“Deion!” That’s all it took to stop a fist bump mid-air and turn a casual campus moment into a reminder about standards. When it comes to respect, Deion Sanders doesn’t bend for anyone, not for students and not for reporters either. This isn’t new behavior, as this particular rule first became public four years ago, but the Colorado head coach just faced another incident to set that reminder about respect. 

The latest episode of Well Off Media showed Deion Sanders walking along a campus path. When he passed two students sitting closely on a bench, they exchanged friendly greetings. One student leaned in for a fist bump, which the coach was returning until he called him “Deion.” He immediately pulled his fist back calmly, but did not spare the student and corrected him to say “Coach.” The student adjusted and said, “Coach.” The fist bump followed as he delivered his lesson in under ten seconds.

It’s not a dramatic clip, but it reinforced his standards. Deion Sanders has made clear more than once that titles matter. During a September 2025 podcast appearance, for instance, he highlighted an issue that went beyond the field, indicating that Sanders is sensitive to all forms of perceived indiscipline on campus. 

“The smell of w— in the second quarter,” he said. “It surprises the heck out of me like every game.”

Colorado is technically a non-smoking campus. But Deion Sanders noticed it, and instead of brushing it off, he used it to highlight a broader issue about standards and respect. Then he moved on to something even more personal.

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“I got another question,” he said. “Because I walk with several of my coaches every day, and I want to know what’s appropriate because I’m from the South. And no matter my coaches that coached me way back when, I still call them coach or teachers who taught me, I call them Mister… But when they call you by your first name, like, do kids call you by your first name when you’re on campus? Like, is that correct?”

Deion Sanders has been consistent on this point since his days at Jackson State. Back in 2019, at a Southwestern Athletic Conference media day event, a reporter addressed him as “Deion,” and he stopped the exchange immediately.

“Hold on, let’s back up a little bit,” he said. “You don’t call Nick Saban ‘Nick.’ Don’t call me Deion.”

The reporter claimed he would call Nick Saban by his first name, but he didn’t buy it.

“No, you don’t. That’s a lie,” he added. “If you call Nick ‘Nick,’ you know you’ll get cussed out on the spot. So don’t do that to me. Treat me like Nick.”

When the reporter doubled down with “Okay, Deion,” he walked out. Later, he posted the full exchange and called the outlet “FOOLISH.” So when a Colorado student says “Deion,” it’s a crack in the foundation of his world. And this is happening at a time when the Buffs are trying to reset their whole identity.

Deion Sanders promises a difference for Colorado

Expectations rose for Colorado after a 10-win season in 2024, but losing Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter in 2025 took a toll on the team’s production. Besides, Deion Sanders himself was undergoing private cancer treatment late in the summer. Fair or not, his limited presence during stretches of recruiting and practice was noticeable, and by November, he made a promise.

“We won’t be in this situation again, I promise you that,” he said in his final 2025 press conference. “I’m not happy with nothing. This fanbase, this school, Rick, everybody deserves much better than this. There’s no rut… you’re just not good.”

Deion Sanders’ accountability is still first-class, but he also shared where to begin.

“Mentality. Personnel, coaching, everything,” he said. “I see everything being different. Even me. You don’t develop mentality, you select mentality. Personnel is mentality. I tell you the truth, but sometimes the truth hurts when I tell it to you. We’ve got to do a better job of coaching.”

This is why the campus fist-bump matters: for Deion Sanders, rebuilding a team’s mentality starts with the daily discipline of enforcing standards, even if it means correcting a student over a title.