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It’s time we had a serious talk about Coach Prime at Colorado
By David Wasson
Published:
A good friend of mine, who is worth hundreds of millions right now while I am out here pecking away at a keyboard for dimes, once issued the most unique commentary on a mutual friend who was getting way too big for his britches.
“I wish I could buy him for what he is worth, and sell him for what he thinks he’s worth.”
I was reminded of this axiom this past week when I witnessed the predictable and quickly tiring charade unfolding in Boulder, Colo. Shrewd college football investors in the world are rapidly taking a look at the clown show surrounding Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. and rating it lower than a junk bond.
The self-styled “Coach Prime” certainly has his share of fans, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus often packed their big top around the country with clowns, elephants and trapeze artists entertaining inside the three rings. But where many take issue with Sanders’ Buffaloes show is that it contains a tremendous amount of sizzle with only a few slivers of actual steak.
You gotta think Salt Bae himself drools over Colorado’s performance art. Because just like flexing one’s biceps while sprinkling rock salt over an overpriced steak, Sanders’ coaching effort in Boulder is more self-aggrandizing bluster than actual acumen.
The Wolf of the Rocky Mountains, Coach Prime could indeed sell you a pen simply by implying that you need it more than life itself. That same Jordan Belfort-esque verbal gymnastics has attracted plenty of talented football players to Colorado in the past 2 years – hoping that Sanders’ NFL bona fides rub off on them.
But therein lies the rub: For all the jib-jab that comes from Deion’s formidable mouth, Colorado simply isn’t very good – and hasn’t gotten much better than when Prime arrived with all that celebrated Louis Vuitton on Dec. 3, 2022. Shuffling more than half the team he inherited off into the portal before you could blink, Sanders set off an ambitious course to … well … do little more than create a mirage around his son Shedeur and two-way superstar Travis Hunter.
And much like a crafty magician or mentalist, we all fell for it at the start of 2023. Colorado shocked the previous year’s CFP finalist TCU in the season opener, and suddenly we were all talking about how Shedeur and Hunter might somehow hurt each other’s Heisman chances by both being so great. That vaulted Colorado into the Top 25 as the weakest No. 22-ranked team in modern history – and victories against a generationally week Nebraska team along with a 2-overtime survival against Colorado State just heaped more hype onto the melting-on-the-inside Sanders sundae.
Just like said sundae on a hot summer day, though, it all quickly melted away. The Buffs got drilled by Oregon the next week, and only won 1 more game all season en route to a 4-8 finish. In fairness, Prime inherited a program that won just 1 game the previous season and hadn’t won more than 4 games in a season since 2019. But the results didn’t meet the hype.
Undeterred by actual facts, Sanders simply doubled down heading into 2024 – reloading with even more fervor in the transfer portal ostensibly to upgrade an offensive line that was so porous that Shedeur was sacked more than any other QB in 2023 (52 times). Prime also decided he was just about done with the Denver-area media, too, taking exception to those who dared to be critical of his coaching performance with a combination of sermonizing and scolding.
That’s all fine and good, to punch back at the media – but only if you can actually back it up. Instead, the Buffaloes continued to be a two-man show in the 2024 opener. Shedeur Sanders threw for over 400 yards and Hunter caught 3 TDs along with playing a full game at defensive back, but Colorado was pushed to the absolute nub to FCS power North Dakota State at home before squeaking out a W.
The hits will likely keep on coming for Colorado, and it will only further expose Daddy Prime for what he is: a charlatan who could sell ice to Eskimos, but couldn’t actually coach himself out of a wet paper bag. Colorado surely didn’t hire Sanders thinking he could out-X and O his way to the top of the Big 12, but instead both see and enjoy the rewards of tickets sold to Folsom Field and the millions in merch gobbled up by impressionable kids who want to Be Like Prime. There is no denying Prime’s impact on that university and community.
Who knows when the carousel will eventually stop in Boulder, when the powers that be take heed of my man Flavor Flav and “don’t believe the hype” anymore around Coach Prime. Dollars to donuts that Deion ushers himself out of Colorado within minutes of hearing Shedeur and Hunter’s names called at April’s NFL Draft, so it could be a moot point before the situation gets too far out of hand.
No matter how you slice it, the curtain is up once again with the Colorado Buffaloes. Nuke some popcorn and enjoy the show for what it is … because odds are, it won’t last long with Coach Prime in the lead role.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
