Gwinn: Deion Sanders Needs to Make His Success About Religion, Not Race

A sense of euphoria and amazement dominated the field in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday after Deion Sanders and his completely remade roster of Colorado Buffaloes pulled off an incredible win on the home turf of a team that made it to the national championship game last year.

That’s no mean feat. It was Sanders’ first game as the head coach at Colorado. It was the first game in FCS for the lion’s share of his roster. TCU returned a talented group of players and new recruits after last year’s national championship appearance and was chomping at the bit to continue that success on their home field.

But Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, had other plans. Throwing for 510 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, Shedeur led a Colorado offense that put up 45 points on what had been a well-regarded defense.

After the game, Sanders gave glory to God for his team’s incredible performance.

“God bless you, America. God is good,” Sanders told sideline reporter Jenny Taft just after the game ended. Inspiring! An uplifting and unifying message consistent with the faith-focused message that Sanders has often preached, even before his time at Jackson State.

However, in the post-game press conference, Sanders’ tone took a decidedly disunifying turn as he talked about how his “75% African American” roster would be seen as “threatening,” and how “they” don’t like that. He also took a few shots at the media for good measure.

“We do things that had never been done, and that makes people uncomfortable,” Sanders said, and continued:

When you see a confident black man, sitting up there talking his talk, walking his walk, coaching 75% African Americans in the locker room, that’s kind of threatening. Oh, they don’t like that. Guess what? We gonna consistently do what we do, because I’m here and ain’t going nowhere. And I’m about to get comfortable in a minute.

What happened to “God bless you, America?”

Who does Sanders believe is “threatened” by his 75% black roster? Certainly not the boosters at Colorado who paid the tens of millions of dollars necessary to bring him and several of his former Jackson State players to Colorado. All the while knowing what Sanders planned to do with the program and the direction he wanted to take it.

And who are “they?” Are “they” the majority white announcers who spent most of Saturday praising Sanders for turning a dead-in-the-water program around and injecting it with life?

I know no one who feels threatened by Deion Sanders or his roster of players, regardless of their color or in what percentage of the roster they may be. I root for a football team with no white players on the starting defense and only a few on the starting offense. Looking at the college football landscape, it’s safe to say that many of you probably root for similarly constructed teams.

And, just like many of you, I go hoarse cheering for those teams every weekend. It’s 2023, and it simply doesn’t matter anymore. If Deion Sanders wants to make his success about proving that a majority black football team can win at a high level, he’s at least 60 years too late.

Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes calls a play against the TCU Horned Frogs during the first half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on September 2, 2023, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

Even if Sanders wants to make his success about winning with HBCU players, that ship hath also sailed. Currently, 34 HBCU alums are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, nearly 10 percent of the total number of players immortalized in the hall.

In addition, over 56.4 percent of NFL players are black.

In truth, Deion Sanders probably wants to do both. He probably wants to make his success about God and the triumph of an overwhelmingly black roster consisting largely of former HBCU players.

But the reality is he can’t have it both ways.

The media will ditch his faith-focused message and seize on his racial victimization talk faster than his legendary 1989 40-yard-dash time at the NFL Combine.

No, the truth is he can only have one narrative. I hope he picks the right one.