This week’s newsletter is not about football. That’s just the medium, the vehicle that carries this story. This story is about following your vision, understanding your purpose, empathizing with loss, the challenges of history and culture, and not letting others define that for you.

This past week, Deion Sanders—Primetime, Prime, Neon Deion, NFL Legend—accepted the head coaching position at the University of Colorado, leaving that position he held for three years at Jackson State University.

And yet as Jemele Hill writes in the Atlantic - the former NFL star got a great new coaching job. But what happens to schools like Jackson State? 

This is an HBCU that had one of the most famous players in NFL history as its head coach, and wow, did he take the program to new heights! During the last three years under Deion, JSU has smashed attendance records, built a new practice field and new locker rooms, landed a giant Under Armor endorsements deal, signed the top-rated high school prospect, earned back-to-back SWAC championships, and finished this past season 12-0.

But what happens now? Is there a time limit on what God calls you to do? Did he walk and serve in his purpose so that others might follow or emulate him? Which lives at JSU did he transform so that all tides now rise? Or, do HBCUs have many fleeting moments like this one only to settle back into under-resourced options and opportunities? The narrative has certainly sparked a polarizing debate over the past two weeks.

There is no denying that Prime has a following. What attracts people to Deion is that he’s not your ordinary coach who communicates in an ordinary way. Like other elite athletes in sports, he’s driven by purpose. He not only has a vision, but he also has a clear point of view on what he can do. Deion: “I expect to be great. I expect to do what hasn’t been done. I expect to provoke change.” He is, he has, and he does.

What’s most impressive about Deion is when he arrives, he brings the whole Primetime package. He moved his family to Jackson, a complex city with enormous opportunity gaps. And in Primetime style, he elevated not just the football team but the whole campus and community. Deion’s presence generated an extra $16 million for local businesses in his first year there and $30 million last year. Each year, he donated half his salary back to the university. ESPN broadcast its flagship “College GameDay” show from JSU’s home finale, a rarity for an HBCU. He elevated himself, his family, the community at large, and his coaches and players, whether they were going to the NFL or not.

Check out this graphic to see how the Prime Effect has already taken hold at CU in less than a week.

So yes, we understand the JSU disappointment. Even the criticism in the larger media and communities that thought Deion was disingenuous. We get it. We’re sports fanatics and nuanced at the same time.

We also have some questions.

Let’s not forget that major Power 5s like the SEC and his own Seminoles at Florida State passed on the opportunity to bring Deion in. Prime is not going to kiss those rings, and neither should you. Want to know how you can think and walk more like Deion Sanders?

Check out our CEO Bryan Setser’s video below.

The time was right for Deion to take the Primetime show to new spaces and places, and he arrived in Prime fashion. Change isn’t knocking on the CU door. It blew off the hinges. Deion embraces and understands the new college playbook better than anyone else. The free agency in the NCAA transfer portal and the financial opportunities in the Name Image Likeness (NIL) rules are right out of Deion’s playbook. As usual, the old institutions are catching up with the agents of change. 

Deion’s Twitter feed blew up with literally hundreds of players from around the country contacting him with their stats and bios. Yes, Primetime changes are coming to the CU Buffaloes. Deion is the face that lets other Black players and coaches realize they belong at that level and anywhere else that their vision and purpose take them. Representation matters at all levels and in all places.

See, this is not a football story. It’s a story that raises many questions about where, how, and how long we belong to a story. It’s about moving into places and spaces where you have the guaranteed right to be, a right earned over and over again. And a right certainly to be discussed, analyzed, celebrated, and lamented from multiple perspectives.

And as always with our e-letters, here are some tools and resources that can help frame further discussions on economics, race, and class mobility

This week, we are celebrating the Prime Team debate with our work in terms of activating DEI discussions with the University of South Florida and their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate, offered by the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. Setser Group team members have learned the essential practices and tools designed to increase employee diversity and to create a business model that embraces equity and inclusion of people, new profit models, and the planet. The seven-week program, created in partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Jabil, focuses on ways for organizations to create diverse workplaces, address equity issues, and foster inclusivity. 

Learn more in this video below from Module 1, where two other Hall of Famers, Derek Brooks and Coach Tony Dungy, talk about DEI in the workplace and the connection to emotional intelligence for self, others, and society.

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