Coach Prime Deion Sanders and Dolphins Mike McDaniels

Thank you for listening to the Torg Stories Podcast. Before we get into Coach Prime Deion Sanders and Dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel, I want to give you a heads up that we’ll be working from a Rolling Stones Greatest Songs of the 80s list next week. Anne, we did a little of our homework already on the drive to the airport Saturday…

To prepare for today’s discussion, we read a magazine article about each coach, watched HBO’s Hard Knocks about the Dolphins, and the Amazon show Coach Prime about Sanders and the Buffaloes.

• Sports Illustrated named Coach Sanders its sportsmen of the year. Click here for the article by Pat Forde.
• Click here for “How the Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel Keeps Things Authentic” by Marcel Louis-Jacques.

Discussion topics:

1. Anne, let’s start with the idea of a coaching voice or persona. How would you describe each of these coaches?
2. Can I see an evolution in my coaching and teaching voices?
3. Finding your voice: teaching, writing, and coaching come to mind for me. Anne, your Twitter voice? Your podcast voice? I mean the kind of person that you are.
4. McDaniel Hard Knocks and Article discussion points:

• He’s funny. Talking with Jets fans about being cold. Running off the field. Very relaxed and conversational banter in the most intense moments.
• Reputation as a nerd genius. The motion and the quick passes of his offense.
• Unusual from an appearance standpoint. (Izz, that’s the coach?) He doesn’t look the part. From the ESPN article: “Before the first practice of the week on Wednesday, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel made his way to the front of the room dressed as if he never left Miami — in a black hoodie and matching sweatpants, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and his pants above his calves. A large gold watch on his left wrist reflected the fluorescent lights.”
• Contrast with Belichick press conferences.
• I was struck by the “cakes” the players “win” and earn by performance. Just that getting a little cake by your name matters when you are a multimillionaire.
• Really a heartwarming scene with the players serving Thanksgiving meals.
• Welker coaches!

Deon “Coach Prime” and article discussion points:

1. Going backwards, here is a list of SI’s choices of Sportsperson of the year: click here. How do they seem to choose?
2. Incredible motivational speaker. Tears in the “now” speech. There’s the appearance of deeply caring about his players and the projects of the team.
3. Bluntly holds his players accountable.
4. The vibe, the look, the gear and the facilities are really attractive and these things matter a lot to players. Look good, play good, get paid good. Something like that.
5. The financial impact as explained in the SI article by Pat Forde: here are numbers that define the Prime Effect upon the University of Colorado in Boulder, a place that hasn’t always had a chummy relationship with football. First-year applications are up 26.4% year over year; Black or African American applications are up 80.6%; nonresident applications are up 29.8%; and international applications are up 38.4% from 97 countries, including 16 that didn’t have any applications last year. While those numbers cannot be definitively linked to Sanders, others can be: September sales at the school’s online team store were up 2,544% over the same month in 2022. Every home game in 50,183-seat Folsom Field was sold out for the first time in school history. WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES PEOPLE SO INTERESTED IN HIS TEAMS?
6. Wow, what a family project. From the SI article: “How in the world is this not heaven on Earth?” Sanders says in his office. “Every day, my daughter comes through that door and gives me a kiss. Every day, Shedeur comes in here and takes a shower, changes clothes, then they wash my clothes like they do and I find his underwear in my drawer—I know they’re not mine, because I know what brand I wear. Shilo sneaks up here to take a dump. Junior’s office is right next to mine. My sister [his assistant, Tracie Knight] is outside. My mother is over there watching the soap operas. My dog is right here. How in the world can I not be thankful and appreciative of where I am? They have afforded us the luxury of calling this place home, and we’ve absolutely loved it.”

The television shows and the two of them:

1. The shades. The gear!
2. Hard Knocks and Prime the TV Show. What do we think of that?

Next week, the greatest 80s songs of all time!