Whether Deion Sanders stays or leaves Colorado, his importance is immeasurable

BOULDER, Colo. — I spent two days in Colorado this week. Unlike previous trips to Boulder, this visit had nothing to do with the college’s head football coach, Deion Sanders, Prime’s irrepressible coach. I used to be on campus to seek advice from journalism students, student-athletes, sports administrators, and students within the Critical Sports Studies program.

Consistently, whatever the setting, the subject of Colorado football and the Prime Effect got here up. Despite all the good things which have happened on the university, the last two years have been dominated by Sanders.

I made several trips to Boulder last 12 months as a part of my fascination with the Sanders story. Chapters 1 and a couple of of this story cover Sanders’ first two high-profile seasons at Jackson State University, including his controversial departure to Colorado. Chapter 3 covered Sanders’ first season in Colorado, where he was tasked with rejuvenating a struggling football program that had finished 1-11 the season before his arrival. The team finished 4-8 in its first season, but Prime brought the energy back.

We are currently halfway through Chapter 4, through which Sanders has put the university community back on target to victory. Colorado finished the season 9-3 and got here near securing a spot within the Big 12 title game. The current excitement on campus is over which Colorado bowl game might be played: the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, the Holiday Bowl in San Diego or, most coveted, the Las Vegas Bowl in Sin City.

There are other issues on campus for the football program: Will two-way star Travis Hunter grow to be the second Buffalo to win the Heisman Trophy? Will Shedeur Sanders be the primary quarterback chosen within the 2025 NFL Draft?

By far the largest query on campus is whether Sanders will remain in Colorado for a 3rd season.

The urgency of answering yes depends upon which a part of the university you might be studying. For DaWon Baker, associate athletic director for diversity, equity and inclusion, Sanders’ importance goes beyond wins and losses.

Baker got here to Colorado from the University of Nebraska in May 2021. He has seen how Sanders’ presence has modified the culture and created an environment of diversity and inclusion. In some ways, Prime has made it easier to evangelise the gospel of inclusion.

“It gives me an example of what embracing diversity and inclusion can look like,” Baker said during an interview Wednesday.

Baker said attracting Sanders, a black man from southern Florida “who feels like he can really fully be who he is and embrace his individuality, his background, his culture,” Baker said took some inside work.

“It took a lot of internal work to provide an environment where he felt like he could be himself,” Baker said.

Baker’s job is to assist create that kind of environment throughout the athletics department and maybe beyond.

“Bringing in Deion Sanders and actually allowing him to do what he does not only changes our bottom line, it could change the structure of the university,” he said. “It’s changing who comes and who’s watching, it’s changing who wants to come to the games, who wants to visit Boulder and who potentially wants to go to school here. This change is something we can actually use to change the way we do things. If we’re going to invite people, we have to be willing to create an environment for them where they actually want to come here and stay here.”

For Baker, Sanders’ importance to the university is immeasurable.

“As a university, people knew what Colorado was, but they didn’t really have a reason to watch it or pay attention to it, whereas now they do, and there’s a lot of interest around it that he obviously played a huge role in,” he said.

Before Sanders arrived, there have been student-athletes just like Prime. “But we didn’t have leaders, coaches and administrators like Deion,” Baker said. “I feel like I might be myself because we gave the keys to someone who has no qualms about being himself. We have arguably the preferred coach in all of school football who preaches people being themselves and is unapologetically being themselves.

So will he stay or will he go?

On Wednesday, in what some might interpret as an indication that Sanders will stay put, the five-star quarterback Julian Lewis signed a contract with Colorado. Lewis is Sanders’ highest-ranking recruit since landing the winger Travis Hunter, the No. 2 prospect within the 2022 class, from Florida State and put him at Jackson State. Sanders also talked to reporters about his plans to enhance special teams, especially Colorado’s flawed kicking game.

While I actually have no word on whether Sanders will remain or leave Colorado, a few of those that speak to him often say Prime sees his ministry as mentoring young men and ladies toward success in life.

According to Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt, who said he spoke with Sanders and asked him point-blank if he planned to depart Colorado for the NFL, Klatt responded that Sanders said, “No,” and explained, “Because I don’t feel like I’m living out my calling.” and purpose if I were there.”

According to Klatt, Sanders said, “Listen, my calling is to influence and mentor young men. I occur to do that through coaching. I feel like I can do that higher at the school level than with a gaggle of pros who may or may not hearken to me due to amount of cash they’re paid.

Should Sanders stay or should he go? If I had a vote, I might vote for Sanders to remain in Colorado, within the tradition of the legendary African-American football coaches who played such a vital role within the lives of players who historically attended black colleges and universities. Many of those coaches remained in a single place for a long time. In many cases, they stayed because there weren’t many options outside of the Black college universe. Many were simply committed to identifying outstanding residents who happened to play football.

When segregation reigned supreme, tons of of NFL stars at HBCUs had the chance to play for legends similar to Jake Gaither, Eddie Robinson, Earl Banks, John Merritt, Marino Casem and plenty of others. Sanders has options, but he’s cut from that cloth.

Very few current black players within the NFL have had the experience of playing for an African-American coach in college. Today, a handful of players from Power 4 programs like Penn State (James Franklin), Michigan (Sherrone Moore), Syracuse (Fran Brown), Notre Dame (Marcus Freeman) and, in fact, Sanders, have experience playing for an African-American coach. These coaches may also help create a snug atmosphere through which players, and even black students on campus, might be themselves.

If Sanders were to stay in Colorado for an additional decade, he would definitely create such a sustainable environment.

“I don’t think he’s been here long enough to have built the infrastructure for it,” Baker said. “But I think he’s been around long enough to show us what it means to accept what it takes to be good at football.”

Of course, there isn’t any certainty even when Sanders stays in Colorado. Familiarity breeds contempt, and winning programs ebb and flow. What happens when the shine fades, when the high bar Prime sets becomes the rule quite than the exception? What happens if too many star players get upset and leave?

These are questions for an additional day.

For an administrator like Baker, Sanders’ strength shows the institution how it may possibly achieve growth by embracing diversity and inclusion.

“If we really take diversity seriously and really allow people to be themselves, we can see this kind of growth in a lot of different areas,” Baker said. “Not just football.”