Jackson State's Deion Sanders "Impressive" in TCU Head Football Coach interview

Deion Sanders interviewed for the TCU Head Football Coach position on Monday.

Photo: © Eric Shelton/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK

Rumors have been circulating regarding candidates to replace Gary Patterson every since he stepped down just over a week ago. One of those rumors was regarding current Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders. Yesterday evening those rumors became much more real as a source close to TCU's football coaching search told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Drew Davidson that the Pro Football Hall of Famer met with TCU's football coach selection committee on Monday. 

"I'm not saying he is going to get the job, not saying he is the leading candidate at this point. But he is in the mix. He was impressive."

A source close to TCU's selection committee told the Fort Worth Star Telegram on Tuesday.

Sanders, 1988's Jim Thorpe Award winner, 8-time Pro Bowler, 1994's NFL Defender of the Year, and 2x Super Bowl winner with the 49ers and Cowboys, still has a large presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  In 2012, Sanders helped to found the now defunct Prime Prep Academy, where he began his coaching career at the high school level. After the school's insolvency due to financial issues, Coach Sanders was named CEO of FOCUS Academies and coached their Triple A Academy in 2015 before becoming the head football coach at Trinity Christian-Cedar Hills High School in 2017.

Each of his high school coaching jobs was located in the DFW metroplex and his son Shedeur played high school football for Trinity Christian-Cedar Hills in Cedar Hills, Texas. Shedeur, a four-star quarterback recruit with an offer from Alabama coming out of high school, is leading Jackson State to an 8-1 record in 2021 and is vying for SWAC conference Player of the Year honors in his true freshman season. Coach Sanders' other son, Shilo, also played his high school football at Trinity Christian-Cedar Hills in the DFW metroplex and is currently a sophomore defensive back at Jackson State after transferring from the University of South Carolina. 

"Coach Prime" began coaching football at the collegiate level in 2020 as the head coach at Jackson State. After leading Jackson State to a 4-3 record in his first year as head coach during a shortened spring season due to Covid, Coach Prime has led Jackson State to an 8-1 record so far in 2021 with the only loss at FBS Louisiana-Monroe. 

During the 2021 recruiting cycle, Coach Prime landed Jackson State the #55 recruiting class in the nation, TCU had the #53 ranked class. 

With other big name candidates falling to the wayside, Sanders' name has emerged as a leading candidate for the TCU head football coach position left vacant by Gary Patterson.

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