The honeymoon with Deion Sanders is long over in Boulder, Colorado.
The second-year Buffs’ coach, who saw his team start 3-1 only to finish 4-8, has gotten into it through the Athletic Department at the school with Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler.
“After a series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime, the CU Athletic Department in conjunction with the football program, have decided not to take questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at football-related events,” the athletic department said in a statement provided to ESPN. “Keeler is still permitted to attend football-related activities as a credentialed member of the media and other reporters from the Denver Post are welcome to ask questions of football program personnel made available to the media, including coaches, players and staff.”
NEW: CU athletics informed The Denver Post that head coach Deion Sanders and anyone else within the Buffs football program will no longer take questions from columnist Sean Keeler due to what CU perceives as “a series of sustained, personal attacks” https://t.co/lwrw49I4pG
— The Denver Post (@denverpost) August 23, 2024
The issues arose from a series of terms Keeler has associated with Sanders in his work.
According to the Post, a CU athletic department media relations staffer told the paper it took issue with Keeler’s references to Sanders as “Deposition Deion,” the “Bruce Lee of B.S.,” a “false prophet,” and his use of phrases such as “Planet Prime,” “the Deion Kool-Aid” and “circus.” The ban is indefinite, according to the Post.
The newspaper’s editor issues a statement in response to the ban:
Lee Ann Colacioppo, editor of The Denver Post, provided the following statement in response:
“We are disappointed CU took this punitive and unnecessary move, essentially in response to opinion pieces they consider overly critical. It remains part of our core mission to hold all institutions and people in powerful positions accountable for their performance – and that includes the coach of the University of Colorado football team. If losing access to asking questions is the price we pay for that, so be it.”
