Deion Sanders: ‘I don’t think I’m built’ to be an NFL head coach

“I don’t think I’m built for the NFL,” Sanders said. “I appreciate the game so much, and I respect the game so much and what the game has consistently done for me.”

Sanders, who took the Colorado job this past December after three seasons at Jackson State, added he has no interest in coaching millionaires who may not respect the game as much as he does.

“When I see a guy getting paid millions and millions of dollars and he has no respect for the game, does not want to excel and exceed expectations of the game, I’m gonna have a true problem,” Sanders said. “I’m too brutally honest and I want to win that much. And I need everybody that respects the game, and oftentimes money clouds that judgment.”

Colorado going through growing pains in 1st season under Deion Sanders

Sanders has guided the Buffaloes to a respectable 4-5 start in his first season at the helm, though the team has struggled in recent weeks. Following a 3-0 start and a national ranking in the AP Poll, Colorado has dropped five of their last six games, including a 26-19 defeat to No. 16 Oregon State (7-2) this past Saturday. The offense, humming throughout the first half of the season, has dried up over the past couple weeks.

Sanders has since made a change, demoting offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and elevating Pat Shurmur into the role. After a lackluster offensive showing in Shurmur’s debut as play-caller, a reporter asked Sanders at his Tuesday press conference if the play-calling duties would remain under the 58-year-old’s control.

“Let that go man,” Sanders said. “Just let it go. You barkin’ up a tree you ain’t gonna get up. So just let it go. We’re some happy people around here, and we’re ecstatic. We’re blessed… Not where we want to be, but we ain’t where we used to be. And we going in the right direction.

“So we’re good … All that controversy and that stuff, we trying to raise these kids man. Grown folks’ problems, that don’t help kids. And I’ve been through two divorces, and I know that for a fact. Grown folks’ problems don’t help kids.”