Prime sells. Prime sells if he is winning or if he is losing. In fact, Prime is the sole reason that Colorado football has the level of popularity it does. People tune in to see if Prime will win or lose. He is a polarizing figure and has been his entire life. That extends beyond his ability to coach and really feels more about his ability to draw eyes.
For those new to the Prime show, Deion Sanders created the persona coming out of Florida State. He knew he needed to do more in order to garner the attention that would get him access to life changing money. Cornerbacks were not paid like that when he was coming into the league, so he found a way that he would be. That brash attitude and can’t be beat moniker made him the target of a swath of American culture that didn’t want to see someone like him succeed. Yet he did succeed again and again over the course of his life. Now, as a coach, he doesn’t have the same ability to control his own destiny. Unfortunately for him, he does have that same bravado and, as importantly, the same level of honesty about the world he is in. That last part is getting him a lot of clicks and most of them are negative.
Prime is honest about how modern college football works. He shows us things that are normally kept out of the media and he is often criticized for those things. However, the same stuff is happening across football and the criticism isn’t happening on the same level. Take Michigan for example. Clearly there are more expectations for that logo than there are for Colorado. However, when Michigan’s struggles boil down to QB play the finger is jabbed furiously at the kid playing QB. Yet in Colorado, it’s Prime’s fault the QB sucks. Nobody is blaming Wittingham for not being good enough to make the Michigan kid successful, in spite of the fact the kid was a 5 star coming out of high school. Instead, the kid is blamed. The rating system is blamed. Anyone but the coach. In Prime’s case, the blame falls squarely on the mouthpiece.
Is it fair? Is it right? Doesn’t matter. It is what it is. So long as he’s out there coaching, he’s going to be the villain to someone and the hero to someone else.
Some Thoughts:
- Cleaned the fans. Noticed a 1 degree drop in temp as a result. That’s science right there…