According to HBCU GameDay, former NFL head coach Mike Zimmer will be joining Deion Sanders at Jackson State as an analyst for the football team.
Zimmer was fired by the Minnesota Vikings in January, finishing his eight-season tenure with a record of 72-56. He’s also served as an assistant with the Atlanta Falcons and spent more than a decade serving as defensive coordinator at Washington State. He is now taking his decades of coaching experience to Jackson State University to work under Coach Deion “Prime Time” Sanders.
NFL legend and JSU head coach Deion Sanders introduced Zimmer to the team on Tuesday, then teased the new addition on Twitter shortly after:
Zimmer and Sanders have remained close friends since Zimmer coached Sanders when he was with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s.
Zimmer said he would love to help Sanders and HBCUs when speaking about the position with Thee Pregame Show. “He’s asked me about it a few times. The pay’s not good,” Zimmer said jokingly. “But I do love Deion and I’d do anything for him.”
Zimmer spoke highly of Sanders coaching saying with some donations to the football program “there would be no stopping him.”
“He can open up so many doors for these young men but I’m extremely impressed with the way he’s teaching them about life and not just football. And taking care of them, and talking to them about the real things that go on in the world and not the fluff stuff.”
– Mike Zimmer on Deion Sanders coaching at JSU
Zimmer admitted that he didn’t know much about HBCUs before Sanders but is now paying closer attention to them. He acknowledges other NFL greats like Hue Jackson, who is currently coaching at Grambling State, and Eddie George, who is the head coach at Tennesee State University.
I just think it’s great and the more notoriety that they get, the better it is. Zimmer said. I think it’s outstanding, not just for black people but also white people, white students to understanding all about the history of what has gone on at all these great institutions.”
