In defense of Coach Prime; Freedom means freedom to choose
Deion Sanders had every right to leave Jackson State for head coach opportunity at University of Colorado
Issue #195 OpEd December 12, 2022
OK, let’s get this out of the way first; I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, but I did not attend the University of Colorado (CU). I did not attend a historically Black college either. On top of that, I don’t follow college football at all and barely follow pro sports of any kind.
So if this were just a sports story, I wouldn’t touch it. Because I freely admit that I have no background whatsoever as a sports reporter or as anyone with any credentials related to sports coverage.
But all this controversy surrounding one man’s decision to leave one college coaching position for a (much) better opportunity somewhere else makes this story about much more than just sports. This is about race, and I know a little something about race issues. But more specifically, this is about how sometimes - just sometimes - we as Black people can be our own worst enemies. And no, this isn’t side-stepping the crushing burden of white racism or letting white folks off the hook.
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But sometimes? Sometimes, man, we really need to chill and reflect a bit before we start making accusations and criticisms that I would argue are completely misplaced.
By now, some of you may already be pissed. That’s OK. But hear me out.
So I’m guessing at least a few of you - and probably more than that - have been following the hater storm swirling around Deion Sanders (known as Coach Prime) now that he has announced his decision to leave his position as head coach at Jackson State University, where by all accounts he was tremendously successful and completely turned that program around, benefiting not only the football program but the entire school. Jackson State University is an HBCU - Historically Black College/University.
Sanders is leaving Jackson State University to become the head coach at the University of Colorado, a Power 5 school with a terrible 1-11 win-loss record for the 2022 season. CU is, well, not exactly an HBCU. CU is white. And although they have long complained about their inability to attract more Black students and become more diverse, a very close friend of mine who is a CU alum pointed out to me that CU has hardly done more than complain without mounting anything resembling an effective outreach campaign.
So you can probably see where this is going; Sanders - once known as Neon Deion during his pro-football days - is a legendary player who became one of the few who figured out how to leverage his abilities to transcend the game, and thereby extend his viability. In short, he learned how to make sure he wasn’t going to be one of those busted-up players who earned 5-10 glory years on the field before spending the rest of his life recuperating from injuries while trying to find someone to hire him.
Deion leveraged his remarkable abilities as an athlete, a coach, and a self-promotional/marketing juggernaut to raise up Jackson State’s program to a level it never would have reached without Coach Prime. No one - not even the haters - disputes this. Hell, even the Jackson State players themselves are happy for Coach Prime and wish him the best.
”I don’t understand why people don’t see the positive,” senior defensive back Isaiah Bolden said in an interview with Complex. “Coach Prime came out of his pocket to build a great HBCU locker room… He did what he said he was going to do. He put HBCUs on the map in my opinion.”
And yet, what the Prime Haters want is for Deion to stay put at Jackson State, where his salary was less than one-tenth of what he was offered at CU. At Jackson State, he was making $300,000 a year per his contract. Which isn’t bad for someone like me who has a good job but will never in life get anywhere near that salary. But for college ball coaching? Outside of HBCUs, it ain’t much. HBCUs simply can’t afford to pay more. But CU was able to offer Sanders a five-year contract worth $29.5 million, which equals $5.9 million a year.
Is it just me? Is there anything else worth mentioning here that isn’t obvious explaining why Sanders took the offer? My mother used to say that money isn’t everything, but it beats whatever’s in second place. Another saying is that whoever said money isn’t everything already has it.
But here is what this really boils down to. Deion Sanders was offered a better opportunity, and he took it. Just like any other coach who was making less than one-tenth of what he was actually worth would have done. But because he’s Black, there are those among us who believe that he actually should have snubbed this opportunity and stayed at predominantly Black Jackson State where he was needed. Let the white folks make all that money, Deion. Your duty to the race and the struggle is to be here.
And I get race loyalty. I do. I really do. Despite how snarky I probably sound right now. But my question is this: wasn’t the civil rights struggle a struggle for equal opportunity? Wasn’t that at least a part of it? Yes?
So then why are we getting mad when one of our best and brightest takes advantage of that opportunity? Especially when a large part of why that opportunity came his way was because of how he excelled at uplifting the program at Jackson State. Didn’t he commit himself specifically to making things better for an HBCU, to the point where he even spent money out of his own pocket?
Here’s the thing about freedom; either you are or you aren’t. Either you’re free to choose and pursue the life/love/employment opportunities you want or you’re not. Does that mean we as Black people should bypass opportunities to uplift one another whenever helping someone else interrupts our individual pursuit of getting rich? Of course it doesn’t mean that. Because with freedom comes responsibility, and part of that responsibility should be to help others and to make sure that door that was opened for you stays open behind you.
But once those doors have been opened, can’t we at least be glad when one of us walks through?
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