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Deion Sanders "Coach Prime" Now At Colorado


Don Johnson

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It's soft, bitchass behavior. It's 90's era colemn snark. Not the best entertainment but not the worst, if they're funny. If the rest of the Colorado sports media had any pride at all they'd skip the next couple of pressers 

It can be fun when one of the local guys play the contrarian shtick and antagonize local teams. It's a pretty tired trope, really, but it's harmless entertainment if it's done well. What an embarrassment for that athletic department to get so emotional over one chubby nerd at the frickin Denver Post.

They beg for constant attention and then the entire athletic department folds over sarcasm. Fuck CU, collectively. 

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This is the column that got him so upset:

to be fair, Keeler rarely writes anything that's not a Deion attack and this is dumb but not inaccurate.

Quote

BOULDER — A 4-8 coach gave a 3-9 news conference. This was Deposition Deion, a cornered and condescending man, the perennial victim who ain’t got time for mere mortals.

This was the Deion Sanders we’d read about for years, disdain boiling like broth behind shades too cool for the room. Coach Prime sat down Friday, made a joke about the Honey Buns sitting on the table in front of him — “trying to get my 6-pack” — and then disappeared.

Reporters at CU fall sports media day instead got a glimpse of Deion from behind the curtain. A man uncensored and unvarnished, away from the videos and the artifice, the control and the spin.

Prime at the table became Deion on the witness stand, the one from the tell-all books and magazine stories, usually out of Texas, where bridges burned. Yelling at everyone. Yelling at no one.

“I’m not doing anything with CBS. Next question,” Sanders said after KCNC reporter Eric Christensen introduced himself.

“It ain’t got nothing to do with you. It’s above that. It ain’t got nothing to do with you. I’ve got love for you; I appreciate and respect you. It ain’t got nothing to do with you. They know what they did.”

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Christensen, like the rest of us, was flabbergasted. Largely because he hadn’t done a blasted thing.

“You are who you are. CBS is CBS, all right?”


It’s not. He’s not.

“I’m looking you in the eye as a man. I respect you,” Sanders continued. “I’ve got love for you. But what they did was foul.”

Christensen had nothing to do with any of it, guilty only of brand association. And a bonkers association at that.

Prime even got chippy about semantics. “Bolstered” versus “improved.” “Chemistry.” A few minutes later, the microphone went to me, and Deposition Deion pounced again. I’ve taken my swings at the pinata. Friday was Prime’s turn, and he didn’t miss. I had it coming, as the old song from “Chicago” goes. That’s fine.

But Christensen? Channel 4? A media partner? The station that outbid its peers to host Prime’s local coach’s show?

This was another side of Deion we’d heard about but hadn’t really seen yet: Biting one of the hands that actually pays him.

This was Desperate Deion, a man who stared into the future and saw 5-7 staring back.

This was Nebraska Deion. As in, Deion from the Nebraska postgame news conference in Lincoln. After the Buffs drop another heartbreaker.

This was a side of Sanders the Front Range hadn’t seen before. A confident man who suddenly looked and acted and sounded … afraid.

Afraid of critics. Afraid of the truth. Afraid of bad news looming like a tsunami at its crest.

It was as if Deion had been visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future. As if November Deion had stepped out of a time machine in the hallway and grabbed August Deion just before he walked into the Touchdown Club, handing the latter a game book from Oklahoma State.

Folks who’ve dealt with the Sanders team in the past have pointed out that Coach Prime, like all powerful men, pays people to make inconvenient things go away. Well, he can’t make a forgiving, occasionally fawning and comparatively docile press corps go away. He can’t make on-record and anonymous comments by former players and former staffers, real or imagined, go away. He can’t make the paper trail from his or his family’s past legal scraps, including allegations against Shilo, go away.

So he snaps.

He can’t hide the fact that CU, which hired him with the sheer and utter desperation of a lonely nerd on prom night, conducted a lousy vetting process, hoping that a lifetime celebrity wouldn’t come with a lifetime of skeletons in his closet, too.

