OT: Will Coach Prime be successful at Colorado?

It's very hard to say but he will being in talent. If Colorado fails it won't be for lack of talent, resources or program desire. They have money in a beautiful location and the school literally said they're changing their admissions standards during his presser.

My area of concern comes from two places:

1) How easy was it to win in a place like Jackson State when you had the best players, one being at the most important position that also happens to be your son?

2) Deion always liked himself. Confidence is not a problem with him but it borders on egomania at times. There were a couple moments during his presser and that team introduction where it seemed a bit much. Talent will come but how does he behave if success doesn't also come right after? TA&M just showed everyone that talent alone doesn't change fortunes overnight.

A lot of people called his team introduction "mean" and I wouldn't agree or disagree. He wants to change a culture and I think the best way is to tear it down entirely. However, tearing it down and more than accusing the kids already there for being ungrateful and such is not the same thing. You don't have to do that to rebuild entirely.

Also, in his presser he speaks of the way these kids will behave while there and what happens when that doesn't happen across the board? A major problem in recruiting is weighing the talent with the personality. Will he tell some superstar kid to kick rocks if they habitually step out of his defined line or will that show him to be a bit of a fraud in the eyes of other kids? Little things like that have me wondering and we'll see in time.

It's just very easy to talk the way he does when you did an ok job and then a really good job once you had far more talent than everyone else. It's easy to say what you're bringing and answer everything with "I'm comin' " when you just did it at Jackson State. I would argue that it's much easier to lift the floor of that program than a major P5 program.

We'll see but I wouldn't bet against success because the talent will come. Kids from all over are going to flock to Colorado. I think the biggest unknown is Deion himself beyond two or three years.

I watched part of his introductory meeting with the team last night. I've never played the game so I come at this with an uninformed opinion, but something about him saying that he's bringing his son with him he's already anointing him as the starter, and that some of the guys in that room will in a few months not be sitting where they're sitting now (i.e. implying they will be transferring out or will at least be getting benched), I can see how it would rub some people the wrong way or potentially cause friction in the locker room.

But Colorado has been so bad for so long, even if you do have beef with Sanders about it....what can you really say? They won one game this year. Everyone's job is up for grabs. Everything needs to be blown up to start over. 

He deserves an opportunity to show what he can do. He may have had a big talent advantage at Jackson State, but Texas A&M showed us that all the talent in the world means squat if you don't know how to coach it, develop it, and organize it into a cohesive unit. Sanders seems to be able to do that, at least at the FCS level. 

Can he do it at the FBS level? That remains to be seen. He'll be able to recruit, but the level of competition is taking a considerable step up. Playing Grambling State is not the same as playing Oregon or USC. 

We also really have to see how he handles losing. He didn't do a lot of that at Jackson State but he's probably going to lose at least a handful of games his first season, probably more. He's not necessarily going to have the same massive talent advantage at Colorado that he had at Jackson State. He's a confident guy, and there's nothing wrong with that, but how is his bravado going to come across when he steps up to the podium after he loses by four touchdowns to USC? 

That's when we'll see what his real coaching chops are made of. Can he get his team to re-group and re-focus after losing? Especially if they get blown out? How will Deion himself handle it? Those are honest questions he'll need to answer. 

It's going to be funny and entertaining regardless of the outcome.

Colorado was so bad this year, what do they have to lose? From Deon Sanders' perspective, I am not sure this would be the job I take. Florida or Florida State could open up soon. Probably even better to kill it at FAU/FIU/USF in the meantime. A relative recruiting edge means more at those schools.

i feel like it will work.

but if it does, it won't be for long...if he does get to (let's say) 10 wins, he's gone gone gone to somewhere for more money.  and colorado will be back where they started...i'm guessing prime isn't too big on the whole "sustainability" thing.

I love Prime. With that said, what was the point of going to Jackson State? Someone was paying for those recruits to come there. Why or what a waste of money that is now.

Kids are going to go there. They are going to have talent like crazy. Will they be good? Yes, it's the pac-12. I bet they could compete quickly with Oregon and USC but still think a team like Utah would stomp them, physical and well coached.

His coaching is a huge unknown right now. At Jackson State, he could basically just out-recruit everyone and field a decent team. Recruiting well at Colorado will get them out of the gutter, but look no further than Texas A&M to see what great recruiting and terrible coaching gets you

Will be fascinating to watch. 

