The Josh Innes Show - Random Thoughts: What's Coach Prime's SWAC Legacy

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

Hi All! Deion Sanders is now the coach at Colorado. I respect the hell out of his honesty with some of these guys. I respect that he told them that they may wanna hit the portal because he's bringing in his own dudes. My question is what did he actually do for the SWAC? Is it bad that he clearly used them to grow his own career? Is he full of shit? Let's discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Anything you need for your plumbing, you got your cover. With Aqueduct Plumbing Company, we love them. So here's the thing. I really, really, really, really, really, really love Deion Sanders. I love him, adore him. I like the personality. I like the attitude. I like the whole damn thing. I love that whole vibe. I love the brashness. I love the seemingly what seems to be honesty. I appreciate that. I love the brashness. I love the seemingly, what seems to be honesty. I appreciate that. I love the no bullshit. Like when they showed the video of Prime talking

to the guys at Colorado and he's like listen, real talk guys, I'm bringing my own dudes and you might just want to leave. Like I admire that. I admire the honesty of it because most of the world, in particular college athletics where dudes are trying to convince 18 year old kids to come play with them,

and they tell them every single thing they want to hear, and it's bullshit. That's why so many of these dudes enter the transfer portal, right? We talked about the portal the other day. You want to know why so many people are in the portal? I'll tell you why they're in the portal. Because some coach lied to them and said they're going to come in and be a rock star, and two years later they're not a rock star. And maybe it's their own fault. Maybe not. But they're like, see you later.

I was promised this, this, and this. And I ain't getting this, this, and this. So I'm out of here. The world is full of bullshit. People are con artists. People are liars. People are full of shit. I try not to be full of shit.

I try to be a little bit better than that. But we're all full of shit in some way. We lie to people. For an example, so there was a story I was reading the other day about ways you can compliment people and it's effective. Like an effective way to compliment people was essentially the gist of this story. And it gives you three lessons that you can use when complimenting people and they'll actually appreciate these things you're doing. The examples were, use their name. So when you compliment someone, say, hey, Bill, love what you did there.

Hey, Bill, what I really liked is when you went out there and you got that report done and I love the little anecdote about Chuck E. Cheese. It was great. Number two, make your compliment specific. Instead of saying, you look nice today, say, that color looks great on you. You should wear it more often. Also, I would urge you not to say anything like that in the workplace, in particular to a woman, because you'll probably be fired. So if I were you, I would avoid that.

And number three was don't praise and run. When you compliment someone, stick around and ask a follow-up. Why do I bring these up, right? Because if we were being honest with people, we wouldn't give compliments that often. Why? Because we, at least in my world, I give compliments when I think somebody went above and beyond what they were supposed to do. Not doing their job when they did better than their job. I don't compliment myself or anybody else for just doing the job. And look't compliment myself or anybody else for just doing the job. And look, you can ask anybody. You've listened to this podcast. If you've been a

listener for X number of years, you listen to me on the radio, you know this. People compliment me all the time and I don't care because they're complimenting me on stuff that I know I should be doing. If I feel that I went above and beyond and I get a compliment for it, that means something else. If it's just, hey, good show today, that doesn't mean shit to me. You probably didn't even listen to it. You know what I'm saying? And that's kind of how I operate. But we are in this world of bullshitting people and lying to people.

That's why we give them these kind of passing compliments that don't really mean anything, right? We compliment people for doing nothing because we think we're supposed to compliment them. I don't like that level of dishonesty. I don't like to just throw out compliments for the sake of doing it. I'd like it to mean something, and that's why I'd like to be honest with people. I wish I could be more honest with people. I try to avoid getting myself in trouble at work, and a lot of people don't like when you're honest about how lousy they are at shit, so I just don't tell anybody anything, and I stew over it because I don't feel like getting in trouble for it, right? I don't feel like being known as an asshole who's mean to people. So I don't do it. That's why I admire

people like Deion Sanders who walk into a room and go, hey, you guys, a lot of you motherfuckers ain't going to be here because I'm bringing my own dudes and they're rock stars and we're here to win. I didn't take this job to lose. And basically telling these dudes, there's a reason why you stunk last year. There's a reason why your coach is no longer here. You're not very good. I'm bringing in ballers. I got them at Jackson state. I'll get them here in Colorado. I admire that. I admire it because I don't have that in my real life on the radio. I can tell people any fucking thing I want to tell them because it's the radio and I'm in a different mindset, but I don't have that in the real world. And a lot of us don't have that luxury in the real world. A lot of us wish we could walk into a scenario and say, you suck, you suck, you suck, you suck.

I've done that in my life. I used to have that. I used to be able to walk in. Me and Jim were in a meeting once with the people, I think it's 790. I mean, it had to have been 790 if Jim was there. And basically, they brought us in to say hi to people and introduce ourselves. And I was coming off of WIP. I felt pretty good about myself. I felt that I was a rock star and I had all the right answers. I walked in there and said, right now this station ain't very good and we're coming here to make it relevant. I said that on the air. I said that to people. Well, guess what? That pissed off a lot of people at the radio station. Was it true? Yeah. Station was fucking irrelevant. Nobody cared about it. Did I come there to make it relevant? Yes. And I told people that and people get pissy about it.

