Prime Time comes to Jackson State
JACKSON, Miss. – Prime Time came in under the bright lights. Not Friday night lights, but blaring blue and red lights.
Police escorts led the way as Deion Sanders entered Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center on Monday morning to be announced as the new Jackson State football coach.
Sanders gave a passionate speech, almost as if he were delivering a sermon. The gallery hooted and hollered as the longtime NFL star continued to ask them, “Do you believe?” “We believe!”
The excitement and electricity resonated throughout the building more and more as “Coach Prime” continued to deliver.
“We’re family now,” the Pro Football Hall of Famer said.
Sanders announced to the world late Sunday evening he would become the university’s 21st head coach, doing so through his new Barstool Sports podcast, “21st and Prime.”
Monday, Sanders was dressed in blue and sporting a Jackson State hat as he addressed a crowd spread out for social distancing, made smaller by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Leading the Tigers will be 53-year-old Sanders’ first coaching job at the collegiate level. He currently serves as the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian in Cedar Hill, Texas, where he intends to finish the season before fully taking control in Jackson.
“We’re going to win,” Sanders said. “We’re going to look good while we win . ... And we’re going to win professionally.”
Sanders’ hiring gives the state of Mississippi three high-profile coaches.
Lane Kiffin is starting his first season at Ole Miss while Mike Leach is doing the same at Mississippi State.
Neither, though, has the name recognition nor social media following of Sanders. For example, Kiffin has over 474,000 followers on Twitter. Leach has over 363,000.
Sanders has over 1.1 million. Jackson State owns 16 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships, 11 SWAC defensive players of the year, nine SWAC offensive players of the year, eight top 10 finishes in the FCS.
The program also produced six College Football Hall of Famers as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Lem Barney, Robert Brazile, Walter Payton and Jackie Slater.