When stepping into a head position or high valued role in an organization, the mindset going into it nine times out of ten is to implement your own ideas in hopes to improve from what your predecessor has built. Above all else you definitely don’t want to make things worse than they were before you were appointed to the position. Nevertheless under your newly acquired leadership typically you want to drive the organization to new heights making your mark essentially building a “winning culture”.
We’ll be taking a look into The Jackson St. Tigers (2020-22) and The Colorado Buffs (current). 2 Collegiate football teams that have undergone successful changes in leadership and in turn built a winning culture. It’s safe to say that not only building but maintaining a “winning culture” is a high priority in just about any level of athletics. Proper coaching is a big part of building this culture. An area of coaching that is held high in collegiate football is recruitment, after all you need quality players to make quality plays on and off the field in efforts to move towards this winning culture .
NFL legend and current Head Coach of the Colorado Buffs Football Team, Deion Sanders seems to understand the formula to a science. Winning culture is defined as “a culture that sets the stage for positive attitudes, high expectations, and successful performances.”(Jamail, 1) Coach Deion Sanders or “Coach Prime” throughout the past 4 years has displayed his understanding of building a winning culture with emphasis on recruiting. Deion Sanders to this date has now been head coach of both of the aforementioned teams who prior to his arrival had little to no success.
From one organization to the next, one steady element of Coach Prime’s success is his ability to attract and secure some of the highest rated recruits. Coach Prime started his collegiate coaching career at Jackson St. University an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision team. Before Coach Prime’s arrival the team had finished their previous season with a record of 5-5 and the year prior a record of 8-12.
Now those numbers aren’t necessarily abysmal but when you take a look at the seasons Coach Prime was able to have with the program in just a few years it may help move you in a better understanding of what his impact amounted to.
“In Fall 2021, Sanders led Jackson State back to championship glory with a school-record 11-win season and the first Southwestern Athletic Conference football championship since 2007. JSU went undefeated in conference play (8-0) and won nine consecutive games to complete the regular season en route to the SWAC Championship and the program’s first-ever berth in the Celebration Bowl.” (JSU Page, 1)
Coach Prime’s first year had an immediate impact with recruiting. After the impressive first year Sanders had already began drawing attention to the program. Due to this acquired attention it aided recruitment which eventually led to Jackson St. scoring many notable athlete commitments from athletes that had many offers other than Jackson St. but one that stood out above the others was the commitment of arguably of the highest rated recruit in the nation in athlete “Travis Hunter”. Hunter who had a multitude of offers from higher level Division I schools chose to play under Coach Prime because of the impact he’s had on the program and his players.
Coach Prime’s impact was displayed on and off the field. So much so that, even just as much as the fact that his name was attached to a subdivision DI college football team even their viewership per game drastically improved. “With viewership for the first two games surpassing more than 200,000 online views on ESPN3, the power of Coach Prime and JSU transformed the network and led to the final four contested games of the spring season televised on linear television on ESPN or ESPN2 as JSU posted a 4-3 record.” (JSU Page, 1) Coach Prime’s reputation which dates all the way back to his legendary football career to sports analyst is a heavy benefit for overlooked teams when his name is attached to them. This increased viewership and the team’s success eventually leads to more players wanting to play under Coach Prime and also setting up his players with more exposure to get them to the next level.
While at Jackson St. due to his quick success and ability to change the culture of the program from a “underground” level program to a now more *exposed*, winning, and respected program Coach Prime was presented with many awards. Some of which include “SWAC Coach of the year” and “Black College Hall of Fame Coach Of the Year in 2021” amongst many other awards he received during his time with the program. Coach Prime’s understanding of flipping the culture of an organization was in full effect and he and his team were feeding the world with as much evidence as they desired.
After 3 years with Jackson St. Coach Prime decided to take his skillset to the next level of collegiate football. Sanders was hired at The University of Colorado which at the time raised many eyebrows and even infuriated some. The world’s initial reaction contained questions such as “If his intent was to provide HBCU football programs with more exposure why would he leave?” and “Why would he choose Colorado, they have been one of the worst teams in college football for years”. This criticism didn’t phase Coach Prime, he went into Colorado with the same mission as he did with Jackson St. but now on a higher level.This Colorado team finished last season with a painful overall record of 1-11 and the season prior to that an overall record of 4-8.
Within the first few weeks of his arrival Coach Prime had already started changing the program inside and out. Changing the standards of his player’s etiquette on and off the field. To the numerous questions Coach Prime would receive about him taking on the task of yet another underperforming team his most common response was “We Coming.”. The mentality of no matter what the public may see or think about this team he and they will show the world just how great they are.
With Coach Primes arrival he also displayed his recruitment skills again, bringing multiple players from his former team as well as freshly recruited athletes along with him to help revive this struggling program.
It should also be noted that Sanders happened to recruit the nation’s top-ranked transfer class as it plays a final season in the Pac-12 before moving to the Big 12 in 2024. That’s what can lead to winning big.”The haul includes nine scholarship players who played for Sanders at Jackson State, most notably son Shedeur, the quarterback, and two-way star Travis Hunter, who was the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruit in 2022. Cornerbacks Omarion Cooper and Travis Jay transferred from Florida State, while receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. (South Florida) and running back Alton McCaskill (Houston) are others considered premium talent.” (Bell, 1)
References
https://gojsutigers.com/sports/football/roster/coaches/deion-sanders/219
Bell, Jarrett. (2023). “Behind the scenes before Deion’s debut.” USA Today https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA762976253&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=07347456&p=AONE&sw=w&aty=ip&enforceAuth=true&oweAuth=true&userGroupName=rowan&u=rowan
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
I have so much advice to offer that would have been easier in conference than here in text, HurtNowitzki, but I’ll share the distilled version the best I can.
Just so you know, my conversational advice can be polite whereas typing takes longer to say the same thing, so I tend to edit out the politeness and get to the point. Sorry if it comes off harsh.
I just lost 30 minutes worth of notes to a random keystroke. I’m sure you know how that feels. Now I have to be even more blunt and less polite. Here goes:
—Your introduction creates zero urgency.
—We will not read your 2nd paragraph unless you command our attention.
—That lovely italic section at the bottom of your argument demonstrates pretty convincingly
—Consider sharing those details of the historically-successful recruiting class RIGHT AT THE TOP of your argument.
—Instead of wasteful, wimpy claims about an abstract concept like “winning culture,” (which, by the way, you still don’t even start to define until several paragraphs in) you could SHOW the outcome of whatever Deion is doing as a coach in his SECOND POSITION.
—Clearly, he did not get a class like that at his first job.
—But whatever he did at the first job was successful enough to get him his second job.
—And whatever he’s doing at his new job has netted him a raucous class of recruits.
—. . . and maybe THAT’S how you define a “winning culture.” Whatever Deion is doing attracts “winners.” Hence, the culture is a culture that attracts and supports winners. And so on.
Got it?
Show the results.
Claim that they must be a good example of “winning culture.”
Then use a timeline of events to show how Deion progressed from “green new rookie coach” to one who commands a big batch of players everybody wanted.
Provisionally graded. Revisions are always encouraged and Regrades are always possible. Put the post into Feedback Please if you elect to revise.