Deion Sanders Under Fire For Shot At ACC Coach Who Took First Shot At Him

Deion Sanders has never been one to shy away from controversy.

It was true during his playing days. It was true during his time as an analyst for NFL Network, and it’s certainly true of his coaching career.

Most recently, Sanders has come under fire for his roster building (and trimming) tactics in his first year at the University of Colorado.

Sanders has sent in the area of 50 players packing via the transfer portal between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and not everybody is happy about it.

Other coaches across the country have spoken out against Sanders’ method, with Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi speaking the most loudly.

“That’s not the way it’s meant to be,” Narduzzi told Brandon Marcello of 247Sports.. “That’s not what the rule intended to be. It was not to overhaul your roster. We’ll see how it works out but that, to me, looks bad on college football coaches across the country. The reflection is on one guy right now but when you look at it overall — those kids that have moms and dads and brothers and sisters and goals in life — I don’t know how many of those 70 that left really wanted to leave or they were kicked in the butt to get out.”

Narduzzi suggest Sanders take a different approach.

“I grew up in a profession that you can’t tell a guy that he has to leave based on athletic ability,” he said. “I think he’ll be shocked that he probably had some pretty good football players in that room. When I got to Pitt back in 2015, I didn’t kick anybody off. Zero. Those are your guys. When you become a head coach you inherit that team and you coach that team. If someone wants to leave, that’s great. You don’t kick them out. I disagree with that whole process. That’s not why I got in the game.”

Sanders, however, isn’t having any of it.

“What was his situation when he came to Pitt? He had a different situation than me. He is not mad at me, he is mad at the situation in football now that allowed his best player to leave a year ago,” Sanders said in a recent interview. He’s not mad at me, he’s using me to shoot bullets at another coach who he has an issue with. I don’t know who he is; if he walked in here right now I wouldn’t know him.”

Those comments didn’t exactly sit well with college football fans.

Maybe Sanders comes out and blows the world away and makes everyone look silly this season. But he doesn’t, he may have to eat a large slice of humble pie.