The Prime Coaching Staff: Why Vincent Dancy Followed Deion Sanders to Colorado

Dancy speaks to why he chose to accept Coach Prime's assistant coaching offer at Colorado.

Vincent Dancy shared with the media why he accepted the offer from Deion Sanders to join the University of Colorado's football coaching staff.  

Deion Sanders and Vincent Dancy; Credit: WAPT

"We developed a relationship that was that's just pure genuine," Dancy said of Coach Prime. "He accepted me. I accepted him. He took me under his wing to teach me and helped me grow in my profession, and meet people that I probably would have never met before. He's a man of his word."

Dancy faced the challenge of developing a quality football program with limited scholarships from the institution, far less than any program in the SWAC. Rice-Totten Stadium and the football facilities required extensive repair, yet Coach Dancy's Delta Devils fought with fierceness and tenacity each season that foes rarely desired to challenge.

"I admire him," Deion Sanders remarked on Coach Dancy earlier this season. "I pray for him. I love him dearly as a brother. I wish I could him help him even more. So with the tribulations and trials he has there [as Mississippi Valley State]."

The former Mississippi Valley State head football coach and Sanders built a special relationship after Sanders, Dancy, and Alcorn State head coach Fred McNair met as the HBCU coaches in Mississippi a few years ago.

Coach Vincent Dancy; Credit: Delta Sports

He was a rising star in the HBCU coaching ranks with confidence and bravado, much like the man he now becomes a disciple of — Deion Sanders.

"Everything he told me he was going to do for me, he's done it. He blessed me with a great opportunity. And I feel like this is the opportunity I've always wanted to enhance my career. At this moment, it's time for me to spread my wings and fly out of Mississippi for the first time in my life, really, and go be successful somewhere else."

Dancy, 33, was one of the youngest head coaches in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) since assuming the role as interim head coach of the program on Nov. 20, 2017, when the university didn't renew former Delta Devils head coach Rick Comegy's contract.

Jackson State is another bond between Sanders and Dancy. Why? Dancy was an All-SWAC student-athlete as a linebacker/safety for the JSU Tigers from 2002-05. He returned to Jackson State as an assistant in 2009 before leaving in 2013.

The Shaqualak, MS native, joined the Paine College football coaching staff as an assistant for one year in 2014 before arriving at his father's alma mater Mississippi Valley State under Coach Comegy.

Since 2018, Dancy evolved into a quality head coach with very little support and resources from the MVSU administration. 

2021 was his best season at 4-7, and his team stunned quite a few SWAC foes with upsets that season. He leaves the Delta Devils with a 10-38 overall record and will become the Colorado Buffaloes' safeties coach.

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