It was an unforgettable first season in Boulder for Deion Sanders – and the hordes of fans who jumped on his bandwagon – for a lot of reasons. One thing it wasn’t ever was dull. It was never dull.
The Good, the Bad and the Deion, Mile High Sports December 12, 2022
Strike 3, The Deion: Sean Lewis didn’t get demoted. It was his call to relinquish play calling duties.
According to insiders, Deion’s much ballyhooed offensive coordinator, hired away from his head coaching gig at Kent State, threw up his hands in frustration after the UCLA loss and let the coaching staff know he wanted someone else to call the plays. Lewis was reportedly frustrated with his poor communication with Shedeur and many of the decisions the QB was making to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
Lewis, now the head coach at San Diego State, was one of at least four coaches, including longtime Deion assistant Tim Brewster and CU legend Darian Hagan, who left the program at the end of the season. Publicly, the departing coaches have all said the right things about their time in Boulder. (In Hagan’s case, that encompasses all or parts of four decades.) Yet according to the insiders, privately there was a lot of discord, most of it fueled by frustration with how Shedeur was being “coached.” A private QB coach was being force-fed on the CU offensive staff (much like the Russell Wilson situation last season) which caused more than a little friction.
After the season a number of high profile high school recruits backed off, along with some important members of the current roster electing to “hit the portal.” While Deion continues to wear a smile and put a positive spin on everything that’s happening around him, insiders paint that picture of instability and disconnect inside the CU locker room.
The established coaches he brought in last season are being replaced by guys like Warren Sapp, a Hall of Fame player with zero coaching experience. He also added a new O-Line coach in Phil Loadholt, a local product and former NFL player who brings a half dozen years of experience as an offensive line analyst at UCF, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.
He’s lost a number of players – including (predictably) offensive lineman – to the portal, while of course adding some as well. That “new offensive line” Deion talked about after the UCLA game is coming to fruition, including the addition of a blue chip tackle recruit. Yet he’s made it really clear that rather than accept the responsibility of developing and “coaching up” young players, he’s just going to go out and get new guys all over again. Much like last fall, CU fans are going to have to relearn players names and numbers.
Deion is at this moment equal part head coach and celebrity businessman. When you see him on TV pitching everything from almonds to sunglasses to health insurance to chicken to gold necklaces, you have to wonder which part is more important? Remember, before Deion got into college coaching, he earned his degree in business administration from Talladega College. When CU asked him to appear on their UC Health ads this season, he said sure, as long as he got paid the annual $700K the organization normally pays into CU athletics. Yes, Nick Saban does commercials (he’s Deion’s co-star on the Aflac spots) and Andy Reid has appeared in a couple self-deprecating State Farm ads. But try to find another head football coach who’s one-one hundredth as busy hocking ‘merch’ as Deion (and sons).
There’s a trickle down. Teams tend to take on the personality of their head coach, for better or for worse. Deion’s personality, ever since his stellar playing career, has always been flamboyant, boastful and even arrogant. Lots of trash talking comes with it. This season there was enough coming from his Buffs to fill a large dumpster on a weekly basis. That lack of discipline, including all the preventable and self-inflicted penalties, hurt the Buffaloes all season.
Coming off a poor season on the field, Deion seems very conflicted. On one hand, he’s complained about a lack of loyalty from prospective recruits while trying to flip others who are committed elsewhere to come to CU. He’s said CU is not the place for players who are looking to cash in on NIL deals (his sons are raking in millions in NIL money) while TV’s top coach-pitchman asks CU faithful to ante up more NIL cash for prospective Buff recruits. He’s said the worst thing to happen to CU this season was all the attention and scrutiny – attention and spotlights he himself openly attracts.
Deion has also said he’s going to change college football. No one can say yet if that’s for better or worse.
At last year’s CU spring game, Deion famously showed up wearing a large cowboy hat. We’ll find out next season whether or not the adage applies about someone being, “more hat than cattle.”
