Thirty-five years ago, new Atlanta Falcon Deion Sanders arrived in Suwanee, Ga., with a carefully crafted reputation.
During his college career at Florida State, he had driven to a game in a white stretch limo and stepped out wearing a tuxedo. Sanders was known for strutting into end zones in a way hardly anyone else dared do at the time. He told media members that Florida receivers “must think I’m God.”
“He was known for his flashy suits and alligator shoes, gold chains and his signature diamond-studded dollar sign, maybe a silk pork pie hat,” Falcons teammate Tim Green wrote in an email.
So Green had concerns.
Then he met him.
“The first time I saw him in person was in training camp in the Falcon Inn lobby, I did a double take,” Green wrote. “Prime Time was just Deion, dressed in a pair of Falcons shorts and a nondescript T-shirt.”
Green asked him why he wasn’t wearing his signature jewelry.
“Aw, that’s just for show, Tim,’” Sanders told the defensive end.
Green, like almost everyone, saw the style initially but the substance eventually. The substance has resurfaced this season as he has led the University of Colorado to a 9-3 record. Sanders has been so impressive that he may draw interest from NFL teams looking for a head coach.
The Athletic spoke with 10 people who worked with Sanders during his NFL days. None envisioned Sanders as a coach who would turn around a major college football program, but their stories make it easier to connect the dots between Neon Deion and Coach Prime.
Sanders’ path to the Alamo Bowl this weekend wound through eight years of coaching at the high school level and three years at Jackson State. But it began when he was doing the Deion Shuffle.
Though Sanders the football player was often perceived as self-aggrandizing, some in his circle saw something else. They saw him as a unifier.
“The players gravitated to him,” says Jerry Glanville, who coached Sanders for four years in Atlanta. “They loved him.”
Deion Sanders began his NFL career with the Falcons in 1989, also playing baseball for the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves well into the 1990s. (Focus on Sport / Getty Images)
Glanville says teammates enjoyed it when Sanders brought celebrity friends like MC Hammer and Mr. T around the team.
When quarterback Bobby Hebert played against Sanders as a member of the Saints, he says he thought Sanders was cocky. Then Hebert signed with the Falcons as a free agent in 1993.
“As a teammate, you see he got along with everybody,” Hebert says. “We are both from the South, so we would go get a cane pole and go fishing together. The No. 1 asset he has is communication skills — how he interacted with the players in the locker room and meeting room. It didn’t matter if they were White or Black, and he was able to relate to different generations.”
Hebert believes Sanders’ ability to relate serves him well as a coach.
“When he is 70 or 80, he’ll still be able to relate to 20-year-olds,” Hebert says. “I would bet he’s an unbelievable recruiter.”
Green believes Sanders’ Christian faith, which he is vocal about, helps him as a leader.
“It’s the basis for his leadership,” Green wrote. “Jesus said to lead is to serve … and as the bright star of our team, he used his position to serve and therefore lead. He was humble and kind to every single man in that locker room.”
In 1992, Sanders agreed to film a Nike commercial in which he would appear as “Sanderclause.” Director Mike Gann asked him to pick five “brothers” from the team to be in the commercial with him to play “ghetto elves.” Sanders showed up with three African Americans and two White players, including Green. When Gann expressed dismay, Sanders told him, “I brought three of my Black brothers and two of my White brothers.”
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Sanders signed with the 49ers after the 1993 season and some of his new teammates viewed the addition with trepidation.
Steve Young says Sanders pulled him aside on his first day with the team.
“I want you to know that the marketing stuff is one of my geniuses,” Sanders told the quarterback. “But don’t let it confuse you. I am a tremendous teammate. I’m great in the locker room. I’ll always be there for game day. So you don’t ever have to worry about it or doubt it. Now, this other stuff, just get some popcorn and watch me.”
Young found out it wasn’t just talk.
“There is a sophistication to his ways,” Young says. “That conversation was unusual in how direct and mature it was. And then he was a tremendous teammate and amazing in the locker room, everything you could want. He was able to separate the work section and the popcorn section. And I think what they are seeing at Colorado now is very similar.”
