Why Deion Sanders claims the days of the student-athlete are dead originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Deion Sanders has been as vocal regarding the changes needed in college football as much as any Power 4 head football coach. Including player contracts, a possible salary cap and NFL-type rules changes. With the biggest need potentially being a Power Four Commissioner.
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Sanders joined the set of First Take on Friday while on a media tour for Super Bowl 60. This guest appearance on the popular ESPN panel show has already gone semi-viral. Coming on the heels of his son Shedeur’s first Pro Bowl appearance, the younger Sanders was bound to come up.
The question of Sanders making the jump to coach in the NFL is what went viral. National outlets have been itching for Sanders to become an NFL story, despite the volume of times he’s said he’s not interested. Sanders was very adamant that following his son’s historic draft slide, there is nothing that would entice him to coach in the NFL after that transpired.
A relatively predictable soundbite from the Colorado head coach. What was less than predictable was his ‘student-athlete’ take two questions earlier. Former player and current NFL analyst for ESPN Ryan Clark used the term ‘student-athlete’ and Sanders felt compelled to correct him.
“It’s athlete-student,” Sanders said. “Ain’t no student-athlete no more.”
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Sanders believes the term should be ‘athlete-student’
Sanders’ take and flipping the order of that phrase is noteworthy. The idea of the ‘student-athlete’ was popularized a very long time ago when the concept was student first, athlete second.
The issue is, NIL or not, the idea that football players are student’s first and athletes’ second has been questionable for over 20 years. Universities, programs and even athletic department consistently use that phrase even though it hasn’t been accurate for some time.
Sanders did follow his ‘athletes-students’ correction by stumping for his team’s academic performance. An idea that is only made more curious when his son Shedeur and many of the players from the 2024 season achieved those high marks while doing 100% of their classes virtually.
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Sanders did use this moment to marry two concepts that many college football coaches have already spoken out on. The college football calendar. Adding how can they be student-athletes when the portal opens before the end of the semester.
The calendar is a problem and doesn’t prioritize ‘students’
“How is it about the student-athletes when we have a portal at the time that we had?” Sanders asked. “Now our academic departments have to work their butts off even to get all these kids enrolled. That was tremendous. That was a tremendous task. And I thank our CU department for doing that. But (the NCAA is) not thinking about the academic part of the students. They’re thinking about the athletic parts, because that’s the part that provokes the most money.”
Sanders also invoked another large elephant in the room. College football has become the Wild Wild West with changes but no oversight or regulation. Lending his voice to maybe the largest and most urgent need for the conferences, which is a commissioner.
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“What the NIL is presenting is not sustainable,” Sanders said. “We need some type of Commissioner. And we need somebody to step up and make sure we’re doing this thing in unison.”
Until there is a commissioner or a governing body over all four of the conferences, decisions will continue to be made subjectively and by individual conferences almost unilaterally of what is best for all involved. That will inevitably continue to result in a Power 4 landscape that continues to feel like the Wild Wild West. Where the rich get richer with rules and guidelines taking a backseat to a higher bidder mentality.
