Deion Sanders and Good Grades
Deion Sanders known as ‘Coach Prime’ had something to say yesterday, he will have something to say today and he will have something to say tomorrow. We are governed by the internet so a few experts routinely prune or enhance what he said. The enhancement is purely subjective.
He will be quoted and misquoted. It comes with the territory of being a football coach at Jackson State University in Mississippi and now at Colorado University. Quotes are seldom about how he instills the importance of education. Rather, admirers and foes concentrate on NCAA college football policies and tradition, planted and watered long before he got here.
Parents at Jackson State University miss Coach Prime for a number of reasons. Education is one of them. He reminded young players that NFL dreams do not come true for every one. That’s why he was coaching them for life skills.
You look good, you feel good
You feel good, you play good
You play good, they pay good.
In one pre game speech, he told some of them to move from the back and sit in front. He said professors remember such things. He also said ‘we can sit in front now.’ That is history. Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, where Negroes were supposed to sit.
His motivational speeches are legendary, something he will continue in the Colorado Buffs locker room. They had a taste of Coach Prime nuggets when he first introduced himself: ‘I’m coming.’
Experts might say it is discouraging for kids to be told they won’t make it to the NFL, the pyramid of American football, but it is reality. That’s why he coaches to produce wholesome young men with skills to make it anywhere in life, starting with cellphones.
He said something like: I see a phone, you going home.
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.
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