That kind of shit happens. That's why I scale back now and I just kind of sit in my own corner and try to do my own fucking thing. That's the way I operate. That's why I admire a guy like Prime, like Dion, that can walk in there and say, honestly, guys, there's a reason why you're losers and I'm bringing in my dudes, and we're here to win. I respect that. I admire it. It's awesome. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got

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One per new customer. Bonus award. It is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos. All that said, the thing with the HBCU angle on it, essentially here's what Deion was at HBCUs, right? And I've been to maybe one or two events at a historical black college. I've been to some stuff at Southern University. I've tailgated out there before. It's a good time.

They're good people. They are underfunded. There's a lot of bad shit that goes on there. And it's not the fault of the people that attend the schools. It's just corrupt, like a lot of colleges are. But just the business of that as a whole is just very down in the dirt and in the weeds. So it's not a good scenario for a lot of people. But here's essentially what Dion did. And look, at least he was somewhat honest with them coming out of the shoot. I was watching a 60 Minutes interview from like last month or two months ago. Now, granted, this interview, he might have already known he was going to leave and had job offers. So this could be why he said this. And I don't know,

dating back to when he took the job, if he said he wanted to be at Jackson State his whole life, or if he felt that he was doing whatever work he was doing there and he was going to do it for a long period of time. But a couple months ago on 60 Minutes, he said he has to entertain the opportunity to go to a big time school if it comes about. Now, I don't know if he said that two years ago, but he did say it a couple months ago for what it's worth. The only issue that I have with Prime and really the way Prime is covered, because they view him as some sort of HBCU savior.

That was the story I was watching on 60 Minutes. It was he's come in and money has come into the conference and tickets are being sold and there are new sponsors that they never had. My issue is that's not an HBCU thing and it's not making anybody better. Jackson State got some new locker rooms and a new practice facility. That ain't going to really do shit for Southern or Grambling or Prairie View. And I'm not acting like I give a shit about these schools. I don't watch the SWAC, so it's not a part of my life.

And they don't want me to watch their product, right? I'm white dude that people view as a Trumper. They don't want me watching their shit. So, like, I get it. But this idea that somehow the SWAC has been made better or HBCUs have been made better by the addition of a guy who came in, sold people for a couple years, and then moved on for his own gain, well, that's bullshit. And that's the story that's kind of being sold. And it's bullshit. This is coming from someone who loves Dion, admires Dion, loves the attitude, but there's a lot of it that kind of

comes down to that same kind of bullshit you get from politicians when politicians talk to the lower end of the spectrum, the people who are impoverished, the people who are not your one percenters, and they go out there and they're smart and they know how to sell these people to gain the power and then with that power ultimately do nothing to better the situation. And that's how I view Prime. At the end of the day, Prime went into Jackson State, probably made it his mission going in to do something there and then get a bigger job, which, by the way, do not blame you. That's the way of the world.

You want to climb the ladder. That's what you want to do. You start low, you go high. You prove that you can coach one place. Everybody beats down the door. They want to have you. I admire that. I don't hate it.

I ain't mad about it. It's not even really about anything Prime did or didn't do. It's the way Prime is being covered. Prime did not do anything big picture to make black colleges better or improve the experience. He went in, convinced a bunch of kids, including his own kids, to go play for him, not Jackson State, to go play for Prime. They all said it. Why'd you go to Jackson State instead of Florida State?

Well, I went there because I wanted to play for Deion Sanders. That's it. Those kids, the high-profile kids, are not going to go to those schools. They're not going to go to Jackson State because Prime got them a new practice field. Fuck no. Nothing's changed about that. It's still the same as it ever was. The part that I find funny about it, though, is that Dion does this whole spiel.

It was his calling to go save these kids, kind of, and save these and bring life back to these. And he believed that God called him there and all that. Now, God has called him, just to rewind. Let me rewind. So God called Dion to these HBCUs because they're underfunded, which is true, and these are kids that need to have an opportunity, and they're not going to get them, and they ignore these black colleges. All good.

I think the funniest thing, though, that comes out of this, that really sells the point of, yeah, this guy's kind of a huckster and kind of a politician, is he sells you on the black experience, black schools, we're underfunded, we need money here, we need this, and you guys are being underappreciated, and you come to our place, and we're going to make shit better, and this is great, we're rebuilding HBCUs. Then he gets an opportunity to coach in the Power Five and goes to Colorado, in particular, the city of Boulder, Colorado. He goes from coaching in the SWAC where there are no white people

to going to Boulder, Colorado where there are no black people. This whole thing was a play to get bigger. And I don't hate you for it, but we have to acknowledge what it was. It's night moves. He used me, I used her, she used me, neither one cared. That's what this whole thing

