Review of "Coach Prime"

 Remembering Deion Sanders as a baseball and football player made me interested in this book.  I vaguely remembered he had success at an FCS school but didn't remember which one.  Then this college football season started and he's all over the news.  Remembering I had this book, I picked it up and quickly finished it.  Here is my review of "Coach Prime"

Title/Author:

“Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men” by Jean-Jacques Taylor

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

Deion Sanders, aka “Prime Time” in his playing days, currently is taking the college football world by storm with his early success coaching the Colorado Buffaloes to early success in the 2023 season after they won only one game in 2022.  For some, this really isn’t a surprise as this was similar to his experiences at Jackson State.  This book is a great account of Sanders’ last season there as Jean-Jacques Taylor covers a lot of ground in that season.

One important note is that Taylor never calls the coach “Sanders” – throughout the book, he is known as “Coach Prime”.  This is also how he refers to himself as did everyone else on the Jackson State campus.  Even his son Shedeur, who was one of the stars for the Tigers (and currently for the Buffaloes), calls his father that name in the book. But more important than the name is how Coach Prime does his work.

Those who remember Coach Prime in his time as a baseball and football player may be surprised to read about this side of him.  Many felt he was only about himself during his playing days and even if just watching his press conferences, one may come to that same conclusion.  But this book does not focus on that and instead how Coach Prime is not only helping his players succeed on the football field but also in other aspects of life.

If the reader is not familiar with the atmosphere at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) they will be after reading this book.  This was especially important to Coach Prime as he addressed many topics that would be important to a student body in HBCUs. There is even some attention to the few white players on the team.  The team was very structured, had to follow many rules and if you broke them, you were only told “Get Out!” and not a word of protest was uttered.

The stories of these players are the heart of the book and is even better than the football sections which are also very good.  Even if one has never heard of Jackson State, the reader will end up cheering for this team despite already knowing the outcome of their season.  For those who want to learn why Colorado has taken the college football world by storm, this book will be one of the best ways to learn how.

I wish to thank Mariner Books for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Link: Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men: Taylor, Jean-Jacques: 9780063306912: Amazon.com: Books