Why So Many People Can't Stand Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders has been a fixture of the football world since he started playing as a cornerback for Florida State University way back in 1985. The man nicknamed Prime Time won two Super Bowls, received multiple Pro Bowl and All-Pro selections, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a glittering NFL career that included stints with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, and Baltimore Ravens.

Since hanging up his boots, Sanders has been just as instrumental in the game, working as a college football coach and guiding the Jackson State Tigers to two Celebration Bowls consecutively before making a controversial move to the University of Colorado at Boulder. But success doesn't always breed popularity. Although the Floridian has racked up an impressive list of achievements, he remains one of his sport's most divisive figures, a status he appears to thrive on.

In 2012, Deion Sanders attempted to extend his legacy by opening up a group of K-12 charter schools in Texas, called Prime Prep Academy. To say the project was a disaster, however, would be something of an understatement.

Within just three years, the academy had closed down amid a whole host of problems, ranging from rundown facilities and the misspending of public funds to racism accusations and unpaid administrative staff. It was also once ranked North Texas' lowest achieving elementary school, while its charter was revoked by the Texas Education Agency over its mismanagement of the National School Lunch Program.

Then, there's the broken promises to a whole host of aspiring sports professionals. Speaking to The Washington Post, ex-student DeMarcus Peterson revealed his promising track career at Texas Southern University was completely derailed by his time at Prime Prep: "I was told because of the classes that I had took at Deion Sanders' school — that he had built, that he created, that he told us that it would be accredited, which it wasn't — those classes, unfortunately, they did not count."

In 2014, Deion Sanders was accused of choking Kevin Jefferson, the CFO of the charter school he helped to co-found, something he emphatically denied. But the plot thickened when he was caught on tape admitting to assaulting another school official in the same violent manner.

CEO Sean Allen had told several parents and media professionals he'd been called the N-word and then choked after asking the coach to help vacate the campus field house. Allen had wanted the space to be utilized by students instead of NFL players, a move which apparently sparked Sanders' aggressive overreaction.

Allen didn't inform the police about the attack, but on an audio recording obtained by the Dallas Observer, Sanders freely admitted it happened during a chat with COO D.L. Wallace: "Before I know it, my hands were around that n***a's throat. I don't even get down like that D.L., but when I'm pushed ... you're gonna see the n***a that was on the field." If that wasn't enough, the eight-time Pro Bowler was also caught on another tape threatening to throw a chair at Wallace as well as break his neck following a heated argument.

Who knows what Deion Sanders did to rile up Nebraska Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule? But the latter couldn't stop sticking the knife in during the 2023 season when he made what appeared to be several disparaging comments about his college football coaching rival.

Rhule didn't call out his new nemesis specifically. But Rhule undoubtedly threw some shade in Sanders' direction when he pointed out his team didn't need to rely on hype, nor were they particularly reliant on the transfer portal system Sanders had been hugely supportive of. The latter certainly knew who Rhule was talking about. Shortly before the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Colorado Buffaloes were due to face each other on the field, he told ESPN, "This is personal. That's the message of the week: This is personal."

Like his father, Shedeur Sanders was also able to read between the lines, telling ESPN, "The coach said a lot of things about my pops, about the program, but now that he want to act nice — I don't respect that because you're hating on another man, you shouldn't do that."

Deion Sanders didn't exactly endear himself to the press in the summer of 2024 when he explicitly refused to take any further questions from one particular journalist. The Colorado Buffaloes' Athletic Department told ESPN that Sean Keeler, a columnist at the Denver Post, had made a "series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime." Although he was still allowed to attend press conferences, he was forbidden from speaking up at them.

Sanders reportedly took umbrage with Keeler after he nicknamed the coach everything from "the Bruce Lee of B.S." to "Deposition Deion." Only two weeks before the ban, the NFL icon had clashed with the reporter, accusing him of forever being in attack mode. Understandably, Sanders was criticized by the rest of the media for essentially challenging the notion of free speech. Even longtime friend Stephen A. Smith expressed his disappointment, describing the ban (via Athlon Sports) as "utterly ridiculous."

Three years previously, a reporter from Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger found themselves censored in a similar manner after their newspaper published a damaging story about a player from Jackson State University, the college Sanders was coaching at the time.

In 2022, Deion Sanders revealed he was leaving his coaching position at the historically Black college, Jackson State University, for a new challenge at the predominantly white University of Colorado in Boulder. It was a move which left some people accusing the NFL icon of selling out his own people.

