No coach came into CFB with as much fame as Coach Prime brought to Colorado football
As Mike Farrell of the Mike Farrell Sports brand writes, no one has ever brought as much fame to college football as Coach Prime has to the Colorado football program since being hired to run the Buffs in December 2022.
"Name a head coach who came into college with more fame," Farrell prefaced before saying, "I’ll wait. No one. Guys like Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, and others became polarizing after great success, but Deion went from a failed high school program to OC where his son Shedeur played to head coach in the FCS to head coach in the Power Five. It wasn’t as fast as some think, as he began coaching in 2012 and wasn’t a head coach until 2020, but name another coach who went from high school OC to head coach in college. It doesn’t happen.
"Many high school head coaches have gone in to become assistant coaches and then coordinators and then head coaches in college, but to jump from high school OC to head coach only happens to the famous. Deion was one of the best all-time college football players at Florida State. He was one of the best cornerbacks in the history of the NFL. He’s a Hall of Famer. He’s Neon Deion, he’s Prime Time, he’s an icon. Cignetti, Satterfield, Lea, and Clawson are solid coaches in many ways, but they are a flea on a buffalo's backside compared to Deion when it comes to fame."
Coach Prime's celebrity a blessing and a curse for Colorado football
There are positives and negatives, both glaring, to Coach Prime being a massive celebrity while leading Colorado.
On the plus side, Deion Sanders has brought a buzz to Boulder that the city in the shadow of the Rockies has never seen before. Celebrities like The Rock have been on campus, while musical performances from the likes of Lil Wayne have preceded games at Folsom Field. Tell a Buffs fan in November 2022 that'd be the case, and you'd probably be laughed at. On the flipside, the reaction to everything Coach Prime does is hyperbolic. And most of it is unfairly negative.
When the team wins, the positives far outweigh the negatives. When CU loses, the inverse is the case. Buffs fans likely don't trade it for anything. The long-term "Prime Effect" in Boulder will be interesting to watch.