‘PRIME TIME’ SPOTLIGHT

Sanders may have chased the money, but he also may have saved the SWAC

Unfortunately, there is only one Deion “Prime Time” Sanders.

But HBCUs would be smart to take advantage of the avenue for advancement that he demonstrated in his stint at Jackson State.

I'm not talking about a blueprint, just a road on a map to a destination.

Three sources have confirmed that a former NFL superstar has expressed strong interest in coaching Texas Southern University's football team.

TSU would be foolish not to seriously consider it.

Sanders leaving Jackson State University to take the head coaching job at the University of Colorado is the most talked about upward move in college football history.

Every year, some 20 percent of major colleges hire a new head football coach. Dozens upon dozens of coaches move from one school to another to take promotions. Few are controversial.

A lateral move from say Oklahoma to the University of Southern California raises eyebrows, but Sanders' job change is different.

Barbershops, bars, churches, even national morning news shows have taken time to discuss this exit as if it is a moral issue rather than a sports or money matter.

The balling up of fists — clutching pearls or to bang keyboards in internet rants — has been jarring.

Sanders authored the greatest line in NFL draft history when he said on live television that if the Detroit Lions, perennial losers at the time (and now, too) had drafted him he “would've asked for so much money they would've had to put me on layaway.”

Prime Time wasn't the one for a long-term stint at a school where on occasion he had to pull up on a tractor and cut the grass on the practice field.

Not many would pass up a five-year contract with almost $6 million a year for a job that had averaged $350,000 a year.

That's just the cash. Facilities, infrastructure, conference affiliation, etc., etc., etc., all point to a job at CU being understandably more attractive to a football coach than one at Jackson State.

That Sanders' move is a no-brainer, hasn't shielded him from criticism.

Have these people never met or listened to Prime Time?

Sanders has never been shy about who he is and what he brings.

Plus, Sanders' departure shouldn't stop Jackson State from fielding a quality program.

Sanders is great at being Sanders, and he is one heck of a football coach. But if the only way Jackson State can be win at football is with Prime Time on the sidelines, then perhaps they don't need a football program. Back to TSU.

The Tigers' current head coach Clarence McKinney is a coaching lifer and he just led TSU to a very good season.

A loss in the season finale prevented the Tigers from posting their first winning season since 2000. TSU has won only one conference title since 1968, and that one was deleted from the books by NCAA rules violations.

McKinney has been an assistant coach at Texas A&M, the University of Houston and Arizona. He could have an unbeaten record at TSU and Colorado would not have come calling.

Messed up, but that is the reality.

HBCUs have played a crucial role in American history and sports history. But the limitations programs like TSU are under, make it far more difficult for McKinney to succeed long term.

Without top recruits, success has a cap on it. Without money and sponsors, top players will look for and find better situations.

Sanders' celebrity circumvented much of that.

Few coaches at the lower levels of college football are interviewed on “Good Morning America” after they are hired or featured on “60 Minutes” at midseason of Year 3.

Perhaps something similar could occur at TSU.

Celebrity isn't enough, of course. The guy has to be able to recruit AND coach.

That said, Sanders' suddenly much-criticized run at Jackson State could be a game-changer.

Money played a huge role in his move to Colorado. Duh. He released an R&B song back in the day called “Must Be The Money.”

In an episode that aired in October, Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” asked Sanders what he would do if a Power Five school came calling with a lucrative offer.

“Yes, I'm going to have to entertain it,” Sanders said. “Straight up. I would be a fool not to.”

But Sanders gave Jackson State something it could not have gotten out of another coach. Massive attention, new sponsors, major fundraising.

And he was all but volunteering.

Jackson State hooked Sanders up with a position he could not have gotten elsewhere.

HBCUs have often had to make do.

Sanders went about changing that at Jackson State. He showed the school what could be done.

A quality education in an environment that is more welcoming than those found at major state universities, with the right coach, HBCUs could lure more top-flight athletes than they have this century.

While coaches at schools with humongous budgets are celebrated for buying pizza for students who wait outside arenas for basketball tickets, Sanders sometimes mowed the grass and offered half his salary to finish locker room renovations.

Competition for the best players is intense. HBCUs are at an inherent disadvantage in many ways.

Because of his previous work, Sanders could afford to work for less to produce more. To donate salary to the program.

Charles Kelly, who Sanders hired this week as defensive coordinator on the new staff at Colorado, was the associate defensive coordinator and safeties coach at Alabama. He earned 2 ½ times the yearly salary as Sanders.

Sanders wasn't going to save SWAC football by turning down a job that will pay him 17 times more money than his previous employer.

But Sanders may have saved SWAC football by opening the door to others like him, who might be less inclined to chase the money.