DALLAS — One of the more welcoming surprises to come out of 2020 was Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders taking the head football coach job at Jackson State.
Sanders didn't just bring cache to the HBCU program, but established a winning culture. Since the 2021 fall season, the Tigers have yet to lose a Southwestern Athletic Conference game and Jackson State has gone 22-2 with Sanders at the helm. Bigger programs are starting to inquire as to the two-time Super Bowl champion's interest in coaching at their schools.
Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager Jerry Jones is not surprised in the least by the amount of success Sanders is having, and that he is being courted by other schools.
"Deion has such a positive enthusiasm about him, and a real genuine ‘one and one is three,'" Jones told "K&C Masterpiece" on 105.3 "The Fan" [KRLD-FM] on Friday. "It’s a positiveness about him. He has a real understanding of what a player’s mentality can and should be. Of course, he’s actually been around and gotten the benefit of some of the greatest people in sport, and look what he brings to the table."
According to Jones, Sanders is able to draw upon his 14 years in the NFL along with his nine seasons playing Major League Baseball to know exactly how to communicate with athletes.
"Deion Sanders has a little bit going for him when it comes to being able to be a coach," said Jones. "He is outstanding — I’m just going to say he’s a great communicator and he’s a real leader of men.”
Sanders reportedly will let recruits know by Saturday which school he has picked. Nevertheless 2022 will mark another significant step in the legend of Coach Prime.
While Jones would not speculate on a hypothetical scenario wherein he would hire Sanders as the coach of the Cowboys, given incumbent Mike McCarthy has the team 8-3 in a highly competitive NFC East race, he did endorse Sanders as a coach in the NFL.
"Deion is very capable of being a head coach in the National Football League. You couldn’t be talking to anybody that knows him any better than I do," said Jones.
Sanders played with the Cowboys from 1995-99 and helped Dallas earn its fifth Super Bowl overall, and third in four years, when they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX. The cornerback also played on offense in that game as his only reception went for 47 yards.
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