Saying that HBCU football coaches have been negatively impacted by student-athletes receiving late refund checks, Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders called on the Mississippi governor and school administrators to look into the issue.
In an Instagram video, Sanders called on Gov. Tate Reeves to help address the problem at Jackson State.
“I spoke to this issue several months ago and still to no avail and it’s bothering me,” Sanders said in the video. “Governor Reeves, can you help me with this issue? How is it fathomable that our refund checks for our kids are consistently late, but the checks for the administrators are consistently on time?”
Sanders said the issue is affecting the finances of player parents and even roster retention across the HBCU football landscape.
“Here’s the problem. I sit with a parent and say I’m going to take care of your child and make sure your child is secure,” Sanders said. “Yet and still, refund checks are consistently late. Now the child calls the parent needing money. Now the parent has to overextend themselves or the child has to go to the bank and take out a loan to pay their rent on money they should already have.”
The coach said that he was told by fellow SWAC coaches that the issue was a problem on their campuses, too.
“At the SWAC meeting (media day) one coach told me he lost a few kids because of this situation and we can’t have that,” said Sanders.
“We’ve got to keep our momentum so we have to get these check out on time to these kids. And guess what? Three of them are mine,” Sanders said. “And you know I ain’t having it because now they’re bothering me about something they should already have.”
