Surprising favorite listed for Deion Sanders’ next coaching job

Deion Sanders is in his first full season as Jackson State’s head coach and has already had success.

“Prime Time” has Jackson State at 9-1 this season and 7-0 in conference. This comes after they went 4-3 in the shortened spring season.

Between his immediate success at Jackson State and his strong name value, Sanders has already drawn attention as a candidate for bigger jobs. TCU interviewed Deion for their head coaching job, and he was said to be a candidate for their position. But that’s not actually the school that’s favored to land him.

SportsBetting.ag sent the betting odds to Larry Brown Sports regarding Sanders’ next head coaching job. They have Neon’s alma mater Florida State as the favorite to be the next school where he coaches. They also have four Texas-based schools among the other favorites.

Here is the list:

Florida State +350
TCU +500
Texas +700
SMU +800
Rice +900
USC +1000
Virginia Tech +1000
North Texas +1200
Texas State +1200
LSU +1600
Nebraska +2000
Florida +2500

The surprising part about FSU being listed as the favorite is that they have a new head coach themselves. Mike Norvell is in just his second season with the Seminoles. He struggled in the COVID-shortened season, during which he caught COVID, and his team is 4-6 this season. The Seminoles just fired Willie Taggart during his second season and might not want to fire another coach so quickly. The Seminoles might also want Sanders to have more experience before hiring him. Even TCU seems to want Sanders to have more experience. Between Norvell being early in his tenure and Sanders not having more experience, FSU might be more of a realistic landing spot later rather than sooner.

One of the smaller Texas schools like SMU or Rice might make more sense for Sanders. Those would be intermediate stepping stones before jumping to a bigger program like some of the ones listed — Florida State, Texas or USC.

Sanders, who played for the Dallas Cowboys from 1995-1999, coached high school ball in Texas for most of the last decade, which likely explains why so many Texas colleges were listed.

Photo: Jackson State University coach Deion Sanders heads into the locker room after pregame warmups with the Tigers before JSU s nonconference battle against longtime rival Southern University at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Miss., Saturday, April 3, 2021. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger via Imagn Content Services, LLC