Leonard Greene: Deion Sanders is no ‘sellout’ for leaving historically Black university
After restoring pride and promise in just three years at a historically Black university in Mississippi, NFL icon Deion Sanders took a mainstream coaching job last week at the University of Colorado.
The job pays a reported $6 million a year, a nice bump from the $300,000 he was making at Jackson State University, and a handsome reward for a job well done.
But after successful careers in college, the NFL, Major League baseball, broadcasting and coaching, Sanders finds himself facing a situation he has never had to deal with before — he just can’t win.
Sanders, who has done more for historically Black colleges and universities in recent years than the United Negro College Fund, is now taking heat for accepting the Colorado job as if he turned his back on Black people. The harshest critics have called him a traitor and a sellout.
Now, that’s unnecessary roughness.
When he arrived at Jackson State in 2020, amid national protests over the police custody murder of George Floyd, Sanders said it was part of “God’s plan.”
Critics who wrote him off because of his “Prime Time” persona and his brash style quickly saw a man who was not only preparing young men to win at football, but to win at life.
“My calling was not built on a location,” Sanders said at a news conference, explaining the move. “It was built on a destination.”
Sanders preached hard work, excellence, discipline and accountability, and his players bought in.
The result was a team that lost only five games in three years, and won the Southwestern Athletic Conference title twice.
This year Jackson State is undefeated. Ninety % of his players graduated.
But what was an even bigger win was the notoriety — and the money — Sanders brought to HBCUs. Sanders, 55, was a magnet for top recruits, including high school phenom Travis Hunter, who chose Jackson State over Florida State, Sanders’ mainstream alma mater.
His presence and style brought exposure to the program and others like it. Sanders’ work got Jackson State on national television and on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Is it such a shock that a bigger school would come calling? Well, no. Neither is it a shock that Sanders was listening. He said he’d be.
What is shocking is the vitriol Sanders faced from Black people, many of them HBCU graduates, for taking the better job.
Sanders will still coach and recruit Black players, and he has paved the way for other Black coaches. There’s nothing to stop other high-profile Black NFL players from picking up where Sanders left off.
Was the historically Black school a stepping stone? Sure. For Sanders, it was more like a high-stepping stone, sort of like the dance he did whenever he scored a touchdown.
The crabs in the barrel trying to tackle Sanders need to take a time out.
He got his team to the goal line. It’s OK if someone else gets them in the end zone
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