It wasn’t until Deion Sanders was hired as the head football coach at Jackson State University in September of 2020 that the world got to know “Coach Prime.”
Coaching has been a part of Sanders’ makeup for a long time, however.
Now the head coach at Colorado, Sanders has watched his mother mentor children for years. When he played in the NFL, Sanders helped his teammates. And, he’s been coaching football for 15 years, since his youngest sons, Shedeur and Shilo, were in youth football.
Shedeur was 5 years old and Shilo was 7 when Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who also played Major League Baseball for a decade, took them to practice.
“I got an opportunity to try to sit down and watch and I couldn’t because it was being taught so recklessly,” Sanders, 55, said. “I like perfection, man, so I got up and helped. Got up again and helped. Next thing I know I’m helping coaching. I said, ‘If I’m gonna do it, I’m doing it my way.’”
Sanders started the Truth youth sports program for football, baseball, basketball, cheer and track. Shedeur, now 20, and Shilo, 22, have been with him throughout a coaching journey that included Prime Prep Academy, Triple A Academy, Trinity Christian School in Texas and then Jackson State.
In the past two years, Shedeur has been the starting quarterback at Jackson State, while Shilo played safety for the Tigers. Shedeur has already announced his transfer to CU and itap expected that Shilo will join his father in Boulder, as well. Both have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
The desire to mentor youth — and not just his own children — was instilled long ago.
“Yeah, I always have (enjoying working with youth),” said Sanders, who went 27-6 in three seasons at JSU. “This ain’t new. Itap something I saw my mother do. My mother has adopted probably seven foster kids and we have two right now thatap 17, 18 years old. Thatap who we’ve always been.”
Sanders’ mother, Connie Knight, laid the foundation for her son.
“I’ve seen the heart from my mother to make sure everyone ate, everyone had clothes on their back, make sure everyone was right,” he said. “I’ve seen that all the way through, so we’ve been doing this for a long time with youth in Texas and so forth. Everybody in the country over the last two and a half years, they’re just getting to know Coach Prime, but we’ve been this.
“I’ve always been that dude. I’ve always helped my teammates. I’ve always helped people. I’ve always assisted because thatap what I saw my mother doing as a young man. So, that has always been a part of my life.”
Former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci never coached Sanders, but has worked with him for years. The two coached together at the Under Armour All-American game for several years and worked together at the NFL Network for several years.
“He’s such a unique individual; I don’t need to tell you that,” Mariucci said. “He commands so much respect, not because he’s a generational talent that we really never see. … He’s so good with people. He’s so good with these kids and he’s got their best interest in mind that itap not about him. He cares that he helps them grow into young men. Really high priority for him. Yeah, he wants to win football games and he will, but he wants to help grow these kids up. If I were a parent and I had a kid that was considering college, I would love him to play for Deion Sanders.”
During his coaching career, Sanders has been able to mentor many young men — and some young women who work with his programs.
“Coaching is really about relationships and trust, dependability and being able to communicate and connect with that kid, that young man, and to understand who he is, what he is, how he is, and where he’s trying to go,” Sanders said. “Itap like a personal navigational system and itap my job to get him to the destination.”
Because of that, Sanders isn’t simply focused on the scoreboard. He’s extremely competitive, but said, “My win is different.”
“If I win games, and the graduation rate is not what it’ supposed to be, I didn’t win,” he said. “If I win games and the graduation rate is what itap supposed to be, but we’re running around in the community being foolish and kids are getting incarcerated and arrested, we didn’t win. The pregnancy rate on our team — I look at all that. … A win is comprised of the totality of a collection of things, man. Itap not just on the field games. Now, thatap what gets everyone’s attention. We’re gonna do that.”
Sanders also gets daily texts about the players’ academic progress. He’ll know the team GPA, how many are graduating and if a particular player might be struggling in science.
Knowing and caring about all of that has helped Sanders created a family atmosphere at Jackson State. That will be his goal at Colorado, too.
“We’re not gonna try. We’re gonna do it,” he said.
Throughout his coaching career, Sanders’ football family has included his sons. Shedeur and Shilo are done with college football in two years, however, while Sanders has a new five-year deal with CU. Will he have the same passion to coach when his sons graduate?
“Yeah, I’m not just here for them,” he said. “Itap a blessing to be here for them, but I’m here for kids. Not my kids.”
