Mind of Mike: Deion Should Step Away If He Can't Take the Heat

Deion Sanders was an amazing football player. He was one of the best. He was instant offense on special teams and when he picked the ball off, but he wasn’t known for being physical. In fact, some say he was soft. That’s debatable but I can tell you this — he’s soft as a football coach.

I know, I know. You think I hate Deion. You think I have it in for him. Some of you will call me a racist because that’s all the Deion cult can use to snap back. Deion is clearly not cut out to be a college football coach as he cuts corners, takes things personally and can’t hide his favoritism for his sons. The latest examples are just out of control.

At a media session this week, Deion shut down two media members. One was Sean Keeler from the Denver Post who has often been critical of Coach Prime . While it can be understandable to not want to talk to a reporter who has criticized you in the past, it’s also bush league, unprofessional and Charmin soft. Here’s the clip….

This one didn’t upset me that much as you can see by my tweet. I asked if this was the right way to handle things. Obviously the majority of the responses were against Prime and I agree. This isn’t how you do it. Every college coach fields questions from reporters who have criticized them. It happens over and over again. They might make a snide remark about it, sometimes they may even call the reporter out about it but they never refuse to answer questions. And if they do, it’s simply kindergarten behavior. I’ve been critical of many coaches over the years and worried a bit when I had to ask a question following an article that was perhaps a bit biting. And time and time again my question was answered with professionalism. Deion doesn’t do that.

This is the one that got me riled up….

I have no idea who the reporter is or his credentials but he’s from CBS Sports Colorado. Deion immediately shuts him down and says “they know what they did”. He makes it clear it has nothing to do with the local reporter but again he shuts him down and won’t answer because of his affiliation with CBS. Again, ridiculous and unprofessional.

What did CBS do to Deion? Who knows? Some say it’s an article about his son Shilo Sanders in regards to the lawsuit against him for assaulting a janitor. Some think it’s a simple pre-season Big 12 coaching ranking where he was second to last. However, CBS was good enough for Deion when he did his 60 Minutes interview to publicize himself (of course) and his new gig at Colorado. Or even the year before that when he was featured on 60 Minutes while at Jackson State.

Whatever it is they did, it was clearly an affront to his massive yet fragile ego or something he deemed inappropriate in regards to his kids. And that’s all cool, I get it. But not if you’re a head football coach in the Power Four. You can’t play Daddy Ball and you can’t have a tissue thin skin when you’re the man in charge.  You just can’t. It’s a bad look, it reflects poorly on your program and it’s simply weak in the football world. And yet here we are.

There are qualifications for being a head football coach who makes millions of dollars at a college program. You need to know football, you need to work hard, you need to keep your players out of trouble and have them graduate and you need to win. And, perhaps most importantly, you need to have a thick skin.

Deion knows football but he’s not a hard worker and cuts corners. So far his players have stayed out of trouble and grad rates are good, but he hasn’t won as his 4-8 record states. Colorado went from last place in the PAC 12 the season before he arrived to last place in the PAC 12 upon his arrival. And lastly, Deion does not have a thick skin at all. We’ve seen him be defensive, throw players under the bus and he’s getting worse and worse with the media. Maybe that’s understandable for an iconic man who is attacked by so many. But maybe also he should get out of college football if he doesn’t like the heat.