Sanders can't blunt criticism once prime time begins

The question 11 months ago wasn't whether Deion Sanders would leave Colorado for the head coaching job at a powerhouse college program; it was whether he'd leap straight to the NFL.

Forget Alabama or Oklahoma. Would Jerry Jones bring Sanders in to run the Dallas Cowboys?

It wasn't even that wild of an idea (though it was a little wild). Colorado went 1-11 the season before Coach Prime arrived, added a bunch of dazzling recruits (including two of his sons), and led the Buffs to a 3-0 start in 2023. Those early wins included an upset over TCU and a huge comeback victory over Colorado State in a prime-time game for which the major TV networks brought their studio shows to Boulder.

A story in The New York Times polled 10 NFL executives, seven of whom thought Sanders would be a valuable commodity in the league's next round of coaching hires.

But things haven't gone super well since then. Once Colorado got through the nonconference part of the schedule, it went 1-8 in the Pac-12. Most memorably, the Buffaloes went to Oregon while still riding high off that Colorado State comeback and were crushed 42-6. Cold bucket of water, meet face.

Once the season ended and four-win Colorado was nowhere near a bowl game, Sanders found his ability to recruit using his star power alone much less effective. It presumably also didn't help that he cut a remarkable 53 players upon arriving at Colorado, not long after giving a get-to-know-you speech in which he encouraged all of them to transfer somewhere else. "The more of you jump in" the transfer portal, Sanders said, "the more room we make." (That speech was recorded and posted on Coach Prime's social media channels just to let everyone know what was what.)

The combination of that underwhelming first season in Colorado and Sanders' brash ruthlessness hasn't led a bounty of prospects to knock at his door. Many of his early high-profile recruits changed their minds and went elsewhere. One ranking of the 2024 recruiting class placed Colorado in 95th, right behind Eastern Michigan and Appalachian State. (And 25 spots behind Colorado State.)

All this has emboldened Sanders' critics, and, hoo boy, he doesn't like critics. He barred a Denver Post columnist from asking questions at his press conferences - technically, he's just refusing to answer them - and has sniped with various media members. Sanders also refused to answer questions from a local CBS reporter, citing an unspecified beef with the broader network. "They know what they did," he explained. (What they did remains unclear.)

The media fights created a new cycle in which Sanders' unwillingness to engage critics was debated. Was he a loudmouth who could dish it out but not take it? Was he merely recognizing his own leverage, a star in his own right who doesn't have to play the usual media games?

Wherever one might land on those questions, Sanders' self-created media storm has drawn much of the attention away from his actual work with the team, which is where things should get interesting. After college football's massive offseason realignment, the Buffaloes now play in the 16-team Big 12. (Don't ask.) Their new home doesn't have the top-end might of, say, last year's Oregon and Washington teams, but it also has a lower floor. And five of Colorado's last seven games this season are against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. The Buffaloes are very much unranked.

Part of Sanders' crankiness seems to stem from the fact that he's always had doubters. As good as he was as a cornerback and kick returner in his playing days, some said he needed to shelve his desire to also play on offense. (He got his way, but only briefly.) Sanders was similarly told to give up on pro baseball but managed to play parts of nine MLB seasons, even if he was never Bo Jackson-level good at it.

Aside from the on-field stuff, Sanders has never lacked critics willing to complain about his style and attitude: the jewelry, the sunglasses, the confidence-slash-arrogance. Just last year, his Colorado State counterpart took a jab at him for wearing caps and shades to press conferences. (For the record, many coaches wear hats while speaking to reporters. Sunglasses, much less so.) The pearl-clutching about Sanders' cockiness has always been a little overwrought, and it's fair if he's annoyed by it. But people have every right to criticize a 4-8 team, especially one whose coach has put himself at the center of the operation and loudly proclaimed that they'd win by doing things his way.

If Sanders feeds off his doubters, in other words, he should have plenty of fuel.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.