Half the Power 5 schools and most of the NFL wouldn’t put up with The Prime Circus. The cameras. The contracts. The rules. The Buffs? They had no choice. Deion is the king of CU, El Caudillo del BoCo, the Emperor of Engineering Drive. Are you with me or against me?

Only once the train leaves the station, it doesn’t come with brakes. You ride that puppy out, full-speed. Until things go off the rails.

As Deposition Deion fired away Friday, sanity wobbled about the canvas and almost took a knee. It was easily the most bonkers news conference from a CU football coach since Nov. 13, 2018. Remember? Buffs boss Mike MacIntyre brought props to the Champions Center, whipping out a giant picture of a snow-drenched buffalo as the scribes’ collective jaws dropped.

“The buffalo is the only animal that walks into the storm. All the rest of them run,” said MacIntyre, who was skating on thin ice at the time. “If you walk into the storm, you get through it faster.”

Spoiler alert: The storm won. By a lot.

Four days later, Mac fell at home to Utah, 30-7. The morning after that, he was gone.

CU shouldn’t lose to scrappy North Dakota State on Aug. 29. I’ll say this, though: After Friday, Coach Prime sure as heck better not lose by 23. The storm’s an awfully cold, awfully lonely place if you’re 1-2. Media partners keep receipts, too.

 

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I saw the presser when he confronted the Keeler guy. Keeler wilted. The whole thing was dumb. Sanders is that idiot who acts like he has infinite wisdom to teach the entire room. Any room. He was even combative with the people who were there only to lob friendly pr.

But he ran fast. Really fast. What a genius. 

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On 8/22/2024 at 12:20 PM, Blotto said:

I'm not sure why so many list CSU as a probably win for CU. They played last year in boulder and CU needed a 98 yard drive (including a ~50 yd TD pass) plus the 2 pt conversion in the last 1:30 just to get to OT. This year the game is in Fort Collins, and from what little I have read re: CSU  in matchup articles about our game, CSU is predicted to be better this year. That seems like a tossup to me, if not a lean to CSU. 

CSU had 17 penalties for 200 yards in that game. Battle of coaching stupidity in it, on both sides, in so many respects. 

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I'm ambivalent on this one.  The optics are bad, for sure but the guy is a columnist, not a beat reporter- he doesn't need access to talk shit.  I don't see why they should have to give access to a guy who actively shits on them in such an over-the-top trollish way.  But, on the other hand, such a public comment about it makes you sound weak and petty.  I'd have just ignored him.

It'll be interesting to see how the real reporters respond.   

 

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47 minutes ago, TexasHooch said:

I'm ambivalent on this one.  The optics are bad, for sure but the guy is a columnist, not a beat reporter- he doesn't need access to talk shit.  I don't see why they should have to give access to a guy who actively shits on them in such an over-the-top trollish way.  But, on the other hand, such a public comment about it makes you sound weak and petty.  I'd have just ignored him.

It'll be interesting to see how the real reporters respond.   

 

It's dumb to reveal how hurt you are over a snide sports columnist. I wouldn't have been aware of the existence of a sports writer named Sean Keeler two weeks ago. Now I'm almost compelled to read every shitty article he's ever written about CU and Deion.

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3 hours ago, TexasHooch said:

I'm ambivalent on this one.  The optics are bad, for sure but the guy is a columnist, not a beat reporter- he doesn't need access to talk shit.  I don't see why they should have to give access to a guy who actively shits on them in such an over-the-top trollish way.  But, on the other hand, such a public comment about it makes you sound weak and petty.  I'd have just ignored him.

It'll be interesting to see how the real reporters respond.   

 

 

lol what part is over the top or trollish???

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6 minutes ago, Native Horn said:

Your razor-sharp with is on point.  Deion gonna flame out soon.

