CU Buffs and Coach Prime are a Match Made In Heaven
When I was a little girl, one of my favorite things to do was to watch Ralphie run onto the field during home games at Folsom Field. It was the coolest thing ever to a little kid and I loved everything about football season. For more years than I can count, CU was always part of local and national football conversations more often than not as a competitive team that people respected. I’m not sure when it happened, but CU’s star started to wain. We heard less about the CU football program and more about one of the many professional teams in town.
* In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please read my disclosure here.*
Then, last spring, seemingly almost out of the blue we learned that Coach Prime aka Deion Sanders had been recruited to coach CU’s football team. A team that was struggling and whose only noteworthy mention was that we kept loosing. It is a few minutes after CU’s first regular season game in the heart of Texas against Texas Christian University (TCU) and CU, inexplicably, incredibly won against a team that played last year for a national title. Georgia won that game decisively. It seems like the CU Buffs and Coach Prime are a match made in Heaven. Will the team continue to win or is this a fluke? I have some thoughts. This isn’t just a conversation about sports.
Listen to the Episode
Cowtown Denver
Show Notes
Welcome to Square State Colorado, I’m your host Michelle Jackson. Square State Colorado is a space to highlight, uplift and share Colorado spaces, businesses, initiatives and more.
For the past couple of years I have been fascinated by some of the big moves in the Colorado sports space. The Denver Broncos recruited Russell Wilson to great fan fare and so far…that partnership hasn’t turned out as well as we thought it would. The Denver Nuggets won the NBA Championship in 2023, haters gonna hate, and Deion Sanders was recruited to coach at CU Boulder. His decision to move from an HBCU to a school that is the antithesis of an HBCU angered and disappointed many. I don’t want to touch on that controversy because I don’t know enough about the entire story. Instead, I’ll share my view as a Black Coloradan who grew up in the Boulder and Denver and some thoughts that I had as I watched this all unfold.
Coach Prime had Culture Shock
When he first arrived it was easy to tell that he was dealing with some culture shock. I remember how he would keep tweeting about places to eat in Boulder. I kept thinking to myself-feed this man, he sounds like he’s starving. I’m pretty sure that I even recommend (via Twitter) that he hire a chef because he had chef money.
Moving from the South to Boulder, Colorado as a Black man just seemed like a really challenging move-but, he was definitely up for it. As he began recruiting student athletes into the program-I began to worry about how they would adjust to living in Boulder and some of the downsides of being Black in that town.
There’s a reason why I prefer living in Denver.
In fact, I’ve heard of at least one athlete who regularly comes to Denver so that he can eat at a Soul food restaurant and experience community.
Insuring CU Student Athlete Success
I am a huge fan of the City Cast Denver podcast. In a recent episode they talked about some changes related to eligibility and loosening of standards as it relates to being eligible and transferring to CU. It frustrates me that the implication (this was unintentional) would be that these students might not be up to the academic rigor of attending CU. However, there’s the very real behind the scenes conversation that I think about which is-how are these student athletes being helped and supported for academic success? I’m 100% convinced that there is a plan for this, I’m just wondering what it is.
Why Deion Had to Win
The man uprooted his entire family and literally staked his reputation on being able to revive (to some degree) the CU Football program. I even remember thinking that he was pretty ballsy for putting his son in the head QB position. The school paid him A LOT of money for results but I realized a couple of things after Saturday’s incredible 45-42 win over TCU.
- CU’s wins are a way to highlight Shedeur Sanders on a national level-I saw fans talking about the Heisman Trophy. And give that he had a record breaking day during the first game-they might be right to begin this type of speculation.
- Did people forget that Shilo Sanders is also on the field and had an incredible day as well? He made 10 freaking tackles during the game.
- Let’s not forget how well Travis Hunter played…
- Coach Prime risked a lot when he made this move and losing (too much) was not an option.
- I’m speculating that Deion will coach the team for 3 years-with the goal of getting to a Bowl and hopefully win. The man will eventually be driven crazy by the cold and lack of deeply rooted African American community and spaces that he’s used to.
If I had negotiated a contract with him I would have also added a bonus for a bowl appearance, plus a bonus if they won a championship. Then, as most coaches would, he’ll likely transition to the NFL (maybe where his son is at) and I wouldn’t be mad at him for it.
The Importance of HBCU Student Athletes to CU’s Future Success
It’s not lost on me that a number of the student athletes that Deion recruited previously played for an HBCU (Historically Black College or University). These students learned teamwork, a deeper sense of self and had opportunities to shine unique to the HBCU educational community. They are also incredible athletes who are more than capable of competing in any Division-as was seen during the game.
The fact that they had the skills to kick TCU’s ass didn’t happen when they began working with Coach Prime-those skills were developed well before they ended up here. Those skills were honed during high school and college-at the HBCU’s that they attended prior to transferring to CU. Coach Prime was then able to coach these students to more success once they arrived here.
But…
I also think about how we do something. While no one expected Coach Prime to stay at Jackson State University forever…perhaps he could have left with some more grace. That is a life skill that all of us must learn.
That said…
CU Football Is Exciting Again
I was on Twitter following fan reactions to the game. The fans are so happy as am I. But in all of this is the beginning of his coaching story which is the opportunity that he was given to shine with Jackson State University. When he leaves CU and of course he eventually will, I hope that he will take some lessons learned from how he departed Jackson State University. Regardless, I’m so excited about the next couple of years of CU Football and if you’re a fan of CU-you should be too.