Nevaeh Bray
Staff Writer
After Jackson State’s 2022 Cricket Celebration Bowl loss against North Carolina Central, former head coach Deion “Prime” Sanders wasted no time clearing the air about his time at Jackson State University.
In an exclusive interview with Shannon Sharpe for his “Club Shay Shay” show, Sanders discussed his decision to sign on as head coach with the University of Colorado football team.
His decision to switch from an HBCU to a PWI left the many in the JSU community disheartened. Because of this, the former head coach has faced negative backlash regarding his decision.
“When people are hurt, they say things out of emotion and anger,” Coach Prime said during the interview. “I listen because when a person says stuff, that’s how they really feel.”
During the interview Sanders disclosed information about a conversation he had with the Athletic Director Ashley Robinson when he first took the job.
According to Sanders, after initially taking the job as JSU’s head football coach in 2021, Robinson asked him to stay at least two years. In three years, Sanders led the Tigers through a 27-5 record.
Sanders said in the interview with Sharpe that he was not surprised by the negative backlash he received from the public. He said ultimately, he would have received the same criticism regardless of how much time he chose to spend with the program.
“It wouldn’t have been enough,” Sanders stated. “[The fans] fell in love and I fell in love.”
However, Sharpe relayed that Sander’s commitment to Jackson State might be questioned by acknowledging that he sold Jackson State fans a dream and dropped out earlier than he was expected to stay.
The dream references Sander’s earlier comments that HBCU players deserved just as much attention to their talents, HBCU’s needed better facilities and more resources, and over all, the playing field needs to be leveled for HBCUs.
Flimeka Williams, a JSU alum and staunch supporter of the football team was very disappointed by Sanders’ decision to leave and the comments he has made since his departure.
“I felt the interview was full of propaganda and an attempt to make JSU look less desirable than Colorado,” said Williams. “I don’t feel like he needs to belittle us to make his decision go over better with the fans. Just leave.”
Shane Hooks, a senior journalism and media studies major and Jackson State football player from Miami, Fla., does not believe Coach Prime was wrong in his decision to leave.
“He gave them (JSU) more than what was asked of him,” Hooks said, “Deion had to do what was best for his family and that may not make sense to a lot of people.”
Kennedy Shaw, a psychology major from Memphis, Tenn., believes there was more that Prime could have done to uplift the athletic department as a whole while he was here.
“Deion did a disservice not only to Jackson State, but the entire HBCU community when he made the decision to leave to go to a PWI,” Shaw said. “He also took star players he recruited for Jackson State instead of encouraging them to stay and grow at a historically black college.”
Marcus Hereford, a Jackson State Alum and current coach for the women’s volleyball team had neutral thoughts on the departure of Coach Prime. The Jackson native believes that there was a lot of attention that was brought to our University thanks to Prime.
“There is no doubt that with Deion being at our school, we had many issues brought to light. At the same time, there is only so much a coach can do outside of the job he owes his team,” Hereford said. “I hope we can continue to grow as a university and not get stuck.”
Many Jackson State fans have resolved that the Prime era is over and are anticipating the next college football season with new Head Coach T.C. Taylor.
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