Prime Prep Academy, the Texas-based high school co-founded by former NFL star Deion Sanders, is reportedly on the verge of being shut down by the Texas Education Agency following a lengthy investigation centering on academic standards and mismanagement by school officials. Reports of the school closing come one day after its most famous alum, point guard Emmanuel Mudiay, announced he would skip going to college at SMU to turn pro overseas.
Emmanuel Mudiay’s high school is facing closure
The high school co-founded by Deion Sanders is in the process of being closed.
USA Today
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Mudiay said he made the decision to turn pro because of his mother’s financial problems. Mudiay’s father died when he was a child. His mother raised three kids and moved the family from the African republic of Zaire to the Dallas area when Mudiay was young. With the ability to sign a pro contract in Europe or Asia as well as immediately being eligible to sign endorsement deals, Mudiay decided to monetize his talent a year before he could have done so in the NBA.
While Mudiay was accepted to SMU, there were questions about his status as an amateur. Current LSU star Jordan Mickey is another Prime Prep alum, and he was initially declared ineligible for the Tigers after the NCAA decided one of the high school's courses didn't quality as a core subject.
The school has had plenty of problems since opening two years ago under Sanders’ watch. It placed dead last in a ranking of area public and charter schools earlier this year. Sanders’ involvement has also been smothered in controversy.
The former NFL star made a play for more money and power at the school earlier this year. Audio surfaced showing Sanders saying he would break the neck of school co-founder D.L. Wallace, who was making considerably more money than than the ex-Cowboys cornerback.
Mudiay was the No. 1 overall player in our initial 2015 NBA mock draft.
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