Stephen A. Smith: Deion Sanders deserved Alabama, Florida State, Texas A&M jobs

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith had one more hot take Monday about Deion Sanders before he signed off: Alabama should’ve hired him as head coach.

Now hang on, before you scratch your head and really contemplate what he just said, Smith said based on Sanders’ performance as coach this year, Alabama and others should’ve given him a shot. That includes a 7-1 Texas A&M team. Yes, the current 7-1 Aggies.

Forget Florida State, Stephen A. went for the SEC when it comes to Sanders getting a shot.

“Florida State, I don’t care about last year, I understand they were undefeated, and then you know what … after their quarterback got hurt, they didn’t get picked for the college football playoff, and they were salty about it,” Smith said on First Take. “They didn’t show up and got obliterated by Georgia in a bowl game. But they looked awful this year. They should have hired Prime Time at Florida State, his alma mater. They should have hired him at Texas A&M, you know, the SEC, they should have hired him. 

“And I ain’t gonna lie to you, even though I didn’t say anything about it at the time, because the man was a two time Pac-12 coach of the year and won a national championship, couple of national championships in the NAIA, and had Washington in the national championship game last year, damn it. The way Alabama’s looking, I think they should have hired him at Alabama.”

Kaleb DeBoer is currently 6-2 at Alabama in his first season, with losses to Vanderbilt and Tennessee. There’s definitely some uneasiness, but, the team is in the thick of the SEC race and in the College Football Playoff hunt once again.

Sanders has done a great job at Colorado, going 6-2 through eight games and making the Buffaloes bowl eligible for the first time since 2020.

And make no mistake, Florida State has been a disaster this year, going 1-7 through two thirds of the season amid bad QB play and injuries. It’s just not the same team Mike Norvell coached to an ACC title last season.

But the Texas A&M suggestion was a bit of a head scratcher from Smith. Sure, Sanders might’ve had success there too, considering the Aggies’ resources. But Mike Elko came over from Duke and immediately led this team to a 7-1 record and No. 10 ranking to this point of the season.

Those are at least two jobs, probably three, that Prime Time Deion Sanders is showing he warranted consideration, if not flat out acceptance of those jobs, especially at Florida State,” Smith said. “And I think with the SEC knowing that you got the great teams that you got in it, to have somebody like him who could recruit, I think if you’re Texas A&M, I think if you’re Florida State, you’ll rue the day that you didn’t hire him as your head coach right now, because nobody saw this coming.”

The praising of Sanders was great, but First Take host Molly Qerim came in with a quick fact check.

“Texas A&M, they are 7-1 Stephen A,” Qerim interjected.

“Say what,” he asked.

“They are 7-1,” she responded.

“Who,” Smith questioned, again.

“A&M, A&M,” Qerim said.

“Yeah, I understand that,” Smith said. “I’m just telling you right now having Prime Time in the SEC at Texas A&M, that would have been special.”