Colorado bans reporter from questioning Sanders

Colorado has banned Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler from asking questions of football coach Deion Sanders or other members of the football program, the school confirmed Friday.

“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 athletic department said in a statement provided to ESPN. “Keeler is still permitted to attend football-related activities as a credentialed member of the media and other reporters from the Denver Post are welcome to ask questions of football program personnel made available to the media, including coaches, players and staff.”

According to the Post, a CU athletic department media relations staffer told the paper it took issue with Keeler’s references to Sanders as “Deposition Deion,” the “Bruce Lee of B.S.,” a “false prophet,” and his use of phrases such as “Planet Prime,” “the Deion Kool-Aid” and “circus.” The ban is indefinite, according to the Post.

The decision comes two weeks after a news conference in which Sanders accused Keeler of “always being on the attack” and asked, “What happened to get you like this?”

Added Sanders: “No, I’m serious. I want to help because it’s not normal.”

During the exchange, Keeler asked multiple times if he could ask a football question and Sanders declined before moving on to a reporter who asked about his birthday plans. The reporter before Keeler at the news conference asked Sanders, “How important is it for everyone to have Aflac as part of their life?” (Sanders is a paid spokesperson for the insurance company.)

In his column following the news conference, Keeler described Sanders as, “A confident man who suddenly looked and acted and sounded … afraid.”

According to the Post, Sanders has unique language in his contract that says he is required to speak only with “mutually agreed upon media.”

In a social media post, Denver Post sports editor Matt Schubert said, “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.'”

When asked for clarification by the Post, a Colorado sports information staffer told the paper “Keeler had not violated any specific media policies.”

Sanders has a history as a coach of using his influence to ban reporters from asking questions about his program. In 2021, a Mississippi Clarion Ledger reporter was barred from covering Jackson State, where Sanders was coach, at the Southwestern Athletic Conference media day, a day after the Clarion Ledger published a story related to a court filing about an incoming recruit who had been charged with assaulting a woman.

Sanders’ second season as Colorado’s head coach begins Thursday against North Dakota State (8 p.m. ET, ESPN). The Buffaloes went 4-8 last season and finished in last place in the Pac-12.