Sources: Jackson State to name Deion Sanders new head football coach

Deion Sanders, a Pro and College Football Hall of Famer, is expected to be named the next head coach at Jackson State, sources told HBCU Sports.

Sources indicated that Sanders, who is currently the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian High School in Desoto, Texas, where his son, Shedeur, is the starting quarterback, will be named JSU’s head coach.

A press conference, sources said, is expected Monday at 10 a.m.

Sanders surfaced as a candidate for the Jackson State job after the school decided not to move forward with John Hendrick in a surprise move in late August.

A deal with Sanders is reportedly being finalized despite a potential conflict with the school’s Nike sponsorship. Sanders has a contract with Under Armour.

Hendrick went 6-9 in two seasons at Jackson State, including 5-5 in the SWAC after taking over from then-head coach Tony Hughes, first on an interim basis in 2018.

Following Hendrick’s dismissal, the school refuted speculation that Sanders was a potential candidate despite a report than Jackson State had gauged Sanders’ interest in the position.

“It just shows the tradition of Jackson State University,” Ashley Robinson, the school’s athletic director said during an interview earlier this month about Sanders being associated with Jackson State. It shows how big we are. It shows when things happen people put a lot of names out there with Jackson State University.”

Robinson, at the time, said a head coach would be named “very soon” and he was excited about the future of the football program under new leadership.

Jackson State President Thomas Hudson acknowledged that Sanders was “a big name that everyone knows” but was focused on a coach who would return JSU back to its winning ways.

Sanders will take over a program that has not experienced a season with a record above .500 since 2014 or a SWAC East Divison championship since 2013, which was the last time the team appeared in the conference title game.

He would also become the sixth Tigers’ head coach since 2007 and the third head coach in the last six years.

Sanders, who most recently worked as an analyst with NFL Network and later agreed to a role as a contributor for Barstool Sports, has always maintained a desire to be a college head coach.

“I’m going to be a head coach in college football next year,” Sanders told the Dan Patrick Show ahead of Super Bowl LIV. “I’m that definite. I’m that assured that I am. This is something that is my calling. I’m going to coach college football. Head coach, not coach. Head coach.”