Freedom of press? Colorado bans Denver reporter from asking questions over alleged ‘personal attacks’ on Deion Sanders

The Colorado Buffaloes announced that head coach Deion Sanders will no longer take questions from CBS's Sean Keeler, who has also been banned from future CU press briefings.

Freedom of press? Colorado bans Denver reporter from asking questions over alleged ‘personal attacks’ on Deion Sanders

Deion Sanders (Image via IMAGO)

Football coaches traditionally have not been fans of football journalists who criticize their way of running things, and it’s more common than one might think. Coaches tend to decline to take questions from specific reporters, but Deion Sanders took that up a notch.

The Colorado Buffaloes’ head coach reportedly asked the college to ban CBS reporter and columnist Sean Keeler. According to the Denver Post’s Matt Schubert, Keeler received this ban after “a series of sustained, personal attacks” in his football coverage.

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After a series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime, the CU Athletic Department, in conjunction with the football program, have decided not to take questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at football-related events.
The CU statement read, per the Denver Post

Reason behind Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes banning CBS columnist

Deion Sanders made his name as a charismatic individual during his playing days, hence the title ‘Prime Time.’ That same enigmatic personality stuck with the Hall of Famer even after he became a head coach at Jackson State, where he won a couple of Division 2 titles before moving to Colorado.

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Freedom of press? Colorado bans Denver reporter from asking questions over alleged 'personal attacks' on Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders and son Shedeur Sanders (Image via IMAGO)

His ‘in your face’ attitude created a rift among fans, as one side loved the new approach, while others thought it was way too flamboyant for a head coach. Even reporters appeared to be affected by the sudden shift in college football. Sean Keeler being one of them.

Two weeks ago, Keeler and Sanders went at each other at a press conference after the veteran columnist referenced the 57-year-old with various adjectives after his 4-8 first season with the Buffs: ‘Deposition Deion,’ ‘the Bruce Lee of B.S.,’ a ‘false prophet,’ ‘the Deion Kool-Aid,’ and “circus’—Sanders reportedly wasn’t happy with it.

What happened to get you like this? No, I'm serious. I want to help because it's not normal.
In the conference, Sean Keeler asked Sanders

Sanders passed on Keeler and took questions from other reporters. 

A confident man who suddenly looked and acted and sounded... afraid.
The following day on CBS, Keller wrote

According to Schubert of the Post, Sanders has a unique clause in his contract that requires him to speak only with “mutually agreed upon media.” So, basically, if he feels that the questions or the narrative go against the program, then he is well within his rights to refuse to answer questions.

Schubert shared his thoughts through an X post on the matter.

It's well within anyone's right to not take questions from Denver Post sports reporters and columnists. The reasons listed here by CU, however, are entirely subjective. It would be more accurate to say, 'We don't like Sean Keeler's critiques of our program.’
Matt Schubert wrote

The CU athletics department claimed this wasn’t an isolated case. They have denied access to certain journalists before but refused to reveal their names.

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