Deion Doesn't Have to Follow Your Expectations, but Sam Pittman Still Does

Razorbacks' coach doesn't set off a full-blown circus like Sanders tends to create in a high school situation

Colorado coach Deion Sanders patrols the sidelines in a game against the UCLA Bruins this year. / Ryan Kang/GettyImages

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Deion Sanders has known for decades what kind of circus he sometimes has when he's out in public. He created it at Florida State back in the 1980's. Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer said the glitzy cornerback-return specialist said he told him with the Dallas Cowboys he saw what Brian Bosworth did at Oklahoma and wanted the same sort of attention.

The thought probably never crossed Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman's even idle thoughts while he was figuring out how to keep a job coaching in much smaller environments. Even if he saw Sanders' comments recently about not going to recruit's homes, about all he would do is chuckle. He's probably wouldn't be comfortable in that environment anyway.

A social media post on X kind of laid all of it out there from the Colorado Buffaloes' coach.

I don’t even know where to start

pic.twitter.com/uuxAi2JY76

— Mike Farrell (@mfarrellsports) March 20, 2024

"My approach is totally different from other coaches," Sanders said. "For me to go to, let's just say Florida to IMG, you don't think those other coaches are going to be upset if I don't come to those schools down the street?"

He also understands it's probably a waste of money. Like a lot of players and their families, football is a way out of their home life, which sometimes isn't the greatest in the world. Sanders had that issue growing up in south Florida.

"The other coaches can do that but I can't," he said about visiting schools and homes. "Parents don't want me coming to their house. They want to come see where I live. I didn't want coach (Bobby) Bowden at my house. After 7 a.m. in the morning is when it was rats and roaches on parade."

Other coaches have talked about that privately over the years. At times, it's probably an embarrassing situation for some families and no coach would want to cause that for any family, much less the one of a player he's recruiting. You notice the grandstanding video clips and things on social media these days always shows a home-cooked meal.

Besides, the whole concept is changing. As Sanders correctly points out in the video, all parents want to know these days is how they can develop to play in the NFL and how much they're going to get paid. Whether you like it or not, that's the world we live in these days. Sanders is just being bluntly honest about the whole thing.

If there are any home visits for transfer portal players, I haven't seen anything yet. They've already seen the college routine and about the only thing that changes is the scenery. They are there a lot of times for their bank accounts to change anyway.

Pittman still wants to believe in recruiting high school players. Sanders doesn't do much of that, anyway. It's probably one of the reasons Nick Saban stepped down at Alabama. He quit. This world is made for Sanders to get players and he's getting a big load every year. Now he's just got to figure out how to win games with the stars.

With the Razorbacks, Pittman's doing the same bottom-line thing, All that excitement and sparkling publicity is only good as long as they are winning a lot of games. A repeat for either Sam or Deion probably is still going to create a buzz, but probably not the one they'd really like to see.

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