3 reasons Deion Sanders will never be hired in the SEC

Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders has been making waves all off-season. From banning reporters in press conferences, to calling them out over their verbiage when asking a football related questions, Sanders has made himself the center of attention quite quickly despite being the head coach of a team that has traditionally been one of the worst in FBS the past few decades.

Sanders had a lot of success at Jackson State where he coached from 2020-2022, leading them to two Celebration Bowl appearances and their first ever undefeated regular season in school history. This propelled Sanders to the job with the Buffaloes in 2023 where he doubled the anticipated win total going 4-8 despite the team coming off of a 1-11 season the year before Sanders’ arrival.

Why won’t Deion Sanders ever be hired in the SEC?

1. Deion Sanders does not pay attention to defense

Although the SEC is becoming like all of college football and more high scoring than ever before, this is still a league that prides itself and is traditionally built on defense. While Sanders’ offenses are flashy and exciting, it would be difficult to fathom an SEC team taking him from what we have seen from the Buffaloes defensively during Sanders’ time there.

In 2023, the Buffaloes ranked 122nd out of 133 teams in FBS in defensive points per game allowing 34.8. The holes on the defensive line appeared to continue in the first game of 2024 against the North Dakota State Bison who ran for 157 yards on the ground. While it did look somewhat improved, holes do remain. And one of those signs that Sanders is not paying much attention to the defense is coaching exits.

2. Assistant coaches are exiting the program quickly

Former Crimson Tide associate defensive coordinator Charles Kelly opted to leave Nick Saban’s staff for the 2023 season to become the defensive coordinator for the Buffaloes. Kelly’s success as a defensive coordinator prior did not show itself in Colorado. To be fair here however, it was only one year. Even Kelly, however, did not want to hang around.

After one season in Boulder, Kelly headed back east to be the defensive coordinator of the Auburn Tigers. This begged the question of why he would even leave the SEC in the first place. After all, you were one of the defensive coordinators for the greatest coach of all-time in Nick Saban. And Saban himself is a defensive mind.

The fact that Kelly bolted from Tuscaloosa for a program rebuild in Boulder only to return to the SEC a year later is suspect at best. And do not think that athletic directors will not take note of this if interest ever peaks for Sanders in the SEC. If coaches do not want to stay, that could potentially be a bad sign.

3. Sanders’ comments draw a negative spotlight

The comments and controversial dialogue that Sanders has been involved in with reporters caught national media attention with many on the side of the reporter who simply used the word “bolstered” to only be criticized for it by Sanders. Sure, winning matters more than anything in the SEC, but with this type of reaction, which is something I do not think any SEC athletic director, president or fan base would want.

On the contrary, Sanders is a coach that is truly improving the Buffaloes. And not only has he done it there, but he did it at Jackson State as well. If Sanders can keep his head down, keep improving the Buffaloes and stop putting himself in the spotlight with the media, the potential future of him in the SEC could change. For now, though, the jury is still out.