God I hope so. I do believe this is his last year before a slinks away and panders his bs to gullible people while avoiding the spoight for a year or 2. He's a charlatan, a Huckster. I hope he fails spectacularly. 

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His new column:

Quote

BOULDER — Football questions only today, kids. Since Deion Sanders doesn’t want mine, I chucked one at Dave Baldwin instead.

“I don’t think they’ll feel it’s their Super Bowl,” Baldwin, the former San Jose State coach, CSU and UNC offensive coordinator, said of North Dakota State, which visits CU on Thursday night to kick off the 2024 slate at Folsom Field.

“I really believe, in their hearts and minds, they feel they belong there and they can beat them.”

Lovely. Any advice for Coach Prime when it comes to rustling a herd of upset-minded Bison on the Front Range?

“It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, it’s a lifetime dream’ for them,” the Colorado native continued. “They believe they can win there. That’s the attitude they brought into our place.”

Ah, yes. Their place. Baldwin was calling plays at old Hughes Stadium for Jim McElwain and the Rams in September 2012.


Now this was a Rams roster, mind you, with at least six future NFL players, including Broncos fan fave and Super Bowl 50 champ Shaq Barrett; wideout Crockett Gillmore; and quarterback Garrett Grayson. As our best pal Steve Addazio used to say, the Rammies had some dudes.

Naturally, CSU scored on the third play of the game, a 69-yard touchdown toss from Grayson to Gillmore. Ex-Rams wideout Joe Hansley told me he remembered, after the celebration, thinking this was going to be easy. Almost too easy.


“Gillmore scored,” the Highlands Ranch product recalled, “and we sat down on the bench looking at each other and said, ‘We’re going to kick the (expletive) out of this team.'”

Yeah, turns out, not so much. The Bison scored 22 straight after that, shutting out CSU the rest of the way to steal a 15-point win.

“They started calling our (offensive) plays on the field,” Hansley said with a laugh. “(We) were more or less just embarrassed.”

Baldwin even remembered some “film exchange” shenanigans between McElwain and then-Bison coach Craig Bohl, who continued to torment the Rams with Wyoming until his retirement this past December.

“The Bison are not going to finesse you,” Baldwin said. “They’re going to smack you in the face and they’re going to hit you on defense … they’re going to play their style of defense, which was Tampa-2 at the time.

“And they’re going to play it over and over and over and play to every formation they can. And they’re going to be as physical for a small school as you’ve ever seen. They won’t back down with their physicality.”

Nothing travels like defense and the run game, and since 2010, NDSU is 6-1 against Power 4 teams, all on the road. The Bison led 28-24 two Septembers ago against Arizona in Tucson until Wildcats QB Jayden de Laura found Jacob Cowing with a 22-yard touchdown pass to escape with a 31-28 victory.

The Bison have a new coach in Tim Polasek, but the same shock-the-world mojo. NDSU doesn’t want you to see the herd coming until you’re between the hashmarks.

“They play that old-school brand of football, that they’re going to take it to the end (of the game),” Baldwin stressed. “They’re going to tackle well. They’re going to block really well. They’re not big-time talkers. They come to play football.

“They’re going to pound and hit you and play with such physicality. They feel they can slow down the tempo. And their thing is, they love getting into the fourth quarter with a chance.”

Meanwhile, of the 14 questions posed to Sanders at the Champions Center on Saturday, only four pertained to the Bison. And Coach Prime dismissed the idea of Week 1 being a “trap” game.

“I think who we are encourages (NDSU),” Sanders said of the Bison. “Everybody wants to beat us, and we want to beat everybody. So that encourages them tremendously. They know they’re on national television. They know the world is watching. I think we had four, five — maybe five scouts out there today, scouts out there every day watching practices. They see that kind of stuff. So regardless of who you place on the schedule. These guys want it.”

