JSU Announces Deion Sanders As Head Coach
A member of the Professional Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame will take the job as Jackson State University head coach.
Deion “Prime Time” Sanders officially made the announcement during his new podcast, “21st and Prime,” saying, “God called me to Jackson State.”
The announcement, called the “worst kept secret in Jackson” by acting JSU President Thomas Hudson, was confirmed during a Monday morning Facebook live event from JSU Athletics.
“(Coach Sanders will) help our program and increase our profile,” Hudson said. “This is the day when Deion Sanders and the JSU Football program become one. We welcome Coach Prime to the JSU family.”
This is Sanders’s first coaching job on the collegiate level.
Taking the podium with his head bowed, Sanders began humbly, “These are tears of satisfaction. These are tears of joy, of passion. These are tears of how ecstatically proud I am to stand before my people.”
“It’s very big for Jackson State University,” athletic director Ashley Robinson said. “Not only for Jackson State University, this is very big for the country right now. Very big for the state of Mississippi. As a Jackson native, I have full understanding of what the Jackson State football program means to Jackson. We have a coach that will build on our traditions and blaze new trails.”
A former San Francisco 49er and Dallas Cowboys standout, Sanders has been serving as offensive coordinator for Trinity Christian School in Cedar Hill, Texas, where his son, Sheduer Sanders, is quarterback. He will reportedly finish the out the season with the team before prepping for JSU’s spring football season which was forced to move due to COVID-19.
“I believe this is going to be a marriage made in heaven,” Sanders said, and I cannot wait to get started.”
Sanders replaces recently ousted coach John Hendrick whose most recent “winning season” with the Tigers was 2013.
