What Deion Sanders has done in and for HBCU football in under three years is remarkable.
Named Jackson State’s 21st head football coach in September 2020, Sanders had to navigate through Covid and begin play in February 2021. In his first, pandemic-shortened season, he led the Tigers to a 4-3 record, an improvement over the team’s 4-8 record in 2019.
That fall, Deion had a full season to prove his worth, and he didn’t disappoint.
The Tigers went 11-1 with Sanders at the helm, eventually falling to South Carolina State in the Celebration Bowl.
But what Deion Sanders did for Jackson State and HBCU football as a whole was undeniable.
After his hiring, other traditional powerhouses tapped into NFL bloodlines for their new head coaches.
Tennessee State hired former Oilers/Titans star running back, Eddie George and Grambling tapped former Browns head coach Hue Jackson.
Other institutions fell in behind the powerful draft created by Sanders and expanded their athletic offerings.
Virginia State added men’s and women’s lacrosse and soccer.
Fisk added women’s gymnastics and Tennessee State is exploring adding an ice hockey program.
While Sanders was not directly responsible for these developments, he was a major catalyst for the rejuvenated attention and financial support that HBCU athletics programs have experienced over the last two years.
But then Sanders turned the heat up on the world of college football.
The Primetime Effect
After finishing 11-2 and winning the Eddie Robinson Award for FCS Coach of the Year, Deion went back to work.
He signed two of the top recruits in the country, Travis Hunter and Kevin Coleman. Then he complemented those signings with transfers Antonio Doyle, Jr. and Keveon Mullins, two former four-star recruits.
Those signings earned him high praise from publications across the country.
Football Scoop deemed Jackson State’s 2021 recruiting class “the best in FCS history, post-integration.”
His recruiting class was even ranked ahead of FBS programs like Iowa State, UCF and BYU.
With his 2022 team secured, Sanders then turned his attention to the business side of his program.
HBCU athletics have long faced challenges of under-funding.
While the majority of FBS football programs fund their entire athletic departments, HBCU football doesn’t have the same financial impact.
Hence the need for “money games” where HBCUs earn big paydays for acting as FBS practice squads.
Outside of Howard’s shocking defeat of UNLV in 2017, where they won 43-40 despite being a 45-point underdog, “money games” seldom end in favor of HBCU programs.
However, they’re essential for the financial security of HBCU athletic departments. Take Alabama State and North Carolina Central for example.
Both teams have lined up “money games” against UCLA in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
UCLA will pay Alabama State $590,000 in 2022 and North Carolina Central $700,000 in 2023 to compete in these “money games.”
UCLA football’s budget exceeds $37 million; Alabama State and NCCU field budgets of $3.5 million and $4.4 million, respectively, so getting 15-20% of your annual budget from one game is crucial for their financial security.
For comparison, Southern Mississippi, the smallest FBS school in the state, has an operating budget of approximately $25.5 million.
Even North Dakota State, which has won nine of the last eleven FCS titles, has an operating budget of almost $25 million.
The Tigers football team accounts for approximately $2.4 million of the school’s roughly $8 million athletic budget.
Sanders understands that in order for Jackson State to flourish, the football team must lead.
And that means that it needs to make much more money.
That’s why he made the unpopular decision this past February to stop competing in the Southern Heritage Classic after this season.
“It’s a hustle,” Sanders said on the Pardon My Take podcast about the Classic (although he didn’t mention it by name). “We’re losing money, tremendously. This particular classic that you’re talking about, first of all, why would two colleges need a promoter? You’re two colleges and you have A.D.s, why would you need a promoter, that’s No. 1.
“Secondly, I think the fee was like over 30 years, $6 million. That’s peanuts. So by the time you take seven buses for the band, four buses for the players, couple (buses) for people, assistants, hotel accommodations, food, you’re out of that. That $180-200 grand, you’re out of that. So you didn’t make nothing. You really came up there on a blank trip. We gotta stop that foolishness. The first thing we need to take care of as HBCUs is the business aspect of everything, and that’s something we’re changing right now. We’re taking care of business.”
While local businesses, traditionalists and fans remain unhappy about his decision, Sanders is plowing ahead.
And that’s why Deion Sanders could completely change the game and make Jackson State into something HBCU football has never seen.
An independent, Notre Dame-like powerhouse.
