It's Prime Time for USC Football
Reggie Bush was on to something when he endorsed Deion Sanders to become the next USC head coach
Two games in to the 2021 football season, USC fired head coach Clay Helton after six years of perpetuating what has become nothing short of a legacy of mediocrity at Southern Cal. Apparently the first five seasons of average wasn’t enough evidence for the Athletic Director – he needed the 42-28 throttling by Stanford earlier this month to really put him over the edge. In the wake of Helton’s departure, the inevitable “who’s next” conversation starting swirling as the sports world speculated where USC would turn to try save its crumbling program.
The next Saturday – September 18 – on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show, former Trojan running back and Fox host Reggie Bush made a coaching endorsement I’m pretty sure none of his co-hosts saw coming: Deion Sanders. Hosts Matt Leinart and Brady Quinn were clearly skeptical. After a little back and forth between Reggie and the rest of the crew, it was clear the idea wasn’t getting much traction and the conversation moved on.
Over the next week, Bush’s white hot take made its way through the sports talk circuit. The usual suspects weighed in with varying levels of excitement. Deion even responded to Bush’s comments, thanking him for the vote of confidence but making clear he was “locked in” as the head coach at Jackson State, where he’s been for just over a year. Talk of the recommendation continued to ping ponged around the internet for a bit and then fizzled.
But despite the lukewarm reception by some in the sports media, USC should 100% hire Sanders as its next head coach. Honestly, it’s the perfect move. USC’s football program has been on life support for over ten years. Since being voted team of the decade in 2009 by multiple media outlets, the Trojans have racked up a pedestrian 91-46 record and only won the Pac-12 one time. All the winning left with Pete Carroll in 2009, and on his way out the door USC was hit with the now-infamous Reggie-Bush-related NCAA sanctions (if you’re not cheating, you don’t really want to win, right?). Since then, the Trojans have been in full-on coaching carousel mode, hopping from one lame horse to the next and in the process ruining the legacy of one of the most storied programs in college football history. Southern Cal needs a complete makeover. And I’m not talking about the outfit change and makeup makeover, I mean the liposuction and kale salads for six months kind. Burn it to the ground.
And who better to rebuild a football program in the middle of the glitz and glam of Tinsel Town than… Prime Time. Prime was born for LA. The guy has the biggest personality in football and even now, at 54, when the that smile flashes, cameras follow. In an age dominated by social media and in a world where college quarterbacks are landing million-dollar endorsement deals, Neon Deion is the man for the job. Prime is the OG Instagram influencer. Just look at this shot from draft night 1989 and tell me you disagree.
If USC wants to return to its former glory, it needs to forget about how it did it before, move on from the recycled coaching choices it loves so much, and build a new kind of program that reflects the flashy lights of Hollywood. And Sanders is the man to do it.
No one on earth could bring more attention to the USC football program. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone other than Deion and his personality could fit in Texas Stadium when he played for the Cowboys. The guy oozes charisma. The outfits, the laugh, the funny sayings. I mean what other college football coach heads out to the practice field wearing a gold chain with a pendant that says “Prime” on it? The guy is all time. He’s a magnet for attention. He basically came out of the womb in front of a camera. Deion has worked (or still works) as a personality for ESPN, CBS, the NFL Network, and even Barstool Sports. He’s had his own reality TV show about him and his wife (Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love – won an Emmy… lol). And while I’m sure you think this is a lie, Deion even appeared on an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls in 2014 – even nature can’t get the best of Prime. If there’s anyone positioned to bring the spotlight back to Southern Cal it’s Deion. With Prime Time shouting at Pac-12 refs while rocking that chain in the LA Coliseum every Saturday, I guarantee you I’d stay up to midnight to watch the games. And so would everyone else.
Who knows, Sanders might even get the Trojans featured on Hard Knocks.
And it isn’t just attention Deion would bring to USC. The guy would flat out get the horses. Right now, southern California is hemorrhaging its top talent to the best programs around the country. Believe it or not, the starting quarterbacks for Alabama, Ole Miss, Clemson, Ohio State, and Georgia all grew up within 50 miles of the USC campus. Unbelievable. With Coach Prime at the helm, no way that kind of talent is making it out of the state. I mean who wouldn’t sign on the dotted line if Deion Sanders came strolling into their living room. Even in his first year at Jackson State, Sanders had the 55th best recruiting class in the country and the highest rated recruiting class among FCS schools – in one year. What do you think this guy could do with the USC name… and recruiting budget? It would be absolutely lights out.
People have tossed around names like former Washington coach Chris Peterson or James Franklin at Penn State as possible heirs to the USC job. But do we really think these guys can recruit in southern California? Honestly, Peterson or Franklin going to Compton to recruit kind of feels like Napoleon Dynamite showing up at the basketball court at Rucker Park in Harlem and calling next game. It just doesn’t work. You need someone rolling into South Central with some LA pizazz and swag. And Prime’s got endless amounts.
And lest you think Deion is all sizzle and no steak. You would be sorely mistaken, my friend. For those of you who don’t know your football history, Sanders was a two time All-American cornerback at Florida State, the fifth overall pick in the 1989 draft, an eight time pro bowl selection, a two time Super Bowl champion, and a Hall of Famer. If Jets corner Darrelle Revis put wide receivers on an island, Deion Sanders locked them up in Alcatraz. Prime would lock you down and do it with style. In case you were in diapers when Deion was taking QBs’ lunch money, here’s a compilation of all of Neon’s pick sixes, complete with some great high-stepping into the end zone. Truly a thing of beauty. And those touchdown dances are just tremendous.
I’m not saying every good player is a good coach, but Deion’s knowledge of the game coupled with his next level intensity and discipline sets him apart. The recent wisdom he dropped here on how to practice is all you need to see. And let’s be honest, we’ve all see less qualified guys get bigger jobs… (cough, Kliff Kingsbury failing up from a losing record at Texas Tech to become the Arizona Cardinal’s head coach).
Look, I get it, Deion is new to the coaching ranks and there’s some natural skepticism about handing him to keys to one of the biggest castles in college football. But USC needs to go big… and new. The Luke Fickells of the world or the Matt Campells or even the James Franklins for that matter just aren’t going to change the tide in SoCal. The Men of Troy need someone who embodies the ethos of La La Land and can use it to their advantage. Who would do that better than Deion?
USC, it’s Prime Time, baby. I know he’s said “no” publicly, but what does one call from the Athletic Director hurt, right?