t really talk about the positivity until we go. You’ll find out all we did for Jackson State. And all we wanted to do for Jackson State. I just pray to God that in all that, get some understanding on change and where change really starts. It does not start in the football department.”