"Old School At Heart": Rival Big 12 HC Compares Deion Sanders' Coaching Philosophy To His Own

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The Deion Sanders of today is vastly different from the ‘Prime Time’ who shook up the pros in the early 1990s. In his coach avatar, the Colorado head coach is more like a father figure to his student-athletes. He understands them and even goes out of his way to support them. But his coaching philosophy remains different from that of young head coaches in college football, something West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez identifies with.

“Well, he changed it when he was a player, because he kind of set the standard of a guy that everybody wanted to have to do that,” Rodriguez said at Big 12 Media Days when asked about how Coach Prime has impacted the college landscape. “What I appreciate about Deion Sanders is that he won at Jackson State, which was a hard place to win, and he did it his way. And he completely changed the culture immediately at Colorado when he got there. And he’s doing it his way.

“You might think there’s a lot of flash, whatever, but the clips I see of him, he [is] kind of, I want to say old school, because people call me old school. He believes in some of those same qualities about the discipline that you have to have, and how you prepare every day is going to be a big part of your program. And some of the clips that I’ve seen with him, if you want to call us old school, he and I are old school at heart, I think.”

At 63, Rodriguez embodies the same discipline Sanders practices. The character qualities of discipline, accountability, respect, and diligence define Coach Prime’s coaching philosophy. His players are the ones with firsthand experience dealing with him. Once, Sanders attributed his disinterest in coaching in the NFL to his old-school tendencies.

“I don’t have any desire or ambition to coach in the NFL,” Sanders told SI.com. “I have a problem with men getting their checks and not doing their jobs. I would be too tough as a coach in the NFL because I still have those old-school attributes.”

With his Colorado players, Sanders enforced a dress code and a strict fine system for violations. He mandated that his players sit in the front rows in class while banning hoodies, slides, and headphones. Interestingly, Sanders holds his children to even stricter standards. Once, he banned his son, Shilo, from playing in a SWAC Championship game for being late.

You hear Coach Prime talk, and you’ll get similar lessons that the likes of Urban Meyer and Nick Saban delivered to their players. While winning is, of course, important, something else is more important when you are leading a group of young players. Deion Sanders wants to transform his players into good people who can handle themselves in society.

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