Prime Time curriculum: Colorado creates course based on Deion Sanders

BOULDER, Colo. — Deion Sanders has made a big impact on the University of Colorado’s football program this year. Now, “Coach Prime” is going to be part of the school’s curriculum.

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The university announced an elective class that will focus on how Sanders -- a member of the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame (2011) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2011) -- balances his celebrity and coaching duties, CBS Sports reported.

The description of the course, “CMCI 4021: Prime Time Public Performance and Leadership,” was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, by a journalism student at the university.

“Everyone asking if this is a class on “how to go 4-8″ is SO CLOSE to getting it,” Jimmie Searfoss wrote in a subsequent tweet. “This team went 4-8 and everyone is still talking about them. This class is about how and why, and how athletes can capitalize on that. Being 4-8 and the center of attention is kinda the whole point.”

The course can only be taken by students with majors and minors in the College of Media, Communication and Information who have 45 credit hours or more or have passed the prerequisite course, Sports Illustrated reported, citing the university’s website.

The course will teach students how to manage their time and celebrity, advocate for worthy causes and interact with the media, according to the magazine.

Sanders, 56, led the Buffaloes to an electrifying 3-0 start, but the team lost eight of its last nine games to finish at 4-8.

Coach Prime will not be teaching the course, CBS Sports reported. That assignment will fall to “a variety of media experts,” university officials said.

Sanders, who starred at Florida State University and played in the NFL for 14 seasons, was named Sports Illustrated’s 2023 Sportsperson of the Year on Nov. 30. Including last month, Sanders has appeared on the magazine’s cover seven times.

Sanders is also the only athlete to compete in both the World Series and the Super Bowl. He appeared in the Fall Classic in 1992 with the Atlanta Braves and appeared in Super Bowl XXIX with the San Francisco 49ers in January 1995. He returned to the NFL’s marquee game the following season as a member of the Dallas Cowboys.