Deion Sanders remains at Colorado while expressing his reluctance to coach in the NFL.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Colorado head coach Deion Sanders stayed in Boulder after the Dallas Cowboys showed interest in him, according to a report from ESPN.
Sanders spoke on coaching in the NFL on his TV talk show “We Got Time Today.” Sanders was joined by former Cowboys star quarterback Troy Aikman, and the two reflected on their time with Dallas back in the 1990s.
“I couldn’t coach pro ball,” Sanders said on his show, which streamed Tuesday. “That’s why I say, I couldn’t coach – I know it was cute – but I couldn’t coach pro ball, because the way they practice, the way they go about it, I couldn’t take it. As a man, and as a football enthusiast, and I care about the game. The game is still providing for Troy and I, so there is no way I could allow that to happen on my watch. That would be tough.”
Sanders has led the Buffaloes to a 13-12 record in two seasons, including a 9-4 record last season.
Dallas hired Brian Schottenheimer as the next head coach, even though Sanders was rumored to be a candidate for the position. Dallas “officially” interviewed four candidates: Robert Saleh, Leslie Frazier, Kellen Moore and Schottenheimer.
On Sanders’ TV show, Aikman said Sanders would have been a good fit to be the Cowboys head coach.
“[Sanders] would have commanded the room, and his personality is such that people would have known that he was in charge,” Aikman said. “And I think that’s important for [the] organization to know that the head coach is the one who’s calling the shots and that he’s in charge.”
Aikman said some of Sanders’ former teammates with the Cowboys were upset by team owner Jerry Jones not pushing for a formal interview or making Sanders an offer.
“You didn’t need a call from me,” Aikman said. “I was watching, wondering how this whole thing was going to unfold. I will say this: As you know, playmaker Michael Irvin is a Cowboy apologist, and you not getting an official interview, not being hired, even he, I’m not sure he’s on the train right now.”
Irvin publicly criticized Jones for not hiring Sanders on his YouTube channel.
“Here’s my issue,” Irvin said. “We lost an opportunity here. I don’t know what happened with Coach Schottenheimer and the Cowboys, but Jerry is a shrewd, shrewd businessman, and this opportunity, I’m shocked he did not see. I was pushing for Deion Sanders to be the next head coach, and I still stand ten toes down on that push.”
