After retiring, Deion Sanders worked as an NFL pundit before making the transition to coaching. He began coaching his sons in high school in 2017, then moved to the college ranks in 2020. And the success he’s had has since inspired future NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.
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While speaking on his podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony and the Kid Mero, this week, the former NBA star and his guests showered praise on Sanders for seamlessly handling the transition to coaching. What impressed ‘Melo most was how Sanders coached his kids, Shedeur and Shilo, both of whom will be entering the NFL Draft in April. This even inspired him to pursue similar goals.
“I don’t think [Deion Sanders] gets enough credit for what he did in high school. Like on the high school level. Like we see it now but the grind of him going back, after an illustrious career and all of that. To go lock in, to your kids, for me that was like ‘oh, s***, I wanna coach my kids, I gotta go really train my kids.’ Because I know, I got the blueprint. I felt like, I could relate to that, because I had to do the same thing.”
While ‘Melo and the crew are obviously impressed with Coach Prime’s current status as the head coach of the No. 16 Colorado Buffaloes, it was his lesser-known work at the high school level that really struck a chord with the former Denver Nugget and New York Knick.
Carmelo Anthony was inspired by Coach Prime
While he was still working at the NFL Network as an analyst, Deion Sanders began dipping his toes in coaching. He began by coaching his own team, Prime Prep Academy, but after several controversies, the program was shut down. He didn’t let that phase him, however.
Instead of simply going back to his cushy pundit job or complaining about why it didn’t work, he took a step back and joined the Trinity Christian High School coaching staff as the offensive coordinator—not even the head coach—so he could coach his sons, all three of which (Shedeur, Shilo, Deion Jr.) played on the team that year in 2017.
Jackson State hired Sanders as their head coach a few years later. After turning that program around, he then moved on to coach the Colorado Buffaloes, where he is enjoying the most success he’s had since his playing career.
The fact that someone as confident as Sanders was able to swallow his pride and take an OC job (in high school) to get himself back on track and stay close to his kids is what inspired Carmelo Anthony to do the same.
Videos of ‘Melo training or giving his son, Kiyan Anthony, basketball pointers have been common for some time. But he really “locked in” when he got his son on his AAU team, “Team Melo”. While he’s not the official head coach, no doubt it allowed him to be more present throughout his son’s own hoops journey. Kiyan recently committed to play college basketball at Syracuse, his father’s alma mater.
