Give Coach Prime His Flowers!
- Arjun Peroor
- Oct 22, 2024
- 3 min read
The CU Buffs dominated the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, beating them 34-7 on the road, as they have already surpassed their total number of wins from a season ago. The team sits at 5-2, and with one more victory, they will be eligible for a bowl game. I wasn't able to catch the game on Saturday, so I just want to speak a bit about Coach Prime and his impact on this program.
This team was 1-11 in the 2022-2023 season. This team was downright awful, and within two years, Coach Sanders has made this team a legit threat in the Big 12. Of course, it helps when you bring in great players like Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, but let's face it: at the end of the day, it comes down to coaching. People love to hate Deion because of the way he carries himself. Unlike your typical football coach, his coaching style is more than just X's and O's; he brings a level of swagger to the team. He talks that talk, but he also walks that walk. He doesn't just go up to the podium and just say the politically correct thing. He's authentic. He's transparent with the press and says what's on his mind, and some people don't like that. His approach to coaching is a bit different than what we have seen in the past, but that doesn't mean it should be frowned upon. As a matter of fact, I think it should be celebrated because it seems like he's able to connect with his players on a deeper level. The most important thing a coach can do is get his players' undivided attention and respect. If they are unable to get that from their team, they have failed at their job, and they better go do a better job of it elsewhere. If you have seen the videos of him giving speeches to the team, you know for a fact he has their undivided attention.
The way journalists cover this team is extremely weird. After their victory over Arizona was pointed out by Barstool Colorado on Instagram as they posted a snippet of an article stating, "Deion Sanders' squad is now just a win away from bowl eligibility, which would be a nice bit of validation for the oft-criticized coach if he were the type of person who looked for external validation rather than simply counting Instagram likes." What??? What kind of journalist describes the win of a team like that? We can go back to last year and talk about how CSU head coach Jay Norvell criticized Sanders for wearing a hat and sunglasses during a pregame speech. Going back to this year, According to an article written by Spencer Ostrow on Athlon Sports, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum stated, after CU's loss to Nebraska 28-10, that Sanders was more focused on going viral than winning games. He quickly changed his tone after this most recent win and stated, "We should be appreciating and complementing Deion Sanders for what he does on the field.”
Sanders has slowly shut up critics as the year has gone on, and the thing I respect most is that he hasn't changed his style of caching one bit despite all the criticism. His coaching style has stayed consistent. The only difference is that the team is starting to learn how to win games consistently. They now sit at 5-2 as they have matched their best record since 2018, and with a favorable schedule on the horizon, I don't see why this team can't win 8 or 9 games. You don't have to like Coach Prime; you can think that he is overhyped or that he does everything for clicks. But you can't argue with the results.
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great article bro, haters will hate and prime knows that better than anyone but they way he is changing lives is epic and it takes longer than a season to build a legacy