His team again undefeated, barnstorming its way once again through the Southwestern Athletic Conference and firmly entrenched in the top 10 of the Football Championship Subdivision’s national polls, Jackson State coach Deion Sanders on Monday shed some insight on the process of finding his new offensive coordinator, Brett Bartolone.
As it happens, Sanders simply picked up his phone and made an in-state call; no nationwide cell phone plan needed.
“Well, I went to one of the best minds, offensively, in college football and he’s right down the street at Mississippi State and that’s Mike Leach,” Sanders told FootballScoop during the SWAC’s weekly coaches’ Zoom. “He recommended three of his guys that run his system pretty well.”
Bartolone had once been a starting wideout for Leach at Washington State, and when injuries derailed his playing career, Bartolone remained in the Cougars' program as a student assistant where he first gained coaching experience.
Sanders then consulted his defensive coordinator, former USC star and NFL veteran Dennis Thurman, about the potential of bringing in an orchestrator of an high-octane, uptempo 'air raid' offense that, when operating efficiently, would leave the defense with more time on the field.
The No. 8 Tigers (5-0) have the No. 2 scoring defense and No. 4 scoring offense at the FCS level.
“I knew what type of defense we had with Dennis Thurman leading the way,” Sanders said. “And then the guys that we recruited. We’re still missing three starters on defense that you haven’t even seen yet. You’ve seen Travis (Hunter), and he’ll be back really soon.
“But I asked Dennis Thurman a true question: Can you handle 10 to 15 more snaps? And you’ve got to understand that that’s a real question, because some defenses have a breaking point. You have an offense that scores, scores, score and you put them out there too long and it’s going to break. That’s why you see some of the premiere colleges, and I’m not going to call any names because I don’t want to degrade any of those schools, but the problem has been defenses. They score a lot but they can’t stop anybody. But “I know we can stop somebody so now the recipe is to score a lot.”
Coach Prime and Thurman were in agreement that such a system would not overburden the Tigers, particularly as Jackson State (5-0) continued to recruit at the top of all FCS programs and better than myriad Football Bowls Subdivision programs.
Sanders then pulled multiple of his assistant coaches, as well as his son and Tigers starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, into the interview process.
“We had an interview process with a couple of my coaches, and Shedeur was involved because he has to be comfortable,” Sanders said. “And Coach Brett, shoot, he knocked it out of the park man, he did. We have a chemistry, and that’s important. You’ve got to get down with me if you want to coach at Jackson State, because this is how it’s going to go and it’s going to go this way.
“But we have to understand what we’re trying to accomplish together.”
Sanders remembered how quickly Bartolone, then an analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach at Nevada, hustled to complete the 2,000-mile trek from Reno, Nevada, to Jackson, Mississippi, to interview for the position.
“Let me tell you something, man; Coach Brett came running. Drove all the way from Nevada or wherever he dern came from and I don’t even think he stopped for gas,” Sanders said. “Maybe he did. But he’s been a blessing to us all. He can get the ball down the dern field and I admire him and respect the heck out of him. And he’s very relatable with all kids. All kids. He’s very relatable and understanding with all kids.”
Tigers’ staff members include tight ends coach Tim Brewster, a former FBS head coach and NFL assistant; special teams coordinator Alan Ricard, running backs coach Gary Harrell, linebackers coach Andre Hart, offensive line coach Mark Markuson, former NFL standout and ex-Sanders teammate with the Dallas Cowboys, Kevin Mathis, who coaches the JSU defensive backs; wideouts coach T.C. Taylor and defensive line coach Jeff Weeks. The staff also includes four full-time analysts and a director of player personnel, as well as a special assistant to the head coach.
Relatability, Sanders then explained, has emerged as a foremost trait that Sanders has sought in all of his assistant coaches.
“That’s something that you really have to take note: You can’t just choose a staff that can coach their butt off but can’t relate to the kids,” said Sanders, whose quick turnaround of the Tigers’ program has landed him on the radar of multiple Power-5 programs seeking new head coaches. “Or that can relate to the kids but don’t know how to coach. Or can relate to the kids and coach but don’t know how to recruit. You’ve got to really understand the totality of this coaching thing, and it’s real to us.”