It's more than football, it's a calling: Colorado football coach Deion Sanders and his fight to raise cancer awareness
Before we dive into why Deion Sanders would continue coaching, let’s fully comprehend the life battle ahead.
Sanders said Monday he had his cancerous bladder removed and reconstructed from a piece of his small intestine, and simple internet search shows no pleasant post-operative options to eliminate urine. His life will never be the same.
The best way to explain the unimaginable: there will be a porta-potty at Colorado practices this fall, and on the sidelines during games.
Let’s pause here and soak in that unthinkable.
“It was never in my spirit to not be coaching again,” Sanders said during an emotional press conference to begin his third season as Buffaloes coach.
That’s the takeaway of this somber yet inspiring story. Sanders isn’t stepping down, he’s stepping up.
No matter what you think of the bombastic bravado of all things Coach Prime, Sanders just publicly gave two middle fingers to the big C — and isn’t ashamed in the least about the potentially embarrassing fight ahead.
A porta-potty on the sidelines, ladies and gentlemen.
“I got eight toes, man,” Sanders defiantly said.
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Translation: he’s here for a purpose, and believes it has nothing to do with football.
So when he nearly lost his foot because of circulation problems but also lost two toes in the process, that was the initial whisper. When he nearly lost his life because of cancer – when the enormity of making a will before surgery in May became crushing reality – that was the final, primal scream from above.
It’s more than football. He’s here, he says, to make sure men see their physicians regularly.
Because if it can happen to Prime, you damn sure better believe it can happen to anyone.
So Sanders has decided to continue coaching, to do what he does best and lead another fight in the process. He knows the college football world follows his every move, knows the ratings he and his team gain no matter the network, no matter the time.
Colorado's double-overtime loss to Stanford in 2023, a typically sleepy Friday night game for all of college football, went well into Saturday morning and still drew 3.29 million viewers. Colorado and Sanders have become must-see TV.
In 2024, Colorado had 11 of the top 100 watched games. Only national champion Ohio State (12) had more.
You don't really think he's walking away from that bully pulpit, do you?
At one point Monday afternoon, after beginning the press conference with his trademark sunglasses on, Sanders took off the shades and sat exposed for all to see — his eyes the window to a clearly shook soul. This battle is far from over.
It’s a strange, new world of pain management and wound care and other potential complications. To say nothing of the emotional and psychological challenges ahead.
He sat surrounded by his medical staff, and wore a white long sleeve t-shirt, blue denim overalls and a white cowboy hat. He came to work, everyone.
This wasn’t your typical Primetime press conference, complete with outlandish proclamations and ridiculous statements. No first person “Coach Prime” promoting, no me against the world mantra.
It’s the collective us against the big C.
He was evangelizing and energizing, which if we’ve learned anything from Sanders, is right in his wheelhouse. You want to put a face to this fight?
Why not the guy with the million dollar smile, the former elite athlete and transcending coach, and one of the rare people in sports who isn’t afraid to speak his mind? No matter how many love or hate him, no matter the consequences.
They’ll all hear the message.
One of faith and hope and pain and perseverance, of unvarnished truth that men, without regular visits to physicians, could be lugging around urine bags, too.
Without regular visits, you, too could sit at the kitchen table one evening when you least expect it, filling out a will and wondering how in the world this could’ve happened?
A day before Monday’s press conference, Sanders released a video on Instagram where he spoke about that unsettling moment — and dealing with the torturous reality of mortality.
Hear the message, everyone. Doesn’t matter if you like the messenger, or his love of God and wonderment that somehow, a higher power has saved him for this very time and place.
He’s got eight toes, man.
And one purpose.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders cancer battle has Colorado coach raising awareness
Category: General Sports
