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At the start of his National Signing Day press conference on Feb. 1, Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders again expressed his feelings for the city of Boulder.
Let me start by saying that I absolutely love Boulder, Colorado. Indeed, Sanders said. It was a hidden gem for me because I had no idea. I absolutely love it.
I can’t wait to get home so I can lay back and relax, let the dog run around the yard and call the place home. And thank you for welcoming me. You make me feel comfortable, welcome my family, my children, everyone. Our new signings, the whole football team staff, the coaches, everyone we brought in, you’ve made them feel impeccably good.
It wasn’t the first time Sanders has praised Boulder since he was hired on Dec. 3. Sanders and his family, including three children who are or will soon be CU students, have routinely expressed how much they enjoy being in Boulder. . Every time they do, it makes DaWon Baker happy.
Baker is in his second year as CU’s associate athletic director for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He works to ensure that DEI has an impact in all areas, including the student-athlete experience.
I help with that strategy and help make sure that every decision we make in CU Athletics is a part of DEI that is embedded in that,” Baker said.
Baker said CU Athletics has one of the largest DEI staffs in the nation, and the investment in this area makes the school a leader in that regard. Baker said he also feels the full support of athletic director Rick George, adding that George has done a really good job of recognizing that (DEI) matters to our athletes.
Sanders, the third straight black head football coach hired at CU, could be able to dramatically improve CU’s efforts with DEI.
“Deion Sanders, he’s the microphone,” Baker said. Good, bad or indifferent, no matter how you feel, it’s part of who he is, so he affirms. I think that by having him here, he can bring a lot of awareness and attention to the things that we’ve done historically to continue to build on the momentum and success that we want to have in the future.
Sanders is like no other coach around the country, let alone Boulder. A Pro Football Hall of Famer and national celebrity, Coach Prime has been in the spotlight for decades.
Since Sanders’ hiring, CU has made a significant impact in many areas, including recruiting, ticket sales, fan engagement and more. The diversity of CU and Boulder can also play a role.
“I think he can attract a player, a fan, a person, a demographic, etc. that we’ve historically had a little bit of, but not as much,” Baker said. And I think what ultimately happens in that is he continues to recruit at the same level that they’ve been doing up until now and bring in individuals that come from different backgrounds than we have here, it just adds to the flavor that we already have.
In the fall, CU had 36,122 students, 65.7% white and only 2.6% black/African American.
Donovan Wilson saw that difference when he arrived at CU last fall. Wilson worked with Baker as a graduate student and came to CU as part of the McClendon Program and Minority Leadership.
The first day I walked across campus and the campus was beautiful, but I noticed that I didn’t really see any other students of color, she said. In the athletic department, I really only saw other students of color.
CU hopes that will change as Sanders continues to shine a light on Boulder as a place that welcomes minorities.
Last month, CU held the official opening of the Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS), and Sanders toured the space and met with CAAAS leaders and guests.
We want to make sure that he is seen as someone who is accessible to our campus and especially to our students of color who are not athletes, Baker said, because we think that will increase applications and make people want to come here just to be around it.
It will take time to see if Sanders will have an impact on the number of non-athletic black students applying to polytechnics, but Wilson said he has already seen Sanders’ overall impact.
In a way, they started to change the culture of CU-Boulder, which I think is a positive influence for people of color,” Wilson said. I’ve definitely noticed that.
Baker, a native of St. Louis, said she believes Boulder is a great city for minorities, but said: It’s really hard to come here unless you’ve been here, visited, know someone who lives here and can see it in person.
Last month, CU screened the film This is Not Who We Are, a documentary about the predominantly white image of Boulders, but also about the positive and negative effects of the city’s long history of black citizens.
It paints a very clear picture of, hey, there’s a perception that we haven’t been here, where historically we’ve always been here, Baker said, but there are some positives and negatives to this as well. Here’s what’s happened, here’s what we don’t want to happen again, and here’s what we really want to keep happening.
Sanders, his family and the assistant coaches who praised Boulder could help CU.
When (Sanders was hired), we talked as a group and just said, hey, this is going to be different for us, mainly because it brings more attention and future awareness to what we’re doing,” Baker said.
If nothing else, Sanders and his family show that CU could be a more intriguing option for black students across the country.
If they never walk in the door, it’s hard to get it to pop, Baker said. Now they walk through the door, or at least have an interest in walking through the door.
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