Barstool, Jackson State to Launch “Coach Prime” Docuseries Covering Deion Sanders' Inaugural Season
Deion Sanders Accepts Head Coaching Position at Jackson State
By: Baigen Seawell
After talks of having a series geared towards HBCU Athletic Programs, it seems as if the Fairy Godmother of HBCU Athletics has answered our call. Barstool Sports and the ever evolving Jackson State University Football Program have merged to launch a longform documentary series titled “Coach Prime”.
The series will highlight the inaugural season of former NFL Star, Deion Sanders. This will be a family affair, with sons Shedeur and Shilo Sanders joining their father to make the Tigers a top football program in the NCAA, not just amongst the SWAC.
The series also looks to cover the overlooking of HBCU programs as it relates to athletics, something that has been seen with major moves such as Makur Maker committing to Howard last summer. For Jackson State, Shedeur Sanders’ signing to the Tigers was the highest rated school signee in JSU history. This shows that the attention is pointed to HBCU athletics on a scale that has been unseen in mainstream media.
Barstool CEO Erika Nardini, elaborates on this, mentioning that covering HBCU Athletics wasn’t one of the categories they thought they’d fill on their bingo board. “A year ago, if you said, ‘Would Barstool Sports be doing a long-form series on HBCU football?’ the answer would have been ‘Absolutely not’”.
Barstool Sports may have been one of the last companies on the collective lists of many (mine included) to cover a topic as it relates to HBCU athletics, but they’re looking to change for the better. A few months ago, Barstool Founder, Dave Potnoy was outed for using racial slurs as it relates to Colin Kaepernick.
This situation sent social media into a frenzy, condemning the commentary from the famed sports media empire. However, as stated earlier, this partnership with Jackson State looks to be (hopefully) a step in the right direction… and Potnoy doesn’t seem to have any parts of this project at face value. Despite all of this, Coach Sanders himself has his own connections with Barstool, at one point serving as an analyst with them.
“I am so unbelievably excited to share our journey as we aspire to level the playing field and raise awareness for Jackson State University and all HBCUs […] I am equally proud to have Barstool Sports join me as the distribution partner to help carry out this vision and dream of mine. I BELIEVE” said Sanders in an article with HBCU GameDay.
Barstool has launched one-and-done documentaries in the past, but this will be the first of its kind to be a multi-episode series launching this spring. If the reception is well received in the first six episodes during the spring, they look to drop another six episodes this fall. Additional talks of potential sponsorships and premieres on streaming services such as Apple TV have also been reported for the up and coming docuseries.
To add, the series is in partnership with SMAC entertainment, which is run by Constance Schwartz-Morini and Michael Strahan. SMAC has worked on projects with HBO, DirectTV, Showtime, NFL Network and a plethora of other high-profile broadcast networks. The director and showrunner, Mark W. Wright is an HBCU Graduate, hailing from Howard University and writing for outlets like The Undefeated.
So far, everything checks out for it to be an exhilarating and purposeful series that will shed a light on the grit and passion that is instilled in HBCU athletic programs.
The excitement for the release of the series is already generating buzz. With news dropping Feb 3 and SWAC athletics in full swing, what better time to see how Coach Prime’s first season pans out for all of us HBCU Advocates, and the fans that may come along the way.
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