Getty Image
Deion Sanders, better known as Coach Prime these days, is six months into his tenure as the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes and is feeling good about the upcoming season.
We spoke with Sanders, courtesy of KFC, while he promotes his new ad campaign that features his five children – Deiondra, Deion Jr., Shilo, Shedeur, and Shelomi trying out KFC’s new chicken nuggets.
During our conversation with Coach Sanders, we asked him about how he feels about the team right now going into the season, how he defines success at Colorado, and his reaction to some of the criticism he’s received while he attempts to change the program’s culture.
On how he’s feeling so far about the progress the team has made going into the season.
“Feeling not only great about the team, I’m feeling really good about the staff, the fanbase, everything that associates itself to the University of Colorado I’m excited about.”
On how he defines success this season at Colorado.
“All the seniors graduating on time, us exceeding the GPAs, we just had the highest GPA in the history of the school for one semester for the football players and we want to exceed that.
“And for every young man that that’s in this locker room, that they go out there and play with everything they have and leave everything on the field each day.”
Sanders has received some criticism for being brash about overhauling the roster at Colorado, but it doesn’t seem to bother him because he believes he knows what it takes to construct a winning program.
“I speak the truth. I don’t sugarcoat things. I’m very honest about my feelings and what I know about the game. I played the game in a very extreme level for 14 years and I was on television for another 17 years. I think I kind of know what we’re doing, so I think I kind of know how this looks. I played for some prolific and profound owners as well as coaches in football and Major League Baseball as well.
“So I know what winning looks like. I know what organization and structure looks like, and I’m looking forward to getting to the game because we got the keys and the blueprint to do so.”
Sanders also spoke to us about his current partnership with KFC.
“It is really based on truthfulness, authenticity, and my family. I’ve been with KFC when KFC wasn’t with me. So then to have that opportunity to partner And I mean, you talking about having dinner and me going for years going to get buckets of wonderful original fried chicken from KFC and all the sides and deserts and everything and putting it in the middle of the table and the kids would have it. It helps for them now to get involved, with the chicken sandwiches, the big crispy fries and my daughter loves the nuggets, So I’m happy as a father to supply all our food needs in one stop.”
Here’s what he had to say about working with his children.
“It’s been awesome, not only working with the kids but working with my mother, four of my five kids are here on campus with me right now in Colorado. My mother lives with me as well. So that was a normal thing for us, normal going out, just us being on camera together because we have a show as well. So I’m happy that KFC, which was blessed enough to capture us just being who we truly are.”
You can catch the Sanders’ new family KFC ad below.