Coach Prime or “Primetime” Deion Sanders?… Same Thing.
Many critics have Coach Deion Sanders or “Coach Prime’s” recruiting techniques under significant ridicule due to his harsh delivery and what some perceive as a diva attitude. However I’d like to point out that those same attributes many are against and criticizing may not be as bizarre as the world sees them and in fact may be what attract the likes of high level or star recruits in the first place.
As the season concluded Coach Prime’s Colorado Buffs finished with an overall record of 4-8. Now that isn’t the greatest show out for a team that had the anticipation of Colorado’s prior to the season due to their acquisition of Coach Prime. However it is still an improvement compared to their overall record from the previous year, where they finished 1-11 under head coach Karl Dorrell. Due to this improvement of their win-loss record, it would be a sign of ignorance to declare that Coach Prime hasn’t proved himself worthy of the position but also displaying his knowledge of the game itself.
Ari Wasserman, a senior writer for The Athletic published an article titled “Deion Sanders’ poor recruiting results major issue for Colorado’s build” . In this article Wasserman makes a claim in regards to Coach Prime’s blunt honesty with his players and their value witin the team, “That’s treating players like commodities, and it’s a tough sell for future recruiting efforts, both in the high school ranks and in the portal.” Even though there may be some truth to this statement, it seems Wasserman may have a small amount of bias when it comes to Coach Prime and his team.
“Treating players like commodities.” In this statement Wasserman neglects to acknowledge the amount of pressure Coach Prime is under enduring as the world waits for him to turn yet another struggling program into a more feared and winning one. As stated earlier in my writing it only took Coach Prime roughly a year to turn Jackson St. into a winning football program. In order to do this Coach Prime bolstered his roster with many high rated recruits and as the season began, based on performance put better players in starting positions.
Now, on a Nationally Televised Division I level the world awaits Coach Prime’s triumph yet again. It is ridiculous to think that he would take his foot off the pedal, as a viewer you have to realize that Coach Prime’s main focus is to build his team and put them in the best position for them to succeed. Which means that if he feels as though the players on his roster aren’t meeting expectations he has the right to sit them or even suggest a transfer to another program with a system they may fit better in.
In the article Wasserman also brings into question the physical aspects of Prime’s recruiting. Wasserman states “Then it got me thinking: When was the last time you saw a picture of Sanders at a high school? Or doing an in-home visit?”. As we read we find that during recruitment of arguably Coach Prime’s best signing in his coaching career Travis Hunter who played for him at both Jackson State and now Colorado in fact did not include Prime visiting the High School for which Hunter played for. Instead this 5 star player’s recruitment consisted of something as minimal as a Facetime call.
When diving into Coach Prime’s recruiting techniques it’s evident that his reputation plays a huge factor in that not too many think of when commenting on the efficiency of his recruiting itself .
Wasserman claims “You may call that powerful recruiting, and it is. But that isn’t going to cut it when you’re trying to build a Power 5 program.” The issue with this statement is that if Coach Prime was able to attract and sign who was said to be the nations highest ranking recruit in the class of 2022 among other notable recruits to a low exposure and struggling program via a series of video calls and have success with the program. How could we possibly dismiss the idea of him having the same impact going into this next year after Colorado showing an improvement compared to previous seasons?
Later in the article Wasserman makes the claim “Eventually, though, Sanders is going to have to stop being a celebrity and start being a Power 5 football coach.” This statement stood out more than anything else I read before. For this statement I want to divert our attention to Deion Sanders’ legacy prior to coaching. Deion Sanders was a Hall of Fame, multisport, multipositional athlete who’s impact as well as success earned him the nickname “PrimeTime”.
As I stated before Deion Sanders’ legacy as an athlete is what makes him the iconic coach everybody has their eyes on as he enters his next year with The Buffs.
His legacy aids to what can be referred to as “celebrity endorsement”. Due to Deions success as an athlete, when coaching his players gain more exposure for playing under his leadership even are presented with the opportunity of meeting and possibly making connections with some of the world’s most popular celebrities. This interaction is described in “What it’s like to be recruited by Deion Sanders” an ESPN article by Staff Writer, Tom Vanhaaren. Vanhaaren recalls Colorado’s game against Colorado in early october.
“WHEN ADRIAN WALKER scheduled his unofficial visit to Colorado for the Week 3 game against Colorado State, he had no idea he’d be there with Lil Wayne, Master P, Offset and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. But that’s exactly where Walker and the other recruits on campus found themselves, in what is now the new norm with Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. It’s not just locker room tours and meetings with coaches, recruits are seeing a whole different pitch from Sanders and his staff.”
Coach Primes diva or celebrity status is an amazing element to what makes him a great recruiter. Essentially sweetening the deal for incoming recruits. After all, who shies away from the opportunity to have some of the worlds most influential and famed people come to see you play?
References
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38555810/how-deion-sanders-recruits
https://theathletic.com/5094370/2023/11/28/deion-sanders-colorado-recruiting-decommitment/#
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
You’ll have to copy this into a new Rebuttal Rewrite post for feedback and grading, HurtNowitzki.
I will not grade this post until you have created your Rebuttal Rewrite post, an identical copy of your Rebuttal Draft but in the Rebuttal Rewrite category. I have removed this post from the Grade Please category.