Sanders had joined JSU with the goal of revolutionizing the culture of athletics within HCBUs across America. But having left his post after just three years, he ultimately failed. "There is an assumption that HBCUs breed this loyalty, definitely among its alumni, definitely among athletes and supposedly among coaches and Deion Sanders demystified that," University of Houston professor Billy Hawkins explained to CNN about the growing resentment surrounding the coach.

Sports journalist Bomani Jones told the publication Sanders essentially acted like a charlatan when he initially announced his big plans: "Now if you paid any attention, you knew the dream he was selling wasn't possible ... but he sold it and he got people to believe it, then he chucked the deuce and left."

"Inappropriate, immature, poisonous, and corrosive." That's how sports columnist Jason Whitlock described (via Fox Sports Radio) the leadership style of Deion Sanders in no uncertain terms, a viewpoint shared by many of the Colorado Buffaloes coach's detractors. So what methods exactly has the NFL icon adopted to rub so many people up the wrong way?

Well, he's unapologetically ruthless for one thing. After encouraging dozens of Buffalo players to enter the transfer portal to make room for his own picks — including son Shedeur Sanders — Prime Time told CBS News, "I came to the conclusion that a multitude of them couldn't help us get to where we wanted to go," adding that making everybody feel good isn't a top priority.

He's also brutally honest for another. "I think truth is good for kids," he told the same news source. "We're so busy lyin', we don't even recognize the truth no more in society. We want everybody to feel good. That's not the way life is." Sanders isn't one to be swayed by public opinion, either. Referring to the controversy surrounding his declaration that only Travis Hunter Jr. and his son were guaranteed starters, Sanders simply told Complex, "I don't care."

Travis Hunter Jr. surprised the football world in 2021 when he snubbed several big-name college to sign with Jackson State University. So how exactly did then-coach Deion Sanders persuade the nation's number one recruit to pledge his allegiance to such an unfancied team? Well, apparently the lure of a seven-figure sum played a pretty big part.

During a speech at a Birmingham event (via USA Today), former coach Nick Saban argued that Name, Image, and Likeness deals were being exploited by certain figures, and explicitly called out JSU. "Jackson State paid a guy a million dollars last year that was a really good Division I player to come to the school. And they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it," he claimed.

As you'd expect, Sanders steadfastly refuted any talk of unfair financial play. He told his X followers he'd been alerted to Saban's comments by his son Shedeur Sanders and felt compelled to respond: "We as a PEOPLE don't have to pay our PEOPLE to play with our PEOPLE."

In 2021, Deion Sanders invited Brittany Renner, the loose-lipped internet personality famed for her relationship with basketball player P.J. Washington, to give a speech in front of his Jackson State University team. The coach apparently arranged the unlikely get-together as a way of opening his players' eyes up to the real world. But his guest speaker now believes she was instead exploited by the ex-cornerback.

Indeed, having entered into a relationship with Washington, who was six years her junior, Renner feels that Sanders had used her as an example of someone who his footballers should avoid. "When I originally agreed to do it, I thought it was empowering," she told "The Shade Room." "Looking now from where I'm sitting? It doesn't really feel that good."

Renner also clapped back at those who continue to castigate her for the six-year difference between herself and ex-partner Washington: "Let's not even get into the age gap ... I just genuinely thought that was my person who understood and saw me for me cause he never judged me. That's how it appeared — that's obviously not true."

Following Jackson State's 26-12 victory against Alabama State in 2022, the latter's coach, Eddie Robinson Jr., rejected a hug from the former's Deion Sanders, leading to a minor scuffle and tense exchange of words. A case of sour grapes, you might think? But no, apparently the losing coach had felt disrespected by his rival long before a ball had even been kicked.

Robinson Jr. explained in the post-match press conference (via CBS News) he'd been left distinctly unimpressed by Sanders' antagonizing behavior during the entire build-up: "We didn't talk in the pregame. I was out there the whole time at the 50-yard line. He walked through our whole huddle in our end zone ... Thought that wasn't classy at all."

Sanders also incurred Robinson's wrath when he decided that instead of taking a knee at the end of regulation, JSU should instead run up the score through pure aggression: "You can't do all that stuff all week, then come in and put your backup quarterback in the game and run a hitch-and-go to try to put more points on the board," he added. "S*** was disrespectful."

Deion Sanders certainly isn't one for ignoring the comments. In fact, he often appears to go out of his way to engage with his many detractors on social media. But in 2024, he was accused of going a little too far with a riposte to one particular Colorado Buffaloes fan.

The drama started when a disgruntled fan with less than a few hundred followers tweeted Deion to call out his youngest son Shedeur Sanders, "Tell yo son stop act like he the coldest out here then put up a 4-8 season." The coach, with nearly two million followers to his name, couldn't prevent himself from taking the bait and subsequently responded, "He will be a top 5 pick. Where yo son going? Lololol I got time today."

