Colorado head coach Deion Sanders has been in Boulder long enough to get a feel for the program’s culture, but there are still parts of campus life that surprise him.
Just a week ago, he admitted he was caught off guard by one unusual Folsom Field tradition, the student section lighting up mar*juana during games. Sanders told CBS Colorado’s Romi Bean that the smell lingered well into the second quarter.
Meanwhile, when asked if the smell still lingered in his recent interview, he said that it was still there, and this time, he believed the students were smoking for him
But while the smoke didn’t sit well with him, what bothers Sanders even more is the way some students approach him around campus.
Deion Sanders Questions Colorado Student Etiquette
The Hall of Famer admitted he’s puzzled by the way students address him, noting that many simply call him “Deion” when they see him walking around.
From his perspective, that feels out of place. “I want to know what’s appropriate because I’m from the South, and no matter my coaches that coached me way back when, I still call him coach or teachers who taught me, I call them mister,” Sanders said.
He then posed a question to Romi: “But when they call you by your first name, like, do kids call you by your first name when you’re on campus? Like, is that correct, or should they call you by your title?”
Sanders explained that hearing kids, some as young as his own children, call him by his first name throws him off. “I don’t know whether to feel offended, you know, whether that’s offensive or it’s polite. Yeah. When I’m walking on campus, and ‘Hey Deion.’ You’re old enough to be my child.”
The Pro Football Hall of Famer also made it clear that back in his day, things would have played out very differently. “Back in the day, we got spankings for that,” Sanders said with a laugh.
For Sanders, the issue isn’t just about tradition; it’s about respect. Where he comes from, formality matters, and calling a coach or teacher by their title is part of that respect.
His comments spark an interesting question about cultural differences: is it simply a generational shift, or is Sanders right to expect the old-school way of addressing authority figures?
Either way, it’s a conversation that highlights just how different Colorado campus culture can feel for a man raised in the South.