In the middle of a casual, unscripted conversation, Sanders paused and referred to someone simply as “like a son,” with the conviction of a man who doesn’t feel the need to explain love when it’s real. And for Deion Sanders, family has never been limited to bloodlines or last names stitched on the back of a jersey.

For Deion Sanders, the word son isn’t something he throws around lightly. It’s earned. That’s why his recent public birthday message to TC Cooper — a close family friend and an entrepreneur, sports manager, jet broker, and influencer for Rockstar Original Clothing—caught people off guard.

“TC is like a son to me,” Sanders stated bluntly in the December 31 episode of Well Off Media, before admitting he can’t even pinpoint when the relationship officially began. “Honestly, I don’t even know how we met or when y’all brought TC over. I don’t even remember the first day he came, but I know TC is like a son to me.”

“He calls me Pops, and I love him as such,” he added.

That kind of inclusion didn’t start with TC. Sanders admitted this has been a trend for years.

“It’s been a multitude of my kids’ friends that we have adopted, and they’re like family. Many people have been dating since a long time ago. Any friends that I brought home, my mama treated them like they were hers. I think I adopted that thought process,” he explained.

So, it wasn’t dramatic when Sanders called TC Cooper his son publicly, something he rarely ever does outside of blood family or special circumstances like Travis Hunter. At the core of it all is a simple value system that Sanders doesn’t try to dress up: “We don’t judge. We don’t discriminate.”

“We love everybody because we all got something to do,” Sanders added. “We all got something. Not saying that he has something, but we are.”

And the feeling is mutual. Back in 2022, Cooper shared a picture on his IG where Deion Sanders is sitting with him, smiling. “🅿️rimetime I appreciate you, pops. Solid 🐐🤞🏾,” Cooper wrote.

Whether it’s mentoring a Heisman winner, supporting a player like Jimmy Horn Jr. through personal hardship, or embracing a family friend like TC Cooper as his own, Coach Prime continues to redefine fatherhood. That philosophy didn’t come out of nowhere. To understand why Sanders shows up so fully for the people in his life, you have to look back at his own upbringing.

Deion Sanders’ playbook for fatherhood

One of his first traumas was caused by something no guy should ever see: his own father in the depths of hopelessness. In his docuseries Coach Prime, he recalled walking into the room where Mims Sanders was using dr*gs.

“That’s what I think about. Was something a young man shouldn’t have seen. But I didn’t judge him, just prayed for him,” Deion said.

But instead of bitterness, he chose perspective, turning a painful childhood into lessons he’d carry into his career and family life. Sanders relied on Willie J. Knight, his stepfather, for stability and learned that fatherhood is more about presence, direction, and being there when it matters.

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“You gotta be careful what you show your kids at home because they emulate and imitate all those things,” he said, a reminder that the good, the bad, and the absent all leave an impression.

Sanders continues to bring those lessons to his coaching and family. The 58-year-old prioritizes presence above perfection, whether he is coaching, holding his children accountable, or escorting former CU wideout Jimmy Horn Jr. onto Senior Day in the absence of his father. At his heart, he is steadfast, dependable, and unrelenting in his care. That’s a guy shaped by hardship but defined by love and commitment.