I think the biggest challenge for Prime Time is that he'll now actually have to be a real coach for 365 days a year. He had it nice at Jackson State. Now he's going to actually have to grind it out the entire year, and not just a few months here and there.

I'm not sure he'll be able to handle getting up in front of a microphone and responding to actual tough questions from the media after a loss on a weekly basis either. 

We'll see. 

If there are any easily offended people in Boulder, they are not going to like what they hear on all these behind the scenes videos Prime makes, but that is who the man is and he is not going to change.

There are some people that think this first meeting with the players is offensive/will not be taken well. Imagine what that first players meeting looked like when Saban took over garbage Alabama. Probably made this look tame. The cut up version of this video makes the speech look disrespectful, but if you watch the whole thing, it is easy to see all Sanders is saying is he will not accept kids hanging around to just get room and board. He wants players that want to be at CU and WIN. 

No more participation trophies. No more guessing if the man lining up next to you wants it as much as you do. No more half assed effort. 

Will it be successful, who knows. I'm not convinced he's an amazing coach, but I know he will get talent. CFB is 75% Jimmies and Joes not Xs and Os. 

The guy is called Deion Sanders. Coach Prime lol this isn't WWE wrestling.

He will get that program turned around within  2-3 years, maybe getting to the conference champ game, then will move on to another program 

I'm onboard because of Joel Klatt's reaction on the broadcast.

Colorado ought to be better than it's been. Maybe not a lot better, but at least as good as Wazzu, Oregon State, and Arizona (State).

nope

Keeping in mind the perennial bottom-dweller status of Colorado, the fact he'll get recruits there means there's a good chance of success.

But as to whether he can build a program that can actually compete for the Pac 12 and beyond? No friggin clue. Depends on who he is as a head coach, and what assistants he brings in,

But I'd be shocked if he flamed out, just because of how abjectly turrible that program has been recently.

Going to be fun watching it play out, definitely.

🍿

I would bet on about 30/70 successful vs unsuccessful. You would think he should be able to will them to a bowl game at the least in 2 years just by bringing in new talent. I would have thought the same thing about Texas A&M, but Jimbo is a better X's and O's guy than Deion.

McCartney is Colorado's most successful coach of all time. He was able to go into LA and recruit against the USC's and UCLA's of that era. Now, it's much more competitive.

Denver is not a hotbed of talent, and his best closest recruiting ground is Texas, and that is also ultra competitive. The Mountain States are a different animal than the Southeast or West Coast. Locking down your local talent is usually step #1 to a dominant program.

I would have thought his best Power 5 places to land were places like ASU, which has a lot of local talent, or Georgia Tech. He has the local connections in the Southeast, but I'm not sure what Tech's admission requirements are for athletes since it is such a good school. And Auburn doesn't seem like the right fit culturally for Deion.

I look at CU hiring Sanders as their Hail Mary. Could work out, but odds might be against him just based on location.

If they stay out of his way.

If they stay out of his way.

Sorry for the double. New mouse time.

Downvote for calling hime Coach Prime

I'm reminded of what Charlie Munger said about Elon Musk, "Never underestimate the man who overestimates himself". 

Was one of the most dynamic athletes I've ever seen in person. I wish him luck. 

Here's the full version of his introductory speech to his new team. The one in the OP is just a snippet:

I doubt it.

• Deion is still a man, who I believe, is mostly about himself versus others.  This is a man who coached games this year while wearing his Instagram handle!
• Building a program at CU will mean grinding 365/24/7.  Is that something Deion is ready for?
• His son is already the starting QB?  That sounds suspiciously like what happened 50 miles away at Northern Colorado - Ed McCaffrey comes in and his kids come first.  FWIW, just a couple weeks ago McCaffrey was fired.  His UNC reign was a failure.
• Yes, he has charisma and could be a "fun coach."  That's different than being someone who can coach up players and make solid in-game tactical decisions.
• Boulder is apathetic about football as a whole.  Denver is a Broncos town first through tenth.  CU wasn't even regularly selling out Folsom in their 90s glory days.
• Colorado is shockingly poor in terms of HS football talent per capita.  CU can only be successful by recruiting CA and TX well but those areas are mega-competitive and Deion doesn't have deep roots either place.

All that said --- from the CU perspective it's worth a shot.  I don't think he'll be successful, but neither do I think it's a bad hire (if that makes sense).