Deion offers new take on leaving

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders told The Pivot Podcast that resources wasn’t the only the reason he left Jackson State.

“It was the ideology, the thought process, the forward thinking,” Sanders told hosts Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor and Ryan Clark on March 7. “It was meeting me at the crossroad. That’s what was involved in that.”

The Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback coached Jackson State for three years. He became a hot commodity in 2022 after leading JSU to an unbeaten regular season. The Tigers won the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship again and played in the Cricket Celebration Bowl, losing to North Carolina Central 41-34 in overtime.

Sanders’ main concern during his tenure at Jackson State was the stability of his assistant coaches and support staff. He was concerned about the business model of HBCUs and how they operated. That was one of the reasons he felt going to a Power Five school would benefit not only him but his staff.

“And sooner or later you have to look in the mirror and say, are they going to get there?” he said. “Do they even want to get there? And I had to ask those questions and really be honest with them, with me and myself as well as my staff. The Bible says, ‘Thy rod and thy staff comfort me.’ They can’t be comforted making $60,000 the rest of their lives, or $70,000. Not that that is bad. For everybody making $50,000-$60,000, I apologize. I don’t mean to demean you. But as a college football coach, that’s not good and we have to do better than that.”

He also said leaving JSU was never about finances. He was there because it was a calling.

Sanders said he heard the voice of God when he was at a restaurant with assistant coach Andre Hart. Sanders told Hart, who would later join him at Colorado, “It’s time dog.”

Sanders then called Colorado AD Rick George and said, “I’m coming.”