Jackson St., the Notre Dame of HBCU Football
Jackson State is a member of the SWAC, competing against schools such as Florida A&M, Southern and Alcorn State.
While they played non-SWAC schools such as Tennessee State and Louisiana Monroe, they retained a SWAC dominant schedule.
But what if they didn’t?
What if Deion Sanders, Athletic Director Ashley Robinson and University President Thomas K. Hudson decided to make their football team an independent school like Notre Dame?
With the success and popularity of Deion Sanders and the continued evolution of college football, it’s an interesting scenario.
Notre Dame is a traditional college football powerhouse with a loyal fanbase and national draw.
The program has a long-term deal with NBC Sports that pays the Irish $22 million per year through 2025.
While Notre Dame is exploring various conferences, including the soon-to-be incredibly rich Big Ten, no deal is imminent.
In 1991, the Irish shocked the college football landscape when they broke from the CFA and signed a five-year, $38 million media rights deal with NBC Sports. They have remained with the network ever since.
But college football is changing at a rapid pace.
Conferences are losing and gaining teams, geography is no longer a determining factor and streaming rights continue to increase in importance. That presents teams with options that they didn’t once have.
USC and UCLA will leave the Pac-12 for the Big 10 in 2024 and Texas and Oklahoma will leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025.
These are the types of moves that Sanders is watching and discussing. He admitted as much to ESPN last week.
“Sooner or later, some of the prominent schools are going to have to make a decision. What do we want to do?” said Sanders. “Do we want to sit back and adhere to tradition? Or, do want to put ourselves in a financial situation that our school prospers. You really got to factor that in and weigh those options. There are some tremendous options that a few of those schools are going to be faced with.
“We’re already speaking about it.”
Hearing that reiterates his rationale for ending JSU’s participation in the Southern Heritage Classic.
And while schools are under contract with their respective conferences, that means nothing in today’s game where tradition takes a back seat to money.
While HBCU fanbases would rather see Jackson State play Alcorn St. and Mississippi Valley State, JSU Football would benefit more from playing SEC teams like Ole Miss, LSU, or Alabama and Big 12 teams like Baylor and Texas Tech. The same holds true even if they played smaller SEC and Big 12 schools like Mississippi St. or Houston (which joins the Big 12 in 2023).
The Tigers would generate bigger paydays and receive more media attention, which improves their offerings and recruiting and, ultimately, helps fund other sports programs at the university.
And don’t forget about NIL or the fact that the first known NIL deal was signed by JSU player Antwan Owens on July 1st, 2021. With more money, the Tigers can offer players NIL deals through a collective, like Texas Tech and Oregon.
Becoming an independent with a commanding personality like Deion Sanders at the helm enables the program to own and negotiate its own media rights deals. That includes streaming rights, an increasingly important and lucrative platform more programs are launching.
Jackson State claims that Sanders has generated $185 million in advertising and exposure for the athletic department since being hired as head coach. That’s a significant number for potential opponents considering whether to add the Tigers to their schedule.
Becoming HBCU football’s Notre Dame also benefits the university.
Notre Dame football doesn’t take any money from the school. Instead, it gives millions back to the school to support scholarships and other academic programs.
That would be an added benefit of JSU’s future success.
The Future for Deion and Jackson State
As Deion stated to ESPN, discussions about the program’s future are happening now.
I’m sure that includes staying in the SWAC, jumping up to an FBS conference or becoming a powerful independent program.
While it’s unclear what direction the Tigers will take, it’s certain that Jackson St. is the most powerful HBCU football team in the country because of its head coach.
SEC schools will soon receive over $60 million each as part of their new ESPN media deal.
Big Ten schools are expected to reap anywhere between $60 and $100 million each when the new media rights deal is eventually finalized.
If Jackson State football earned 10% of either of those deals, they would triple their current revenue.
That’s not something they can do under their current contract.
While tradition is important, for HBCU sports programs to thrive in the future, football must be the dominant factor in the equation (assuming they field a program).
For that to happen, they must command bigger paydays, particularly through media rights deals.
That’s why Jackson State must consider breaking from tradition and following the path that Notre Dame forged over 30 years ago.
And with Deion Sanders’ larger-than-life personality leading the way, they could silence the doubters all the way to the bank for years to come.
