ESPN personality slams Deion Sanders

Colorado won’t kick off its 2024 season until Thursday. But Deion Sanders is already dominating the headlines.

In advance of the Buffaloes’ Week 1 matchup against North Dakota State, Colorado made waves by banning The Denver Post ‘s Sean Keeler from asking Coach Prime questions , citing “a series of sustained, personal attacks.” Per the Post , Sanders has a clause in his contract that only requires him to speak with “mutually agreed upon media.”

Colorado’s ban of Keeler made for natural fodder on ESPN’s morning shows, as it led to the obvious question of whether college football’s most famous coach is equipped for such a spotlight. And on Monday’s episode of Get Up , it didn’t take long for Paul Finebaum to take the Hall of Fame cornerback to task for a decision that he viewed as not just hypocritical, but un-American.

“Coach Prime is showing he is not ready for prime time, Greeny,” Finebaum said. “I find this whole thing to be disgraceful. Deion may want to talk about love and joy and that’s been the cornerstone of what he seems to be spewing out. But treating reporters like this seems like we’re in some autocratic country. This is not America. And the fact that it’s in his contract is really even more absurd.

“But don’t forget he did this at Jackson State. This is a trait of Deion Sanders. He wants to have it his way and I find him to be a bully and a hypocrite. And quite frankly, as someone who has been a fan of his throughout his entire career, even at Colorado, I am mortified by his actions.”

Considering his experience as a columnist and television personality, it’s not surprising that Finebaum would take such a strong stance at the apparent attempt at censorship. Similarly, it was hardly shocking that Dan Orlovsky came to Coach Prime’s defense.

“For Paul, respectfully, to call him a bully and a hypocrite is ridiculous in my opinion,” the former NFL quarterback said. “I don’t mind the fact that he’s trying to control a little bit of the narrative, both him and the institution. We can sit here and say ‘because of the seat that you have, you just have to sit there and take it.’ But we also do live in a time where at some point, some of these people are allowed to stand up for themselves and not just constantly get dragged.

“And I don’t think he’s being a bully. He’s just saying, ‘hey, if this is going to be mainly what you do or only what you do in relation to me or the program, then we’re not going to have any type of interaction and you’re not going to be allowed.’ Because not everybody should get a seat when it comes to having opportunity to cover a program and/or their head coach.”

Obviously, the situation surrounding Sanders and Keeler is a complicated one.

While even Finebaum conceded that some of Keeler’s commentary — in which he referred to Sanders as a “false prophet,” Deposition Deion,” “Planet Prime” and the “Bruce Lee of B.S.” — likely went too far, the reality is that he’s not just a random troll on the internet; he’s a columnist at the state’s biggest paper. And banning him from asking Sanders — who is a highly compensated state employee — questions leads to natural concerns about a slippery slope regarding the freedom of the press.

As for Orlovsky’s assertion that Coach Prime has a right to defend himself, that’s obviously true; the question is whether he and the university overstepped their boundaries by banning a columnist/reporter from asking questions in doing so. While Finebaum and Orlovsky appear to obviously disagree on the answer to that question, both seemingly agreed (as did Mike Greenberg, Adam Schefter and Damien Woody) that Sanders drew even more attention to Keeler’s unflattering commentary than it would have otherwise received.

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