In 1994, the 49ers were a team on the cusp. The Cowboys had been beaten them in the NFC Championship Game in each of the two previous seasons, and they needed something — someone — to push them past their rivals. With a bump from Sanders, they beat the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game and then defeated the Chargers in the Super Bowl. Sanders had interceptions in both games.
“He brought a new energy,” says Merton Hanks, who played safety for the 49ers in those days. “He was able to bring in a superstar wattage, but at the same time blend into the culture we had established with other superstars like Jerry Rice and Steve Young while tweaking the culture as we went along. That team wasn’t as corporate as the previous 49ers champions were. I give Deion all the credit in the world for what he did with that team.”
Blending in was more challenging for Sanders when he signed with the Cowboys in 1995. After winning two Super Bowls, the Cowboys looked like they were starting to splinter in 1994 under new coach Barry Switzer.
Jason Garrett, a backup quarterback on that Cowboys team, says the players who set the tone for the Cowboys had won the Super Bowls before Switzer — Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Emmitt Smith, Darryl Johnston, Mark Stepnoski, Mark Tuinei and Tony Tolbert. However, he said Sanders was embraced as a leader as well.
“I’m not sure I’ve been around a guy who had more of an ability to naturally connect with teammates,” he says. “Obviously the defensive backs and guys on defense were all close with him. But he was amazing at developing relationships with everybody on the team.”
In training camp, Cowboys players drove golf carts like those on a public course. Sanders, however, had a Mercedes golf cart with air conditioning and other upgrades. Garrett says no one resented him for it.
The Cowboys had longer meetings than Sanders was accustomed to, and he found the chairs in the Cowboys meeting room uncomfortable, so Sanders bought a luxurious, ergonomic chair — ostensibly for himself.
“It was like he was making a statement,” Cowboys linebacker Jim Schwantz says. “‘We’re meeting too much so I’m going to get this nice chair.’ But then he let everybody else sit in it.”
Deion Sanders won a Super Bowl with the 49ers in the 1994 season, then won another the following year with Michael Irvin, right, and the Cowboys. (Monica Davies / AFP via Getty Images)
Sanders also worked with younger defensive backs in practice, according to Schwantz. “Deion was always forthcoming with his knowledge and tried to help the younger players,” Schwantz says.
One of Sanders’ pregame rituals was laying his uniform on the floor, from his neckband to his socks. Whenever defensive end Charles Haley saw the uniform, he messed it up — he did it at least three times before every game. Instead of getting angry, Sanders laughed with him. That helped Sanders earn Haley’s respect. Haley was a volatile presence on those Cowboys teams, but Sanders calmed him and acted as a liaison between Haley and the teammates he offended, according to Schwantz.
Sanders’ presence helped the Cowboys reclaim their throne as the NFL’s best, and he won his second Super Bowl in two seasons. Five years later, he left for a seven-year, $56 million contract with Washington. There, Sanders was part of an uncomfortable mix of future Hall of Fame cornerbacks. He started along with Champ Bailey, who was in his second season, while Darrell Green, a team legend, came off the bench.
“It was an awkward situation with him and Darrell Green and Champ Bailey as far as who’s going to be the guy and who’s going to start,” says Mark Carrier, a safety on that team. “It just made for a little uneasiness for everybody. But he didn’t go around saying, ‘It should be me, should be me.’ It was never like that. It was just always about being professional. ‘How can I help the team? What do we need to do to win?’”
After Carrier allowed a touchdown pass, he says Sanders lifted his spirits. And he remembers him being kind to his wife and playing catch with his son.
Washington, however, was a mess, and Sanders, at 33, surprisingly retired after the season.
Four years later, he made a comeback with the Ravens. By then, Sanders was a role player who had to navigate the big personalities of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
“He understood I’m not the guy, and I don’t have to be,” says Brian Billick, the coach of those teams. “I can let Ray and Ed be out front, follow their leadership and then work in that next level to be a leader himself.”
Billick remembers Sanders counseling young players, especially those with attitudes that weren’t helping them or the team.