On this, Baldwin and Hansley agreed — they’re not sure if these Bison can run with the Buffs in Ralphie’s backyard. Even if two-way star Travis Hunter isn’t 100%, the future NFL draft pick is still 30-40% better than anybody in green and gold. Vandy transfer Will Sheppard is 6-foot-3 with high 4.4-ish wheels and the catch radius of a glider. LaJohntay Wester, formerly of FAU, is a Jimmy Horn Jr. clone.

“I know who they are,” Baldwin, who retired from coaching a few years ago, said of NDSU. “I don’t know who the heck CU is with all the changes they’ve made.

“Last year, talk was cheap and the actions on the field (meant more). (The Buffs) weren’t a very physical football team. Everybody says (CU is) much better on the offensive line. If that’s the case, with that quarterback (Shedeur Sanders) and those wide receivers, it could be very dynamic for them.”

Assuming he’s got time, mind you. As Baldwin and Hansley learned the hard way, when it comes to the Bison and big stages, assume at your peril.

 

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My oldest kid toured CU last week and the stupid guide wouldn't shut up about Deion ("Coach Prime"). He's definitely got a cult-like following there. 

We toured CU before Deion was hired and when we walked by the stadium, the guide said nobody goes to games.
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Not sure I trust the betting public on this one.

As the self proclaimed local NDSU “expert”, these NDSU teams since Klieman left aren’t exactly FBS slayers. It’s also the first game with a new head coach and the NDSU QB system ain’t exactly stable…one guy mainly for running and another for passing/running but his passing isn’t all great either.

Not the best OL/DL ndsu has ever had either. Only fallback I have in this game is primes CU teams aren’t world beater the media sure likes to claim they are. I’d bet CU wins, but I only bet on sports during surly bowl pick ems, surly March madness and my family fantasy football so I’m a bit of a pussy
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2 hours ago, Bevo&Pevo said:

Coach Whinetime has a game on Thursday this week.  Buffs are favored (today) over No Dakota State by 9.5.  This might be a fun game to see.  Bison might surprise 'em.

I was thinking that too but noticed that NDSU has a new head coach (previous one left to coach LBs at USC). 

NDSU certainly has the reputation of punching well above their weight in these games. 

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37 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Keeler drove me nuts when he wrote for the Des Moines Register back in the early aughts, but watching Prime lose his shit over that dork is incredible.

I think it completely reasonable to dislike a writer but still appreciate when those writings trigger a thin skinned narcissist.

Edited by BurntEyes
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1 hour ago, Murfdogg21 said:

image.thumb.jpeg.36031b9f48612f6c0ae2184baa329c55.jpeg

Neon Deion is part of why I fell in love with college football as a preteen. Two thirds of the earth is covered by water and Deion covered the rest.

Witnessing the emergence of FSU during that period was awesome. When I was in HS in the 90’s, they were absolutely an “it” school and Deion played a key role in that. Watching him more than back up all of his shit talking at FSU and the NFL only added to the mystique.

He only had 14 picks at FSU because, eventually, offensive game plans just said “fuck it, do not throw to that side of the field”.  The only other time I recall feeling like that was a thing was watching Woodson at Michigan. It wasn’t that you could get picked, it was that the entire game was about to go on tilt because they were taking you to the house. 

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I bet Deion gets fired before November and Shadeur sits out the rest "to preserve draft status". The other one may or may not go to jail

11 months ago I predicted Deion would be the next LSU coach. Life comes at you fast 

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I bet Deion gets fired before November and Shadeur sits out the rest "to preserve draft status". The other one may or may not go to jail
11 months ago I predicted Deion would be the next LSU coach. Life comes at you fast 

No one is hiring him after this. Not if he flames out and gets fired.
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He is not getting fired this year. Even with a bad season. He is bringing more attention to the Colorado program and school than anything has in the last 15 plus years. They will ride the train as long as they can. 

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On 8/26/2024 at 7:24 PM, ABSR said:

How does that make Deion feel?   Not so fast my friends.

Corso played in  college in early 1950s, which means he played both ways.

After an INT, Corso would stay on the field and QB the team. Did Prime play offense, too? /THunter

 

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