In case you may have missed it, on Tuesday morning, On3’s Ari Wasserman released his picks for the Top 25 coaches in college football.
The list generated significant backlash for multiple reasons, but when discussing the Big 12’s best coach, Wasserman elected to highlight Deion Sanders as the pick.
Wasserman listed Sanders as the nation’s seventh-best coach, ahead of notable names like Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel, Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham, USC’s Lincoln Riley, and many more.
In terms of the Big 12 Conference, Sanders outpaced multiple selections on the list, including Utah’s Kyle Whittingham (No. 8), Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham (No. 13), Kansas’ Lance Leipold (No. 14), BYU’s Kalani Sitake (No. 24), and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell (No. 25).
“Serious question: How many coaches on this list would have enjoyed this much progress at Colorado in a short amount of time? The answer is very few,” Wasserman said. “Though it’s uncertain how Sanders would fit in an already-established program who have built-in expectations for competing for national titles, he unquestionably is one of only a few human beings on planet earth that could have had Colorado on the verge of the CFP in year two. Though it’s fair to question his reliance on the portal and reluctance to build through the high school ranks, Sanders’ results speak for themselves. He has done an incredible job in Boulder.”
While there’s no doubt that Sanders starred in his second season in Boulder, his overall record at Colorado sits at 13-12 and 8-10 in conference play. For reference, the six coaches above him combine for a 461-109 overall record, with the worst record of the group being Steve Sarkisian, who is 38-17 during his time in Texas.
Deion Sanders being ranked among the Top 25 is suitable for the Big 12 Conference, but to say that a coach with a 52% win rate is the seventh-best coach in college football is simply laughable at this point.
