Deion Sanders getting the Auburn job is 'too big of a leap', Pete Thamel says

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater10/31/22

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The coaching carousel has started back up again with the firing of Bryan Harsin at Auburn. It was the biggest ‘when not if’ question left in college football this season. With that question now answered, the candidates who have been brought up over and over as the Tiger’s next head coach will be brought up now more than ever. In Pete Thamel’s opinion, though, that list should not include Jackson State’s Deion Sanders.

Thamel shared his thoughts on Sanders as an option for the Tigers on ‘The Paul Finebaum Show’. While he applauds the success of Sanders with the Tigers, he believes a leap from his spot in the SWAC to the spot Auburn is at in the SEC is too big.

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“I don’t think Deion Sanders will be the next Auburn coach. I think Deion Sanders has done a wonderful job at Jackson State. It has an unbelievable community, culture that he has fostered there. They have an excellent football team. He’s shown he can recruit; he’s shown he can handle the demands of the job. I just feel like a coach who has only been a coach, really, for three years. At least a head college football coach and really having never been an assistant,” said Thamel. “That’s too big of a leap to think Coach Prime can go right from Jackson into the shadows of Nick Saban and upend Nick Saban.”

Sanders has led the Tigers to a 23-4 record over the last two and half seasons with Jackson State. The Tigers are currently undefeated with an 8-0 record thus far in 2022. He has created so much hype in Jackson, Mississippi that top prospects are committing there, the national media is covering them, and some of the biggest jobs in the nation are considering Sanders for potentially open positions.

However, Thamel still asserts that this might be too much, too soon for the NFL Hall of Famer. Doing what he has done in the SWAC is one thing. Doing it in the SEC is a whole different animal. Still, Thamel’s concerns aren’t going to stop anyone from giving Sanders a shot if he is who they’ve zeroed in on.