“We gotta win a darn championship" Coach Prime beats cancer and is back talking championships

When Deion Sanders finally stood before the media on Monday, announcing a life-threatening health scare, he didn’t come back looking for sympathy.

He came back talking championships.

“I got too much life in me to be thinking ‘bout death,” he said with that signature Coach Prime fire. “Too much life… and I got work to do. We gotta win a darn championship.”

That's a coach who just survived cancer—a man who had his bladder removed this offseason after doctors found a cancerous tumor. He had to make a will just in case he didn’t pull through.

Now he's returned to his Colorado Buffaloes team with the same purpose, but with even more urgency.

Let’s be honest—nobody would’ve blamed Coach Prime if he had taken time away from football. That kind of diagnosis stops most people in their tracks.

But not Coach Prime.

Instead, he’s preaching life, and he’s talking about God. He’s testifying to resilience, and he’s got all of us in Boulder excited again.

“I didn’t stare death in the face,” he said. “I stared life in the face.”

That’s Prime. Always flipping the narrative from the media and making it bigger than football. But still keeping the "main thing", the "main thing."

As I watched him this morning, you can see a coach who’s not only returning to the sidelines, but he’s returning with a vision: win now.

There’s no Shedeur Sanders or Travis Hunter.

But make no mistake—Coach Prime believes this 2025 Colorado team is capable of winning it all. And he’s going to demand it from every player in that locker room.

Remember, he made the decision to get surgery because of football. He didn’t want to be in the hospital every week during the season. Even with his life on the line, his mind was still on these Colorado football players.

That tells you everything.

“This ain’t about me,” he told reporters. “It’s about them. It’s about this university. It’s about winning. That’s what we came here to do.”

That means so much to a CU alum like myself. He’s not shying away from the pressure and he's making "winning" about this current team and about CU.

There’s a real sense now that this season is personal and this team is going to play more inspired football. Not just because of the critics, the doubters, or the noise. But also because Prime knows how close he came to losing it all.

This isn’t just another year in Boulder.

This is a Coach on a mission—fueled by faith and laser-focused on a title.

So if you were wondering how Coach Prime was doing, here’s your answer: he’s alive and he’s locked in. He’s setting the tone for the most important season of his life.

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