Coach Prime to Colorado

WreckinGT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,988
Perception is reality. Even though I hate that saying; it is true to that person's perception.

Deion isn't on Coach of the year lists, HCBK is. What you said about Deion and Colorado may be true (I don't care enough at this point to go and check) but HCBK did much better than anyone projected (preseason 12 to end of season 4). We were in a tail spin for almost 3.5 years. We would have won only 1 game last year if not for HCBK.

Deion's brashness is who he is and it's why he was a great player. But as a coach, he's become a laughing stock. The OC debacle. The OL nonexistence. He doesn't have the luxury of blaming anyone from a previous staff, these are all his guys, his "Louis Vuitton". We have receipts from a complete year, and many are looking for a return line. The same brashness that made him a great player, will prevent him from becoming a good coach.
Let me ask you this. Lets say Brent Key takes over 1 win Colorado. He has the 8th toughest schedule in the country the following year. Do you think he would have done substantially better than Deion did?
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
9,675
I had set a reminder to come back to this post (and other similar posts) 1 year later. And here it is. We've arrived.

1 year ago today, Coach Brent Key had the interim title removed.

I'm glad that those of us who were cautiously optimistic - and apparently the greater college football world at large - recognize the results we've seen.


WreckinGT seems to be sticking to his guns on his support for Deion and his tepid, at best, feelings for Key. I guess one can admire consistency 😳
 

TampaBuzz

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
958
Let me ask you this. Lets say Brent Key takes over 1 win Colorado. He has the 8th toughest schedule in the country the following year. Do you think he would have done substantially better than Deion did?
Record wise? Maybe not. Circus wise? Yes...substantially better (in that there would be no circus).
 

kg01

Get-Bak! Coach
Featured Member
Messages
14,436
Location
Atlanta
Why yall gotta make everything about a guy that's not our coach?

Yall talk about that dude more than he talks about himself ... and that man's always talking about himself, so that's an accomplishment.
 

WreckinGT

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,988
WreckinGT seems to be sticking to his guns on his support for Deion and his tepid, at best, feelings for Key. I guess one can admire consistency 😳
Im way more on the fence about Deion but he brings more than people give him credit for. Yes, he is a walking circus and he gets substantially more heat when the team isn't playing well. He also generated record donations, sold out season tickets, created the highest priced tickets in the country for the first half of the season, had the highest TV ratings for any team for several weeks, got college gameday on campus, had the only ESPN televised spring game, etc. If he improves the team again next year with an easier schedule, all of that attention is coming back again.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
9,675
Im way more on the fence about Deion but he brings more than people give him credit for. Yes, he is a walking circus and he gets substantially more heat when the team isn't playing well. He also generated record donations, sold out season tickets, created the highest priced tickets in the country for the first half of the season, had the highest TV ratings for any team for several weeks, got college gameday on campus, had the only ESPN televised spring game, etc. If he improves the team again next year with an easier schedule, all of that attention is coming back again.
Fame is fleeting. Results over time will be the difference.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
17,821
I don't know why, but Deion just reminds me of Lane Kiffin. Both get attention wherever they go, raise the profile of the schools they're at, and always have a "circus" type atmosphere going on around them. Both also LOVE the portal (as GT fans know well with Kiffin).

I don't think Deion will continue to get the media attention Colorado got earlier in the season. That's just not sustainable unless Colorado is consistently winning their conference and going to playoff games. That's not sustainable for any school...even UGA/Bama/Ohio State/Michigan don't get the kind of media attention Colorado got to start this season. Media fatigue is a real thing...not just in sports, but with politicians and celebrities.

Deion just needs to win, but if you read the articles coming out about how he treats his staff and players, he's making it harder on himself. IMO, Year 2 for Deion is going to be a much steeper hill to climb for him than Year 1. Recruits are already decommitting and going elsewhere, and it doesn't seem coaches are excited to work with him.

We'll see. I like what Key has going for GT, and from what I've heard, Key will be getting even more financial support because of the confidence he's built in Year 1 of the Key era. Good times are coming for us.
 

cpf2001

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
803
Deion burned a lot of goodwill and attention this year, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for him to win. But he'll probably need to reduce churn and build the old fashioned way - if he couldn't win in year 1 with that much turnover when his start was super bright, it'll be hard to do it in year 2, 3, 4, now that there are more question marks. (As we've seen by how many times Da U has been "back", the media will take some interest if there are positive signs again - but also be quicker to move on at the first sign of trouble.)

And in many ways his sales pitch is weaker than it used to be despite being in a more prominent league. "Come do stuff nobody has ever done before at an HBCU" is much more of a unique proposition than "follow me to Colorado" which is Just Another School far way from a lot of recruiting hotbeds.

Which isn't to say I expect him to collapse, I think his baseline coaching abilities to win at Jackson State were definitely significant, but as you go up the ladder there's more and more other coaches who can also recruit flashily and grab press attention and bring in money for players/programs.

And I suspect that the marginal wins also get harder to come by as your baseline gets higher.
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,964
Im way more on the fence about Deion but he brings more than people give him credit for. Yes, he is a walking circus and he gets substantially more heat when the team isn't playing well. He also generated record donations, sold out season tickets, created the highest priced tickets in the country for the first half of the season, had the highest TV ratings for any team for several weeks, got college gameday on campus, had the only ESPN televised spring game, etc. If he improves the team again next year with an easier schedule, all of that attention is coming back again.
Did he do all this or did the media hype make it happen? If media goes ape over anything it will drive up ratings.
 

cpf2001

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
803
Did he do all this or did the media hype make it happen? If media goes ape over anything it will drive up ratings.
Same thing, for all intents and purposes. Look at how much we were (and still are) talking about Deion based on what he did at Jackson State before going to Colorado. The media can latch on and amplify hype, but there’s fire behind that smoke too.
 

stinger78

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,964
Same thing, for all intents and purposes. Look at how much we were (and still are) talking about Deion based on what he did at Jackson State before going to Colorado. The media can latch on and amplify hype, but there’s fire behind that smoke too.
He did what he did at Jackson State, not Colorado. Lots of lower-level coaches do well but don't get that hype. The uber-hype came mostly because he's Neon Deion, HoF NFL.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,800
Top