What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, we look at Deion Sanders’, um, interesting Friday and we hit Paris one last time for some Big 12 basketball medal winners.
DEION’S DISASTROUS DAY
Coaches press conferences are pretty normal and benign this time of year. We’re a few weeks away from football season openers and these serve as opportunities for writers and broadcasters to get questions answered and write stories.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders had one on Friday. It was, well, unnecessarily combative.
Sanders spent part of the time engaging in what appeared to be a beef with Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler. I’m not going to pretend to know what it’s about, but at one point, Sanders said this:
“You don’t like us, man. Why do you do this to yourself?” Sanders asked. “No, I’m serious. Why do you do this? Like you know you don’t. Like why do you do this?
“It would be hard for me to really engage in someone I don’t like or someone I don’t like. I’m just asking why? Like why? What did I do?”
That led to a lot more back and forth and Keeler wasn’t able to ask a question. This wouldn’t be the first time a columnist and a coach had a beef. Columnists are paid to have opinions. Sometimes coaches don’t like those opinions. That tends to get smoothed over eventually.
But that wasn’t all. He shut down a local CBS affiliate reporter when he identified himself as a CBS reporter saying, “What [CBS] did was foul.” It’s not clear if this reporter did something that Sanders found offensive. But, recently, CBS Sports — the national site, not the local TV affiliate — gave Sanders the second-lowest rating in its Big 12 coaches rankings.
Later, he said, “CBS is CBS.” Let’s be clear. Your local CBS TV affiliate has nothing to do with national CBS TV or CBSSports.com. That’s not how that works.
Later, he cut off another reporter who tried to ask him about the offensive line, which was a legitimate question given that last year’s offensive line was one of the team’s weakest units. At one point, Sanders asked him, “What is chemistry?” The reporter even tried to change the adjective in an effort to get the question answered. That didn’t work either.
So, why? Because here’s the thing. This was not the Sanders he presented at Big 12 Media Days in July. The local beat writers and TV reporters were there. So was the national media. So was I. I observed Sanders all day. He was respectful, friendly and did every interview he was asked to do. Granted there are no practices to talk about and the event is generally a benign affair, but still. What the heck?
In age, I am a contemporary of Sanders. I’m not going to pretend that I know him. I don’t. But I’ve observed his entire life. He’s always been his own dude. He’s never been fake. When he doesn’t like a question, he pushes back. He is, as they say, who he is. I respect that.
But this sort of press conference does him no favors. For instance, as our friend Tim Fitzgerald pointed out on Twitter, no one knows what Keeler was planning to write. But, well, he ended up writing this and Sanders probably isn’t going to like that, either.
Local beat writers and TV reporters are the life blood of getting information to fans. They likely don’t care how Sanders treats the media (read some of the mentions on Twitter and you’ll get the gist). Some likely found it entertaining.
This isn’t going to scare the beats off, though. It’s their job to show up. But it’s not their job to make Sanders look good. That job rests with Colorado’s PR people. And, frankly, Sanders.
The overreaction here is that Sanders is coming apart at the seams somehow. I don’t believe that’s the case. He’s always had attitude in the toolbox. That won’t change. And, most of the time, that attitude makes things fun.
But, right now, he’s the coach of a 4-8 team that is coming off a second offseason in which waves of players transferred out of his program and a roster that still has significant question marks at offensive and defensive line. Plus, departed players have been trashing his program in the media. And, Sanders and his sons have trashed them in kind.
When you’re 11-1, you can bring that attitude if you want. You have the record to lean on. But when you’re 4-8? You don’t have that luxury.
And it’s not about placating the media, mind you. It’s about making sure you don’t lose the boosters and administrators, who will get tired of the act if he keeps losing games. And, these days, patience is in short supply.
GOLD IN BASKETBALL
Just a couple of former Big 12 stars doing Olympic things.
Tyrese Haliburton didn’t get to play much this time around. But it’s safe to say he’ll get plenty of run in 2028 in Los Angeles, assuming he makes the team (and he should).
He was, let’s say, philosophical about the lack of playing time.
Meanwhile, TCU’s Hailey Van Lith snagged a bronze medal in 3×3 basketball earlier this week.
That’s notable because she was the only current U.S. collegiate basketball player, male or female, to win a medal in Paris.
THURSDAY WITH SONS OF UCF
I took some time out of my Thursday to talk with the Sons of UCF podcast about the upcoming Big 12 football season. Lots of great conversation and even a basketball note at the end. Check it out and give them a follow all season as the Knights attempt to make a run at the Big 12 title.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
