Deion Sanders has done something that very few black athletes have done for the culture since Muhammad Ali refused to fight in Vietnam. Ali stood up for what was right and literally sacrificed his career to help change the consciousness of America.
Deion Sanders or Coach Prime, as he is known now, is sacrificing his time and resources to help change the football fortunes of one of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Jackson State University. Not the mention the countless lives he’s changing in that locker room. In less than three years JSU has gone from football irrelevance to one of the most talked about and watched programs in America.
He initially accepted the job for a mere $300k per year and that number has improved to $500K according to a report on 60 minutes. However, that’s still peanuts relative to what the Power 5 coaches are paid. Some of the most mediocre programs at that level are paying coaches $4 to $5 million per year. It’s only a matter of time before Coach Prime leaves JSU for the big time.
Everybody and their Uncle Charlie knows that Coach Prime can’t continue to work as hard as he’s working to change the culture, recruit the best talent and win championships for peanuts. At some point he’s out of there.
Wouldn’t it be great if our other wealthy African-American athletes, celebrities and entertainers cared more about uplifting the culture like those that came before them? “WHAT IF!?”
Remember when folks like Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, Sidney Poitier, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte, Jackie Robinson, Ossie Davis, Sam Cooke and the great Martin Luther King Jr cared more about the culture than their own personal careers? I’m not saying that folks should stop what they’re doing and go all in for JSU. I’m just saying, do what the Power 5 schools do to keep the coach that’s literally changing the culture of college football for HBCU’s.
The old timers were willing to use their time, talents and resources to improve the lives of black people in America even when they were, to some degree, privileged. The only problem was, they didn’t have the resources that these guys have today. Not even close!!!
Just think of what they could have accomplished if they had the resources that today’s athletes, celebrities and entertainers have. We wouldn’t be worried about when Coach Prime would be leaving Jackson State if we had the wealthiest of blacks supporting it. Prime could be a generational game changer for all HBCU programs if he could just stay long enough to completely shift the perception.
It’s typically not the school at the major Power 5 that puts up the money to keep or bring in a coach. The boosters come up with the bread to make it happen. They’ve got accounts funded by boosters only specifically for that type of expense.
We’ve got African-Americans out here worth in upwards of $6.6 billion down to several folks that are hovering just above a billion and just below a billion. Not to mention the countless athletes and entertainers in the $350 million to a half billion dollar range that trick off money buying depreciating items just for kicks and giggles. I’m not saying don’t trick off money that clearly belongs to you. However, what I am saying is that if you’re going to trick off money there are better ways to trick it off. Support the HBCU’s and help fund their scholarship funds or help raise the bread to keep the coach. If the team is winning the school wins. Revenue just shows up.
You mean to tell me that we can’t come up with $20 million over the next 4 years to keep Coach Prime and another $3 million to pay his assistants? That would literally change the landscape of college football? Our little HBCU’s would no longer be little because the media follows the talent and talent generates even more revenue not only for the football program but for the school in general. Merchandising goes through the roof. We’re seeing that now.
When the football team is winning the enrollment goes up. Don’t believe me? Look it up. When schools win championships the freshmen enrollment increases on average by 30 percent. You do the math. When the school is winning more revenue is generated. That money builds new structures on campus and funds scholarships not only for athletes but non-athletes as well. EVERYBODY benefits.
If the talent is suddenly landing in Jackson. The television revenue will too. That will not only help JSU but everyone in the SWAC eats.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100 whichever comes first! Nearly 70 percent of the players in the NFL are black. Prior to 1970 most of the black players in the NFL came from HBCU’s because most schools in America would not allow black players to enroll.
After 1970 predominantly white institutions learned very quickly that if they wanted to compete with those schools that had started recruiting black players, they needed to fill their rosters with them too. Thus, the HBCU’s talent pool declined.
What if, those aforementioned wealthy African-Americans suddenly became boosters to not only JSU but to all HBCU’s across this country? Our white counterparts do it at their institutions of higher learning. Why can’t we? It’s the American way. Come up with the bread to keep the coach.
Coach Prime has atleast shifted the consciousness to the “WHAT IF” when we never thought there was a chance someone like him would even entertainment the idea. He’s already signed the No.1 recruit in America in the Class of 2021, Travis Hunter.
That opens the door for more forward thinking and the opportunity for Jackson State to once again become a major player in the world of college football.
What if, today’s wealthiest black celebrities cared about the culture as much as their predecessors did? Well…we wouldn’t be talking about WHAT IF now would be?