Deion refused to apologize for the clapback when asked about the controversy on "Thee Pregame Show." However, he did acknowledge (via Fox Sports) he needed to learn to ignore the haters. "I gotta do better on that and not ride with it, but I was bored ... and I didn't say nothing hurtful. I don't attack people." That very same week, the two-time Super Bowl winner was also accused of mocking Austin Peay State University player Jaheim Ward by responding, "Lawd, Jesus," to a putdown against the up-and-comer. But Deion insisted this expression had been taken the wrong way.

It seems reasonable to say that no one is a bigger fan of Deion Sanders than the man himself. In fact, judging from various comments he's made over the years, he appears to believe he has a divine right to coach in the NFL.

On his appointment at Jackson State University, the two-time Super Bowl winner remarked (via Dallas Observer), "I truly believe with all my heart and soul that God called me here. This is what I'm supposed to do." God's plan turned out to be a short-term one, as within three years, Sanders had accepted a position at the University of Colorado, a development Sanders once again put down to a higher power: "God wouldn't relocate me to something that was successful," he told CBS News. "He's brought me somewhere that needs me."

The oft-injury stricken Sanders doesn't always need to talk of spiritual intervention when it comes to self-aggrandizing. When asked to name the best college football coach, the former Dallas Cowboys hero replied, "Somebody bring me a mirror." And while describing his general star quality, he said, "I just have 'it,' and that makes people nervous."

Deion Sanders made a dream start as coach of the Colorado Buffaloes when he guided the team to a 45-42 win over Texas Christian University. But instead of rejoicing in victory, the NFL legend spent much of the post-match conference castigating a journalist.

Sanders appeared to have taken umbrage with a pre-season preview written by Ed Werder of ESPN and subsequently addressed him directly with the words (via Mirror), "What's up, boss? You believe now?" Before the reporter could respond, Prime Time continued on the attack, adding, "I read through the bulljoke you wrote, I read through that, I sifted through all that."

Sanders repeatedly asked whether he was now a believer before asserting he didn't and moving on to another question. But he couldn't help himself from berating the rest of the previously skeptical media, too, ending the interview with, "You thought we was joking, but guess what, we keep receipts." Perhaps not wishing to stay on the wrong side of the hot-headed coach, Werder later made a rather gushing declaration on X soon after: "Saturday was surely among the greatest in the life of Deion Sanders, both as a coach and father. Congratulations, it was mesmerizing to watch."

"If we catch one piece of toilet paper on the seat and not flushed, everybody gonna come back to the complex and we going to run," Deion Sanders once told the Colorado Buffaloes (via Sportskeeda) about the importance of good manners. But according to rival coach Jay Norvell of Colorado State University, the NFL star himself could do with a few lessons in etiquette, too.

"I sat down with ESPN today and I don't care if they hear it in Boulder," Norvell said on his eponymous web show in 2024. "I told them, I took my hat off and I took my glasses off. I said when I talk to grown-ups, I take my hat off and my glasses off. That's what my mother taught me." The coach was, of course, throwing some shade in the direction of Sanders, a man renowned for wearing shades no matter the weather, indoors or outdoors.

Unsurprisingly, Sanders didn't take the jibe lying down. In a video posted on his Well Off Media YouTube channel, the six-time All-Pro said Norvell had now made their professional rivalry personal: "I was minding my own business. Watching some film, trying to get ready, trying to get out here be the best coach I could be, and I read some bulljunk that Norvell said about us." No doubt to the surprise of many people he's called out publicly over the years, Sanders claimed he and his team never resort to such trash talk.

One of the strangest accusations leveled against Deion Sanders concerns his son's hip-hop sideline. According to rumors on social media, the coach had banned the Colorado Buffaloes' resident band from playing the college's regular fight song whenever Shedeur Sanders scored a touchdown. Instead, they were apparently ordered to play his son's own tune he released in 2024, "Perfect Timing."

Deion came out fighting himself in response to the story during a chat with the news media. "That's idiotic," he remarked (via USA Today). "Y'all know that. When you saw that, you know that was a lie." The former beau of Tracey Edmonds went on to castigate those who spread such gossip, arguing they should be more responsible when it came to their reporting.

Remarkably, this wasn't the first time Deion had been accused of forcing his son's music on the team he manages. Just a few months earlier, Athlon Sports alleged attendance at one particular Shedeur performance had been mandatory for every player. The coach responded, "This is one of the best lies I've heard. God bless u and I pray you sleep well tonight because we are. Lawd JESUS."