In just his first season full season as a head coach, Deion Sanders has picked up the award for the top coach in FCS football.
Sanders was named the 2021 recipient of the Stats Perform FCS Eddie Robinson Award, which is presented to the national coach of the year in the Division I subdivision.
Sanders will be honored at the FCS National Awards Banquet on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas. He was one of 17 finalists for the award, which is named for legendary Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson and celebrating its 35th anniversary season.
JSU has 11 wins and captured the Southwestern Athletic Conference title for the first time since 2007. It has made it to the Celebration Bowl for the first time and is set to face South Carolina State on Saturday in Atlanta.
“This is a team effort, it’s a valiant effort, it takes a lot, it does not just take me,” Deion Sanders said via The Analyst. “I know it takes a visionary, but people have to really support the vision. And that’s what we did.”
Jackson State went 4-3 under Sanders in the shortened spring season. It underwent heavy turnover via new recruits and transfers to prepare for its fall run.
Sanders’ win comes one day after his son Shedeur won the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman in the FCS. Jackson State has averaged 42,293 fans in its six home games — a single-season record for an FCS school.
A 50-member, national media panel selected the Eddie Robinson Award following the regular season. Past recipients include Jim Tressel, Houston Nutt, Andy Talley and Prairie View A&M’s Henry Frazier. Sam Houston’s K.C. Keeler, the 2016 recipient, was the runner-up for the second consecutive season.
Sanders was floored last month when he learned he was even nominated for the award.
“Dude – do you know who Eddie Robinson is and was. Eddie Robinson – man – that to me is…That’s astounding,” Sanders said. “You got me speechless and, you know, I’m good with my mouthpiece.”