was. And these HBCUs benefited from it for a couple of years. Jackson State benefited from it for a couple of years. And they made a couple extra bucks for a couple years. What's inevitably going to happen, though, is Prime leaves this in his wake and no one's going to give a shit about what happens at HBCUs anymore. He brought relevance there for five minutes. He's taking, like, all these great players that they brought in, all these high-profile recruits, he's taking them with him anyway. So like, it's a weird

dynamic on many fronts, but one, you've got a guy who used these schools as a stepping stone to get to something bigger and more prominent, more of a moneymaker, which again, I will never fault anybody for that. I worked in Baton Rouge. I moved my way up to Houston, Philly, all that. That's the way these things work. You're not meant to be at these places forever. There are a lot of coaches that start at small schools. Before you know it, they're the coach at Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, LSU. That's the way this works. Where did Chip Kelly start at? Like New Hampshire? Something like that? These guys start small. The difference being, of course, that Prime is a little bit more honest about it than most guys are. But these guys go there.

Their ambition is to move up the ladder until they get to the biggest job they can possibly get. The part where I struggle is, like, that's the fine part. The fine part of this is that, hey, good for you, man. I know that you're out there trying to build something. You're trying to build your career, and I will never shit on you for that. That is the way this works. The problem is you sold it to people as you are kind of the savior of black college football, and you're going to get all these big-time recruits, and it's going to build the whole thing.

But it didn't. It's not making black colleges better, and those black colleges are not getting new fields, and those black colleges are not getting new dorms those black colleges are not getting new dorms and they're not getting new locker rooms. Jackson State got a few new things because you were able to pull off some stuff. That's it. And when you got a chance to bolt the HBCU for Whiteyville, USA, you fucking did it. And you took the best players you had and you're probably taking them with you. And the other ones that are still there are going to leave and go to a bigger school because

you're not there anymore. So when I asked this question earlier on social media, it was not to be trolling. It was not to be an asshole. It was not to shit on anybody or be a jerk. It was a legitimate question. Deion's time at Jackson State, what did it do to benefit that league long term? That was the legit question. What did it do for HBCUs? And to me, it did nothing. There is no lasting impact other than, hey, there's a new locker room at Jackson State and, oh, there's a new practice field at Jackson State. That's it.

There is nothing that will come out of this that will better that. So when I hear some of those coaches that were kind of shitting on Prime and you ain't you ain't swag and all that, we made fun of it at the time, but there is a point to that. Now, Prime's got the talent and the name and everything else, so he can go on to bigger things. A lot of those coaches aren't. A guy that might be coaching Southern or Delaware, whomever, someone in a SWAC or a MEAC school or Prairie View or Texas Southern or wherever, a lot of those people are not going to become Power 5 coaches. This might be who they are.

This might be their limit. They might get a little bit higher. They might go to Conference USA. Maybe they will go to Arkansas. Who knows? But a lot of those guys don't have that. I think there was a jealousy part of that, and I get it. I understand the idea that you're there sweating, grinding, doing everything you can to try to make ends meet.

And in your mind, this guy came in here, exploited the situation for a couple of years, told the league to fuck off, and now is making millions as the coach at Colorado and leaves you in the wake. So I understand that, too. But it was night moves. I used her. She used me. Neither one cared. The SWAC didn't care that they were being used. They were seeing a little bit more money come in, and they said, fuck right. We'll ride this as long as we can.

We know it's not going to last forever. Let's cash in. Jackson State knew it wasn't going to last forever. Fuck it. Let's cash in. It's kind of the name of the game. So to put a bow on it, I don't blame anybody like a Dion for climbing the ladder and wanting to have bigger things. SWAC is not as big as it could be. Did he kind of sell people on it like a Dion for climbing the ladder and wanting to have bigger things. Swack is not as big as it could be. Did he kind of sell people on it like a dirty politician? Yeah. He's kind of a huckster about it at times. Yeah.

Did he exploit it? Yes. Is he basically going in and pillaging and leaving them essentially what they were before minus a new practice field? Yes. Did he make the league better? No. But there's a part of me that just doesn't really fault him for it. You know, climb the ladder, man.

Do what you want to do. Advance. That's the name of the game. You only go around one time, right? Do what's good for you. And at least there's a level of honesty in some of the stuff he does. And I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm, like, saying woe is me for the swag schools or that I'm playing a violin for them.

That doesn't concern me. I'd be a fraud if I told you, oh, my God, what about the kids? I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit about the players there or in Power Fives. It doesn't impact my life. I don't know them, don't care. But it's a weird kind of multi-pronged story that, to me, doesn't have a clear right or wrong answer as it relates to it.

Each little piece of it you could say, I don't like that. right or wrong answer as it relates to it. Each little piece of it, you could say, I don't like that. I'm cool with that. Not like that. But as far as the perception, which from a lot of people is just that, you know, Deion did great things for him. I don't know. That part I disagree with. He did great things for Deion. Everything he did was for Deion. And And now Dion gets to advance and the rest of them are left in the lurch. It's the way the world works, kiddos. Kill or be killed.