Deion Sanders' Jackson State debut takes strange turn after coach says personal items were 'stolen'

Tom Gatto

Deion Sanders' Jackson State debut takes strange turn after coach says personal items were 'stolen' image

Deion Sanders' college football coaching debut Sunday ended badly, and then weirdly.

The Jackson State coach told reporters following his team's game that his belongings had been taken from his stadium office. About an hour later, an unnamed university official told Jackson, Miss., TV station WAPT that the items were "misplaced" and then recovered.

Sanders, however, repeated that he had been robbed, going against Jackson State's account. He also added that the thief was caught in the act.

Jackson State officials also told WAPT-TV that no police report would be filed.

A "pissed off" Sanders said in his postgame news conference that the intruder made off with "every darn thing I had," starting with his wallet and phone.

"Thank God I had on my necklaces," he said. "How?!"

Sanders did not say how his belongings were stored in his office, but insisted again that anyone saying they were merely misplaced was "lying."

MORE: 21 amazing facts about Sanders' two-way career

The game itself was a success: Jackson State blew out NAIA opponent Edward Waters College 53-0. Sanders told reporters that players awarded him the game ball, which was "one of the best moments I've ever had in my professional sports career emotionally." That was followed by Sanders finding out his office had been burglarized.

Sanders said the incident would be used to make further improvements to the Tigers' program.

"When I talk about quality and raising the standards, that goes for everyone, man," he said. "Not just the people on the field, not just the coaches, not just the teachers, not just the faculty, but everybody, security and everybody."

"Prime" also made another vow.

"We're going to find out who did it," he said.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.