It was something of a coaching coup earlier this year, when Deion Sanders snagged away Charles Kelly from Alabama as one of Sanders's signature early hires atop the Colorado Buffaloes football program.
When Coach Prime last week required another medical procedure in an Denver-area hospital, he turned to Kelly to serve as spokesman for the Buffaloes at Pac-12 Media Day in Las Vegas.
While Kelly naturally was asked about the latest on Sanders's health -- "he's doing great," Kelly said -- as well as projected Buffaloes stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, Kelly also was asked if he had discovered any similarities between the iconic Saban and the Pro Football Hall of Famer Sanders.
"You ask the similarities, people ask me that all the time," Kelly said. "There are a lot more similarities about Coach Saban and Coach Prime than there are differences.
"When I say that, I always say this first of all. First of all, they're very good men, right? Very good men. They have conviction. When they believe in something, they fight for it, all right? That's a sign of a good person."
Kelly also pointed out that both coaches deliver their messages with candor.
"They tell you the truth," said Kelly, who's coached at Alabama, Florida State and Tennessee, among other career stops. "They tell you what is the truth, not what you want to hear, but what you need to hear. To me they're very similar in that aspect."
While Saban has not bragged of his Louis Vuitton luggage as Sanders brashly did upon his arrival at Colorado, he has set the culture and tone at Alabama since he took over the Crimson Tide prior to the 2007 season.
In that regard, Kelly said both Saban and Sanders are again simpatico.
"The other thing is they have a way of setting a standard," Kelly said. "They're not going to deviate off that standard. That standard is the standard. They're not going to come off of it. Everybody that works with them is going to be the same way.
"When the standard is the standard, understand you're a leader, you bring people to that standard, that's how you elevate your program. Those are the similarities I see between Coach (Saban) and Coach Prime."