That’s Coach Sanders to you.
Jackson State football coach Deion Sanders lectured reporters who called him by his first name before leaving a SWAC Media Day event prematurely on Tuesday.
“You don’t call Nick Saban, ‘Nick’,” Sanders told a reporter, referencing the legendary Alabama football coach. “Don’t call me Deion. If you call Nick (Saban), Nick, you’ll get cussed out on the spot, so don’t do that to me. Treat me like Nick.”
The Hall of Fame cornerback walked out of the event after a second reporter referred to him by his first name.
Nick Suss, one of the reporters who referred to Sanders as “Deion,” told the Clarion Ledger that he has referred to Saban and other prominent coaches by their first name without repercussions.
“When I interview people, I call them by their first name,” Suss said. “Whether it’s someone I’ve been working with for years or someone I’m talking to for the first time. This is true of the coaches and players on the Ole Miss beat, the coaches and players at Mississippi State and Southern Miss when I help out covering their teams and, as recently as January, even Sanders, too.”
Sanders is entering his second season at the helm of Jackson State after leading the Tigers to a 4-3 campaign last season.