Jason Whitlock is a guy who does not mince his condemnation of Deion Sanders. Never has, and probably never will, given the amount of passion he criticizes Prime with. Thus far, Whitlock has made some serious claims against Deion Sanders, targeting any areas of his personal and professional life: parenting, daddy issues, college career, you name it. He followed suit this time as well. However, the target area was highly sensitive to people of faith, like Coach Prime.
Both Whitlock and Sanders follow their religion religiously. Yet, Whitlock, sticking strong to the opinion he holds of Prime, does not believe in Sanders’ faith towards his religion, rather thinks of it as a deploy. “I think Deion is highly materialistic and promotes radical materialism. He’s covered it up with some scripture and some praying online or whatever,” Whitlock said on his show ‘Fearless’. “The reason why I’m critical of Dion is because I think virtually all of his actions promote things that are antithetical to Christianity. He’s embraced Christianity as a covering for his radical materialism. And this materialism is destroying young black men,” Whitlock claimed further.
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A part of Michigan’s alum complaints about Sanders’ fashion sense, his flashy outfits to be more particular. Sanders’ gold chains and funky sneakers do their part in influencing the youth, which was exactly the objection of Whitlock. On the other hand, Deion Sanders has not shied away from making his faith in his religion and his contribution towards the historically black colleges, also known as HBCUs, a public affair.
Deion Sanders’ contribution towards HBCU
The Philadelphia Tribune believes that Deion Sanders’ rapid success in Colorado has ignited a cultural movement among African Americans. Not only has his leadership skills at Colorado prompted more and more black student athletes and revenue flow, but also popularised black head coaches in football. Per the Philadelphia Tribune, there were only 14 Black head coaches, or 10.5% of the 133 schools in the 2023 season, among which just eight of them were in a Power 5 conference, and none are in the (SEC) or Big 12. The numbers were grossly not proportional to the 50% of Black players on the Division I rosters.
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However, after Sanders’ arrival and popularity, the scenarios have changed. Black coaches are filling up the vacant spaces at several top institutions, best example being Moore and six head coaches, Morris, Mayo, Pierce, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans entering the NFL in 2024 per AP news, which is double the number of those in 2023.