Ever since his arrival in Jackson State, Deion Sanders has put the Tigers’ football program on the map. With all of the attention that the team has garnered, you’d have to think that several big time college programs are clamoring at the opportunity to host Jackson State for a mid-season “get-right game,” if you will.
Think about it. Not only would they get to beat up on a far less talented team, but they’d also bring in quite the revenue at the same time, thanks to Jackson State’s sudden rise in popularity.
So it clearly makes sense for some of college football’s biggest programs to want a shot at this HBCU program…But will Deion Sanders allow it to happen?
On Friday’s edition of The Rich Eisen Show, Rich asked Deion that very question.
“Scheduling is also so important in college football. Do you intend to go knock on the doors, or basically want to go play some of the big time, if you will, blue blood college football programs?” Eisen asked. “I mean, you’re stationed right there in the SEC country. Is that the goal?”
Sanders was apparently having none of it, calling games against those big time programs, “a financial beatdown.” The Jackson State head coach went on to explain how those games are what he refers to as “the ultimate sell-out to children.”
“The goal is to dominate where you are, not win, but to dominate where you are. Then, you look towards down the line to scheduling some of those games. Right now, those games are a financial beatdown. That’s what I call them. That’s what some HBCUs choose to do. I’m going to go to these various schools, get my butt kicked, but I’m walking out of there with $750,000 or a million dollars. That’s not worth it to me. To me, that’s the ultimate sell out to children.
“I know I’m not going to win, I’m going to lose three or four players to injury and you’re going to humiliate my team and I’m going to have to build them back up the next week to play again. That doesn’t make any sense to me.”
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Here’s the interview:
Sanders has a great point. His job is to coach these young adults and team them about football and about life. Not to chase a payday, only to watch them get beat up by some FBS powerhouse.
Prime Time clearly has his players’ health and best interests in mind. It’s no wonder he’s able to steal the nation’s top recruit from his alma mater, Florida State.
Prime Time is doing things his way, and it seems to be working out quite well for the Pro Football Hall of Famer and the HBCU programs in general.
