Photo by Monica McGhee
Tatyana Ross
Editor-in- Chief
Jackson State University’s Head Football Coach, Deion “Prime” Sanders, led the Tiger’s to a victory at the 2022 SWAC Championship on Dec. 3, 2022, and announced he was leaving his position on the university’s football team to the public the next day after only three seasons.
According to Clarion Ledger, Sanders signed a contract with Jackson State to remain the head coach for three years.
After accepting an offer of close to $30 million dollars from the University of Colorado to assume the role as head coach, Sanders will have to buyout the remainder of his contract with Jackson State for $300,000.
Prime’s departure started off as mere rumors and quickly became the trending topic for Jackson State fans.
According to a letter released by JSU Athletics Director Ashley Robinson, Prime energized and elevated Jackson State football and Jackson State University to unprecedented heights. He said he rebuilt the football program to be smart, tough, fast, and disciplined with character.
“Coach Prime’s impact during his JSU tenure goes far beyond his 27 wins and back-to-back SWAC Championships on the field, to the thousands who have been motivated and inspired by him simply saying ‘I Believe’,” the letter read in part.
Though the Athletics Department faculty may be supportive of Coach Prime’s move, there were several students and other fans of Jackson State football were not pleased with the announcement. Sanders has been faced with public scrutiny since making his decision to switch universities.
Seth Adams, a freshman business administration major from Jackson, Miss. stated that when he heard Coach Prime was leaving he felt hurt for the people who were looking up to him as inspiration.
“To be specific, the athletic football students seem to have a special bond with him. As for the regular students, I never heard or seen any impact physically,” Adams said. “I feel we did support him to a degree.”
There were some students that did not care that the head football coach was leaving. Jalen Lyons, a social work major from Chicago, Ill., revealed he did not care about the coach’s departure personally but he thinks Sanders positively impacted students as a whole.
Other students claimed to be grateful for the time that Prime spent with Jackson State. Kepatrick Thomas, a sophomore chemistry major from Great Falls, Mont., said he was appreciative and confused about the entire situation.
“Some football players came for Deion, now they’re having to hit the transfer portal and a lot of people have said it feels like a facade and he only went to JSU to bring attention to himself,” Thomas said.
Lyons had this to say about the success of the football team during Coach Prime’s time as head coach.
“He changed the way we view college football. Plus, he also helped us go to the Celebration Bowl back-to-back, something we might not see again next year,” Lyons said.
Other students on campus were shocked about the removal of Sanders’ hand painted image once displayed on a window of Campbell College Suites, a Jackson State women’s dormitory facing the Gibbs Green Plaza.
The front of the dormitory’s north side displays a variation of images hand painted by students of influential people that have been to Jackson State over the years on its windows.
Since the news of Sanders’ departure from Jackson State, his image was removed from its spot on the window leaving only an empty space. The image was removed by Adams, who originally thought removing it would be a good idea but some of his fellow students disagreed with his actions.
According to Adams, he was given permission to remove the image from Mary M. Robinson, the Residence Hall Director of Campbell College Suites. He also stated that Robinson mentioned that she has been wanting to remove all the paintings from the dormitory’s windows but she has not had time to remove them herself.
Other students have claimed that their biggest issue is that they feel Adams had no right to remove the painting.
“I felt that the removal of his image on Campbell North was justified because he is no longer a part of Jackson State.”
Adams said after realizing he upset so many of his peers, he released an official apology. In the apology, he apologized to anyone he offended with his actions.
Coach Prime has also faced a great deal of public scrutiny due to his decision to leave Jackson State. In an exclusive interview with Rob Jay, on WAPT News on Dec. 6,2022, Coach Prime said he perceives himself as too positive to respond to any negativity.
“Did I listen to them before I came? Did I listen to them while I was here? So you think I’m going to make time in my life to listen to negativity?” Prime asked. “I’m too positive. I’m too progressive to buy into nonsense. I’ve never had time for it and I’m not going to make time for it.”
Prime and his youngest son, JSU quarterback Shadeur Sanders, will not return to Jackson State for another season.
Jackson State’s students and other fans may never understand the reason behind Prime’s decision but they seem to agree this misfortune will not break their school spirit.
“I don’t think that his departure hinders Jackson State in any type of way because we will always be Jackson State without him,” Lyons said.
Adams agreed with Lyons.
“This had deeply affected everyone. But this is a time for us all to come together to make and keep change at JSU,” Adams said. “I love this school and we are Jackson State with or without him(Prime).”