“He was very upfront with them about the mistakes he made when he was younger, both on and off the field,” Billick says. “He wanted to be an example, and I imagine he’s the same way now with his college players.”
No coach has success without passion for the game. Sanders’ colleagues observed an abundance of it in him during his time in the league.
Green says he never saw a player as serious about the game as Sanders.
“I remember when a helicopter dropped him off when he was playing for the Braves and the Falcons at the same time,” Green wrote. “He hopped off that bird onto the grass, raced into the locker room, emerged in record time, sprinted right into the middle of a team drill and began making calls for the secondary.”
Ken Herock, the Falcons’ player personnel director who drafted Sanders, marveled at how quickly Sanders transitioned between baseball and football.
“He put in a lot of time to catch up with film study, and then went on the field like it was just automatic,” Herock says.
However, some teammates in Dallas questioned Sanders’ work ethic and influence, according to the book “Boys Will Be Boys” by Jeff Pearlman. Sanders refused to take part in the team’s strength program and didn’t pay attention to tape in team meetings, where he doodled and dozed off, according to the book.
Then-Cowboys cornerback Kevin Smith told Pearlman there was a division between Sanders and Aikman, who didn’t appreciate any player who wasn’t completely committed to making the Cowboys the best they could be.
“When Deion came in, something changed for the worse,” Smith said. “Guys who should have been studying football on a Wednesday at 12 were focused on other things. Deion was such a freaky athlete that he could shake one leg and be ready to cover anyone. But the guys following his lead weren’t nearly as talented.”
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Regardless, Sanders enhanced the team dynamic with competitiveness, according to Garrett.
“Some of the best competitions I ever saw in practice were between Deion and Michael Irvin, one-on-one,” Garrett says. “It was something else. He brought a different energy.”
Both Hanks and Carrier remember Sanders watching tape right up until games began.
“He always didn’t have to study, but he was a studier,” Hanks says. “Literally minutes before going out on game day, he’d be studying film for any edge he could find. And that’s what you’re seeing in his coaching career.”
“He’s one of the few people I ever saw have video going in his locker all the time,” Carrier says. “He was always trying to find an edge.”
Sanders, in the opinion of Herock, understood what he was seeing on tape better than most. As a result of Sanders’ feel for personnel, Herock sometimes consulted him about cornerbacks and wide receivers. “He was pretty sharp in that regard,” Herock says.
Billick says Sanders showed an intuitive understanding of the game and could take a global view of the Ravens defense instead of focusing solely on his assignment. Hanks says he was an underrated student of the game. Schwantz and Garrett called him one of the smartest football players they were around.
Seven years ago, Garrett, then head coach of the Cowboys, found himself on an airplane with Sanders as both were returning to Dallas from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. Sanders, who was broadcasting for NFL Network and coaching at Triple A Academy in Dallas, suggested that he talk to the Cowboys defensive backs. Garrett asked if he’d also be willing to speak with the coaching staff. Two days later, Sanders stood before the Cowboys coaches in the defensive meeting room at Valley Ranch and gave one of the best clinics Garrett ever has witnessed.
Sanders began by talking about a cornerback’s stance in press coverage and demonstrated his, getting low and waving his arms so his fingertips were grazing the ground.
“People used to say I did this because I was a hot dog,” Sanders told them. “No, that wasn’t it. It was about me making sure my knees were bent and my ass was down enough. That was my gauge to make sure I was as low as I needed to be.”
He went on to talk about where his eyes should go, wide receiver splits, how a cornerback can benefit from being aware of down and distance, how he played Cover 2 and press bail and much more.
Sanders talked for three hours and then spent another couple of hours on the field with the group.
“A lot of veteran coaches were looking at me like, ‘Holy s—,’” Garrett says. “It was just amazing, phenomenal.”
When Sanders was playing, all the attention was on his flash — his spectacular flash. Also evident but not often acknowledged were many qualities of a winning coach.
(Top illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; photos: John E. Moore III, David Madison, John Biever / Sports Illustrated, Mitchell Layton, Albert Dickson / Getty Images)