Deion Sanders

Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders was named the 28th full-time head football coach at the University of Colorado, athletic director Rick George announced Dec. 3, 2022.

Sanders, 55, joins the CU program from Jackson State University (Jackson, Miss.), where in three seasons the Tigers compiled a 27-5 record and won back-to-back Southwestern Athletic Conference championships competing on the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level; that mark includes an 11-2 record in 2021 and 12-0 record in 2022.

At Jackson State, Sanders achieved tremendous success on and off the field as a fierce advocate for additional exposure and a level playing field for all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Sanders brought national attention to HBCUs, pushing for opportunities to highlight its talent and the culture. In March 2022, Sanders held a Pro Day featuring athletes from four other schools in the state of Mississippi to provide a platform in front of 22 NFL teams and the Canadian Football League. In April 2022, Jackson State became the first HBCU to have its spring football game televised live nationally on ESPNU.

Sanders was named the 21st head coach in Jackson State history on Sept. 21, 2020, but had to wait to coach his first game until COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and several FCS schools opted to play a delayed schedule in the spring. Exactly six months to the day later (Feb. 21, 2021), he led the Tigers to a 53-0 win over Edward Waters (Fla.) to begin the “Coach Prime Era.” It was considered the touch point of the elevation of JSU football and the University into becoming one of the most impactful and recognizable brands nationwide.

JSU was 4-3 in the pandemic-delayed 2020 season before rolling to an 11-2 record in 2021, winning the SWAC title with a 27-10 win over Prairie View A&M in the title game. The Tigers lost to South Carolina State in the Celebration Bowl; otherwise their only other loss over his last 25 games was a 12-7 setback at FBS Louisiana-Monroe in Sept. ‘21.

Seven of his players on the 2021 JSU roster earned a professional opportunity in the NFL, CFL or USFL, including James Houston IV, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Lions. He also signed cornerback Travis Hunter, considered the top high school prospect in the nation, to an NLI in December 2021, the highest ranked prospect to ever sign with an HBCU or an FCS program.

Sanders was voted the SWAC’s Coach of the Year for a second straight season in 2022; 12 of his players earned some level of All-SWAC honors. For the 2021 campaign, he also garnered honors for the FCS Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year, BOXTOTOW National Coach of the Year and Black College Hall of Fame Coach of the Year.

Prior to joining the collegiate coaching ranks at Jackson State, Sanders had been involved in coaching for over a decade. He was the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School (Cedar Hill, Texas), leading the Tigers to three straight Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) titles and a 42-3 record. He also has also been part of the coaching staff for the annual Under Armour All-America Game since 2012. In February 2022, Sanders was named as an HBCU legacy coach for the NFL Pro Bowl.

Sanders is the only athlete ever to play in both a Super Bowl (twice) and the World Series.

He appeared in 188 regular season games (157 starts) in the National Football League with five teams: Atlanta (1989-93; the Falcons selected him as the fifth overall pick in the first round in the ’89 Draft), San Francisco (1994), Dallas (1995-99), Washington (2000) and Baltimore (2004-05). He was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year for 1994, was named to its 1990s All-Decade Team and to the NFL's All-Time Team in 2020, the latter as part of the league's 100th season celebration.

“Prime Time” made 53 interceptions over the course of his career, with 512 tackles, 19 forced fumbles and 13 recoveries. He amassed 7,838 all-purpose yards, primarily through returns (2,199 punt, 3,523 kickoff). He also caught 60 passes for 784 yards and three touchdowns in spot duty as a wide receiver throughout his career, as in 1996, he became just one of two two-way starters in the NFL since the platoon days of the 1950s. He set an NFL record with 19 career touchdowns on returns, nine coming via interception returns with six on punts, three on kickoffs and one fumble runback.

He appeared in 12 postseason games, making five more interceptions, and won Super Bowl rings back-to-back with the 49ers and Cowboys. He had three tackles and an interception in San Francisco’s win over San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX, and a reception for 47 yards in the victory against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XXX. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in its 2011 class, recognizing a 14-year NFL career which saw him be an All-Pro selection nine times and play in eight Pro Bowls.

In Major League Baseball, he was drafted out of high school in the sixth round of the 1985 draft by the Kansas City Royals, but opted to play college football. He was then selected in the ‘88 draft by the New York Yankees and made his MLB debut on May 31, 1989 with the club and was on the Yankees’ opening day roster in 1990.

Sanders played a total of 11 seasons in professional baseball, nine in the major leagues with the New York Yankees (1989-90), Atlanta (1991-94), Cincinnati (1994-95, 1997, 2001) and San Francisco (1995). In 641 major league games, he owned a career batting average of .263 (558 hits in 2,123 at bats), scoring 308 runs with 39 home runs, 168 runs batted in and 1986 stolen bases.

In the 1992 World Series, when Toronto bested Atlanta four games to two, Sanders appeared in four games, batting .533 (8-of-15), with four runs scored and five stolen bases.

Sanders retired from baseball in 2001 and after not playing in the NFL from 2001-03, came out of his first retirement and to play those two additional seasons with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004-05.

He began a broadcasting career in 2001, co-hosting NFL Today, the CBS pregame show; he was on that set for three years. He then spent 14 years at the NFL Network as an analyst and appearing on shows like GameDay Prime and Thursday Night Football.

Success – both on the field and in the classroom—has always been at the forefront for Sanders. After his retirement as a professional athlete in 2006, he founded TRUTH, a youth organization service over 1,100 kids throughout the Dallas and Memphis communities, utilizing education as a platform for success and leadership.

Following through on a long-standing personal goal, Sanders graduated from Talladega College in 2020 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Organizational Management.

Sanders is the proud father of five children: sons Deion Jr., Shilo, and Shedeur, and daughters Deiondra and Shelomi. Shilo (redshirt sophomore safety) and Shedeur (sophomore quarterback) both played for Sanders at Jackson State, while Deion Jr. oversaw the social media engagement. His youngest, Shelomi is a true freshman guard on the women’s basketball team at Jackson State.

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