"A lot of coaches are cowards" - Charles Barkley equates Deion Sanders to Nick Saban over unique coaching trait

Charles Barkley has joined the long list of NBA players supporting Deion Sanders. With the Colorado Buffaloes coach looking to bounce back following a lopsided loss to Oregon last week, Charles Barkley recently spoke about what he believes makes Sanders so successful. After a historic collegiate and professional career, Barkley has been around some of the greats.

In his eyes, Deion Sanders, who was a two-sport professional athlete, has the same unique trait that makes Nick Saban a great coach. Saban, of course, has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama for a number of years, and was also the Miami Dolphins coach.

Considered by many to be the greatest collegiate football coach of all time, Saban, like Sanders, knew how to hire a great staff. As Charles Barkley explained during a recent episode of "The Dan Patrick" show this week:

"I'll tell you man, he's a great coach, he's got a great staff. He reminds me a lot of Nick Saban, and I think Nick Saban's the greatest coach ever. He's not afraid to hire great assistants, you look at Deion's staff, I think everybody on his staff either played or been a head coach somewhere.

"And see I think what separates Saban. A lot of coaches are cowards, Dan, they afraid to hire good coaches because they worry about their job. If you're secure in your coaching, you hire good assistants because you can't do everything. You can't do everything."

Another NBA Hall of Famer besides Charles Barkley has high praise for Deion Sanders

As previously mentioned, Charles Barkley is far from the first NBA star to praise Deion Sanders. Throughout the Colorado Buffaloes' season so far, a number of NBA standouts have sung Sanders' praises, including Trae Young and Paul George.

In addition, Coach Prime has also earned praise from Shaquille O'Neal. Recently, while speaking with TMZ, O'Neal went so far as to compare Sanders to the one and only Phil Jackson, who coached him and Kobe Bryant to a three-peat:

“I know exactly what the [Colorado] kids are going through, because when you are standing in front of someone that has an impressive resume, and you’re trying to get to the level he get to, everything you say is golden.

"I felt that way when Phil Jackson first came to the Lakers. Before he got there, me and Kobe, we got swept all the time. But when he came there and stepped in the locker room and we saw he didn’t panic, it taught us not to panic."

Of course, Skip Bayless was quick to refute O'Neal's claim regarding Jackson. With a big game against USC on tap for tomorrow, only time will tell whether Sanders and the team will be able to return to the win column in a big way.