Deion Sanders made it clear earlier this week that if a Power 5 school comes calling, he’d have to listen. The question now is whether or not the Nebraska football program should be one of those schools.
In a head coaching search like the one the Huskers are currently engaged in, it’s smart to approach things with the idea that no one should be ruled out right away. That’s the benefit of starting the search as early as the program did. Athletic director Trev Alberts can afford to be thorough. He can vet every candidate. And if a new candidate comes along, he can take a look.
But should Alberts take a look at Deion Sanders? It’s a complicated question.
It helps to divide the question into a couple of different boxes and see if Sanders positively checks those boxes. If he checks enough of them, it’s possible that Nebraska football fans should, indeed, buy into the hype.
Nebraska football looking for a program builder
Considering that it certainly appears (barring Mickey Joseph pulling off a minor miracle) that the Cornhuskers are going to suffer their sixth straight losing season in 2022. Because the losses keep piling up, there’s been quite a bit of talk about the next coach needing to be someone who understands how to “build a program.”
Matt Campbell and Matt Rhule have been in the conversation quite a bit because of their ability to take moribund programs – Iowa State and Temple respectively – and turn them into winners. Jackson State isn’t quite on the level of moribundity that the Cyclones or Owls were.
In fact, over the course of the SWAC school’s history, it’s had more than a few very successful seasons and coaches. However, when Deion Sanders arrived in 2020, he took over a team that had suffered through six straight losing seasons itself.
Since arriving on the scene, the former NFL all-world defensive back went 4-3, 11-2, and is 6-0 this season. Campbell and Rhule can’t even claim they never suffered a losing season as a head coach. Sanders seems to understand, at least at the SWAC level how to compete immediately. A large part of that has been that he’s also managed to pull in talent at a level that Jackson State hasn’t really seen for quite a while.
Can Deion Sanders Win at the FBS Level
The million-dollar question is whether the Jackson State head coach’s success would transfer over to the Big Ten.
There are two reasons why the answer at the moment is so hard to arrive at. The first is that the SWAC is a far cry from the Big Ten in terms of talent. The Huskers have already seen what happens when hiring a coach who may not understand the jump in not just talent but athlete profile.
When Scott Frost came over from UCF, it was clear that he didn’t understand the physical size and strength that was needed for players in the Big Ten. He believed that his system, which worked fine on offense in the AAC, could carry over without missing a beat with the Nebraska football team.
That included bringing over a strength and conditioning coach who seems to be well over his head when it comes to getting guys ready for the grind that comes with the Big Ten. The lack of strength in the trenches especially has been evident since Day One of the Scott Frost era.
That’s not to say that Deion Sanders would copy that hubris, but the fact of the matter is he hasn’t been a college head coach anywhere but Jackson State. Even if he believes he understands the Power 5 schools thanks to his playing days at Florida State, it’s obvious things have changed quite a bit since that time.
Whether or not he understands what it takes to win at Nebraska football’s level isn’t something that can be answered until his teams take the field. It’s a safe bet that Husker fans wouldn’t be thrilled about someone learning on the job again.
Is Nebraska Football A Fit For Prime Time?
The final question that must be answered before Husker fans should really buy into the hype, is whether this potential marriage is one that would work out in the long run. There are a couple of different factors that could come into play here.
To some degree, the answer lies in the answer to the previous question. Would Deion Sanders be able to understand the subtle nuances that go into fitting in at Nebraska and the Big Ten in general? The fact that he’s only coached at Jackson State and that this is just his third year here casts doubt on that.
While Sanders has undoubtedly had success since he’s come into his position, it’s been thanks to very specific experiences. On the other hand, it’s clear that Sanders is someone who does not, under any circumstances, want to fail. That might seem cliche but it became clear eventually that Scott Frost believed things were going to come easily for him and when they didn’t, he didn’t adjust. That might be a strike in Deion’s favor at a program like Nebraska.
He strikes me as someone who would go the extra mile when it comes to doing homework on just what it takes to win games in Lincoln. But it all boils down to just how long it would take to get over the learning curve. Things snowballed for Frost once he realized he had quite a bit to learn about being a head coach. It could snowball for Sanders as well if he’s not adapting quickly.
There’s also the fact that Prime Time has never really had to deal with losing. What happens if his squad goes out and drops a couple of games to start the season? Will we see the same kind of slide that came in Frost’s first year?
Should Nebraska Football buy into the hype?
When taking all of these questions, many of which could not be answered until after he was hired into account, it feels like Deion Sanders would be the kind of risk Cornhuskers fans wouldn’t feel comfortable with.
The bottom line is that while I wouldn’t put Deion Sanders in my Top 6 candidates, I’m not sure he’d be much lower than 7th, if he was really interested in the job. He’s someone who has injected life into a program in ways that few in the FCS have seen.
If the Nebraska football program decided that Sanders was the guy and he agreed to the job, it seems like a match that could work out. But there are likely safer choices out there for the Cornhuskers.