Finebaum slams Deion Sanders; Coach Prime reacts

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Paul Finebaum slams Deion Sanders; Coach Prime reacts

Updated: Jun. 14, 2024, 5:52 a.m.|Published: Jun. 13, 2024, 8:00 p.m.

3–4 minutes

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders during the first half of an NCAA spring college football game Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)AP

Deion Sanders is great at marketing himself but has done nothing to prove his worth at Colorado as a football coach. Those are the latest words from Paul Finebaum.

The SEC Network analyst went on the offensive this week when talking about Coach Prime.

“He really never beat anyone of consequence, but that didn’t stop us from talking about it,” Finebaum said during his weekly appearance on “McElroy and Cubеlic in thе Morning.” “By the way, I’m guilty. I was on those shows as you were. But it felt surreal, and I’ll never forget being asked. I think Stephen A. Smith asked me in the second week of the season, ‘Hey, do you think they’re a playoff team?’

“I had a hard time answering with a straight face, because I think he had just been out there, and he believed in it. But that was never real.”

Colorado won its first three games of the 2023 season before dropping eight of its last nine.

“First of all, he is a celebrity, but he’s not a celebrity as a coach. To me, Deion, it’s all about what he did previously, and I think that’s why I give him a lot of credit for calling himself Coach Prime. Because that puts the emphasis on being a coach,” Finebaum said.

“But listen, he is an industry-created coaching celebrity. What happened last year was generational, but it was mostly forced and created, and it was really in many ways illegitimate.”

Sanders took to social media after the remarks to post the following:

“We’re spending too much time trying to be who we think people want us to be instead of who we are,” Coach Prime posted on “X,” the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Ain’t nobody close to perfection, and everybody’s judged so be you flawed and unfinished. A flawed you is better than being the lie you’re pretending to be. God bless you.

Finebaum, on Thursday during an appearance on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, said the topic came up about Sanders during a conversation about coaches in general.

“The funny thing is I forgot Deion was coaching,” Finebaum said Thursday. “We were talking about the relevant coaches. I just don’t really think about him in those type of conversations. That’s why I said what I did, and it created some news. Apparently, Deion responded. Good for him.

“I respect him. I think we all respect him as one of the greatest marketers we have ever seen, but he’s proven absolutely nothing as a head football coach at Colorado.”

The remarks are made at the 48:40 mark of the audio below.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.

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