Deion Sanders, Nick Saban are more alike than different, Joel Klatt says

Deion Sanders and Nick Saban are similar coaches, according to Joel Klatt. Now before you really question what he means, Klatt explained the standard both coaches set is very similar.

Sanders, granted, is just 1-0 at Colorado after a successful stint at Jackson State with two conference titles at the FCS level. Saban, of course, has seven national titles (one with LSU and six with Alabama) and is considered the greatest college coach in the history of the sport.

But don’t let that disparity fool you when it comes to Sanders’ standard, according to Klatt.

“I will say that I think that I think that the narrative isn’t correct that he essentially ran off everybody,” Klatt said on The Herd. “If you actually know what happened, there was only, I know this seems like a large number, but there were only about 19 to 20 guys that they sat with and said ‘hey, listen, it’s not going to work out here. Can we help you get to another program?’

“Everybody else quit. It was too much for them. And why was it too much for them? Because his standard is really high. This is what I think also people don’t understand about Coach Prime, is that he’s more like Nick Saban than he is different from Nick Saban.”

Deion Sanders, Nick Saban one of the same?

Sanders and Saban do share the stage in the Aflac commercials, but the coaching pedigree is not quite the same yet. But for now, Sanders is definitely doing something different and it made an immediate impact.

“And I know that sounds crazy,” Klatt said. “But it’s true. And it’s in this respect, the reckoning that is every day and each of their programs is really high. Every player the standard that they set and expect from their coaches, their staff, their players is really high. It’s what makes it hard to play and coach for Nick Saban. We all know that because then he presents that exact same exterior when he’s speaking with the media. 

“You don’t expect that from Coach Prime, but a great example is that his defensive coordinator is Charles Kelly. Just came from coaching at Alabama for four years and Florida State before that.”

Klatt continued on Sanders’ assistant and what he had to say regarding Coach Prime and Saban.

“I asked him, I said ‘like, you tell me how alike are they how different are they?’ And he said they’re 98% alike and 2% different,” Klatt said. “It just so happens that you see and hear all the 2% and you don’t see the 98% behind the scenes. 

“So one of the reasons why they had such great turnover and immense turnover is that his standard is just way higher than people actually realize from the outside.”

Colorado vs. Alabama in the College Football Playoff anyone? Well, we’ll circle back to that later in the season if it happens to still be a possibility.