Colorado Football Head coach Deion Sanders had a tense exchange with a reporter during media day on Aug. 9. Sanders made it clear that he didn't like some of the coverage Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler has done about him and the Buffaloes football program in the past.
“You don't like us, man. Why are you doing this to yourself?” Sanders asked Keeler at one point during the press conference. “No, I'm serious. Why are you doing this? Like you know you don't like it. Why are you doing this?”
Two weeks after the back-and-forth, Colorado announced that Keeler would no longer be allowed to direct questions at Sanders or anyone else involved with the football program. The university described some of Keeler’s past coverage as “personal attacks on the football program.”
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July 10, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada. Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders speaks to the media during Big 12 Media Days at Allegiant Stadium. (Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports)
“Following a series of sustained personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime, the CU Athletic Department, in conjunction with the football program, has decided not to answer questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at football-related events,” the athletic department said in a statement obtained by ESPN.
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Colorado officials added that the reporter's access to “football-related activities” remains intact and his colleagues at the newspaper are free to direct questions to the Buffaloes' head coach.
“Keeler is still permitted to attend football-related activities as an accredited member of the media and other Denver Post journalists are permitted to ask questions of football program personnel available to the media, including coaches, players and staff.”
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes looks on as his team plays its spring game at Folsom Field on April 27, 2024, in Boulder, Colorado. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the Colorado athletics department told the outlet that some of Keeler’s past references to Sanders were an issue, including instances where he referred to the coach as “Deion of deposition,” the “Bruce Lee of bullshit” and a “false prophet.” Certain phrases like “Planet Prime,” “Deion’s Kool-Aid” and “circus” also created points of contention, the anonymous Colorado athletics department media relations staff member said, according to The Denver Post.
The exchange between Sanders and Keeler earlier this month lasted about 90 seconds, with the Pro Football Hall of Famer pressing Keeler to answer his question. Keeler asked Sanders several times if he could ask him a “football question.”
“I would have a hard time really getting involved with someone I don't like or dislike. I just wonder why. Why? What did I do?” Sanders repeated.
The columnist responded to the coach that “he did nothing.”
“You have to pay your bills, man. You haven't done anything. It's not about that. It's about football,” he said.
The columnist tried again to ask a question, but Sanders continued with his line of questioning.
“But why? I ask you why… You want me to answer you, so why?… You're always under attack. What did we do to you?” Sanders said.
Sanders eventually agreed to discuss the matter with Keeler in a private setting at a later date.
“No, we'll talk about that when we talk about it. I'll talk about that with you,” Sanders said.
Head coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes speaks at the 2024 Big 12 Conference Football Media Day at Allegiant Stadium on July 10, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Louis Grasse/Getty Images)
Keeler published a column shortly after the exchange with Sanders, in which he said the coach was “a confident man who suddenly looked, acted and sounded … scared.”
The Denver Post said Sanders' contract states that he is only to speak to “mutually agreed-upon media outlets.”
Denver Post sports editor Matt Schubert responded to Colorado's decision to bar Keeler from questioning Sanders.
“It is within everyone's right not to answer questions of [Denver Post sports reporters and columnists]”However, the reasons CU lists here are entirely subjective. It would be more accurate to say, 'We don't like Sean Keeler's criticism of our program,'” Schubert wrote in a post shared on social media.
Keeler is the latest reporter Sanders has had issues with and was ultimately banned. When he was Jackson State’s head coach in 2021, a reporter for the Mississippi Clarion Ledger was banned from covering the football program. The outlet published a story that referenced a court filing about a top recruit facing charges stemming from an alleged assault on a woman. The paper learned of the ban the day after the story was published.
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Colorado finished the 2023 campaign with a 4-8 record. Sanders hopes to improve that record this year. The Buffaloes will host North Dakota State on Aug. 31 to open the 2024 season.
The game will also mark Colorado's debut as a member of the Big 12 Conference.
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