For the First Time, Deion Sanders Outranks Bill Belichick but Trails Matt Rhule in Top CFB Coaches’ List

For the first time and possibly the only time, Deion Sanders has officially surpassed the likes of Bill Belichick in head coaching rankings. According to the CBS Sports College Football Coaching Rankings, the leader of the Colorado Buffaloes is officially ahead of the former New England Patriot, who ranked 54th overall out of the top 68 spots that were available.

According to CBS Sports, Coach Prime ranks 33rd overall, slotting in just behind Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and NC State’s Dave Doeren. Sanders was initially given the 61st overall spot in last year’s rankings, giving him the second-highest boost in the rankings of any coach compared to last year.

According to Tom Fornelli, Sanders’ jump in the CBS Sports rankings can be credited to his ability to generate attention while rebuilding a program.

“It’s hard to knock what Deion did. I think, when he came in for his first season, there was plenty of hype off the field that just was not matched on the field after a hot start… But last year, Colorado took a significant step forward… The Buffs were in the title race until the very end of the year. So, when you see that, plus the hype and attention that he draws off of the field, it’s not surprising to see that he’s starting to be bumped up people’s ballots,” she said. 

While a tip of the cap towards Sanders is more than understandable, many analysts continue to struggle when attempting to place the aforementioned Belichick into any kind of tier-based format. Considering that this will be his first time coaching at a lower level, former player turned broadcaster, Danny Kanell, maintains that both fans and critics alike will simply have to “wait and see how it goes.”

Simply put, any ranking is justifiable for Belichick at this point in time.

“If somebody would have put him at number one, I would’ve said, ‘Ya know what? Greatest NFL coach ever.’ Of course you can make a case for that. If you would’ve left him off of the list or had him behind Jeff Lebby, because he hasn’t coached one game in college football, I’d be okay with that too… I think he’s one of the greatest football minds, but he hasn’t coached at this level.”

As Kanell stated, Belichick is “one of the greatest football minds” available today. Meaning that, for better or worse, he’ll surely be able to leave a mark on what has otherwise been an afterthought of a program in North Carolina.

Seeing as Belichick’s motivation for taking the job was to make his late father proud, it’s safe to say that the Tar Heels are getting a motivated play caller who just so happens to feature the most decorated head coaching resume in NFL history. For all of the off-the-field storylines that have hijacked Belichick’s time in Chapel Hill, pundits would be wise to avoid making any bold predictions, one way or another, just yet.