I have a friend who grew up in East Texas in Wills Point. He recalled last week that a fellow moved into Van Zandt County a few years ago and began a men’s Bible study shortly after. My friend’s dad joined the group and thoroughly enjoyed it. Deion Sanders was the man who came to the county and started the Bible study.
Deion Sanders’ name has been in the news a lot lately. It started three weeks ago when he took his Colorado Buffalos, a team that was 1-9 last year, to Ft. Worth to play the TCU Horned Frogs—a team that played for the National Championships. Colorado won. Who is this coach? Since then, every major newspaper (and a lot of non-major ones) has written about Deion. 60 Minutes did its second feature in a year on Coach Prime. I have to admit he has captured my attention as well. Even after Colorado got beaten badly yesterday by Oregon (a great team), I could not help but watch the coach’s news conference after the game. (You can see it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY-RSu6mqWQ) The coach offered no excuses, took his share of the blame, complimented the other team and coaches, and stood tall after the loss.
I like Coach Sanders and what he’s done for Colorado. Here are three reasons why…
1. He knows how to create a culture of excellence.
I am a sucker for winning. Deion did so at Jackson State. I was in that area (Mississippi) last year, and what struck me was how much he was a man of action. He seemed to be everywhere. One day, he was speaking to a civic club. The next day, he showed up unannounced at a children’s hospital to bring Jackson State merch and visit with the kids.
2. He is unafraid to lead.
Today’s NCAA allows for the players’ transfer portal. It also permits athletes to sell the rights to their Names, Images, and Likenesses (NIL), which offers college players the chance to receive a staggering income. You may not like it, but those are the rules. Deion showed his brilliance in taking advantage of the opportunities they afforded and thinking ahead to turn a 1-9 football team into a competitive one–stat.
There are critics, but that is okay. I suppose the first coach to use the press on the basketball court heard howls of protest. (That’s not fair!) Now, most teams press. I know the first team to exploit the forward pass in football–Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame team (when Rockne was a college player who played end) shook the college football world with their success. As I wrote earlier, Colorado won one game last season. They have already tripled that amount.
3. He is a good teammate.
I read an article in The Athletic last week. Its author had searched the country for former MLB teammates of Deion. Not a single former teammate had a negative thing to say about the man. Most testified to his qualities as an excellent teammate. His locker room personality was the opposite of his “Prime Time” -he was quiet and supportive.
Coach Sanders has taken his positive qualities and applied them to coaching. As a head coach, he asks his individual coaches a simple question before the season begins. “What do you need from me to offer this team your very best?” He then delivers. Now, he holds his coaches accountable.
In his about-to-be-released book Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men, Jean-Jacques Taylor writes about his interview with one of Deion’s assistant coaches at Jackson State. The coach told Taylor, “The first thing Coach [Sanders] asks you is what do need to succeed? He will then back off and let you do your job. But he will let you know if you don’t do your job. I have never been chewed out by a man like I was chewed out by Coach Sanders, and he never used a cuss word.”
As Taylor’s book title reveals, Deion Sanders considers coaching a calling from God. It’s an opportunity to help shape the lives of young men. They learn from his successes and failures (he wrote a book several years ago Power, Money and Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life.)
I wish Deion the best. And Prime Time is a lot of fun to watch.
Think about his story. Is there anything there that can make your work life better?