TAMU: Mike Sherman (Updated 7/4)

NCS Football23

May 8, 2008

He inherits a program with a struggling recent history. Since winning back-to-back South Division titles in 1997-98 under Slocum and earning a three-way tie for the second place in 1999, the Aggies have finished no higher than third in the South since then. And since Sherman left A&M after the 1996 season, the Aggies have lost seven of their past eight bowl games.

ESPN ran an article about Texas A&M’s new Head Coach Mike Sherman last week that I found interesting and decided to share.

Sherman’s influence on the program has been quick and immediate. It marks a return to college for him after working in the NFL since his last stint at A&M as the offensive line coach on R.C. Slocum’s teams that dominated the Southwest Conference in the mid-1990s.

From there, he left to coach in the NFL, including a six-season stint as the Green Bay Packers coach before he was fired in 2005. Sherman then worked as the Houston Texans’ offensive line coach and most recently as their offensive coordinator before he was hired three days after Dennis Franchione resigned in November 2007.

I always enjoy little ‘status checks’ of how others do things…etc. Sherman has some relation to WolfpackNation as he lobbied behind the scenes for our head coaching job when Tom O’Brien was hired. It worked out perfectly for Sherman as he fits Texas A&M significantly more naturally than NC State.

In closing, the pictures at this link from the Wizard of Odds talk about Texas A&M working to get back to their traditional success.

June 18, 2008 Update
In addition to Sherman’s interest in NC State’s Head Coaching job a couple of years ago, I have always found myself slightly more interested in the Aggies’ athletics programs than that of the average non-ACC school. I’m sure part of this is due to the four years I spent living in Houston…

…but the bulk of my interest originates from the keen similarities between the land

This link will take you to a feature that Sunday Morning Quarterback is running on programs that made football coaching changes since last season. Their “Mandate for Change” series is really interesting

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23 Responses to TAMU: Mike Sherman (Updated 7/4)

  1. WolfpackSteelersFan2 05/08/2008 at 3:22 PM #

    I definitely agree that everything worked out for the best both for us and Sherman. I wouldn’t trade TOB for Mike Sherman.

  2. choppack1 05/08/2008 at 4:36 PM #

    Aggie football is similar to Wolfpack B’ball. Storied tradition. Solid fan supports. Expectations deemed unreasonable by some while their rivals soar/return to the college football elite.

    I just wonder one thing – why on earth would their AD hire a guy w/ college coaching experience when he could find an NFL coach w/out it?

  3. redfred2 05/08/2008 at 5:09 PM #

    chop, now was that really necessary? 😉

    I honestly (trying to) believe that IF, and that is a very BIG if, but if Sidney Lowe is getting the proper support from HIS OWN coaching staff that the reality of Lowe’s own situation should have taken it’s toll in this offseason, and we SHOULD witness a huge change in just about every aspect of his approach to coaching college athletes.

    Besides, I don’t know if I can take another let down, I’m fighting to stay optimistic, and I have been wrong before, but I still think that Sidney Lowe, himself, can do it. I’m just not convinced that he has surrounded himself with the proper supporting cast at all.

  4. redfred2 05/08/2008 at 5:21 PM #

    Not much to go on and it’s just a feeling, others have mentioned it before also, but I have almost come to the conclusion that the discipline aspect that was mentioned in the above FB article is one of the major aspects of what is wrong with the entire BB program, possibly top down.

  5. cowdog 05/08/2008 at 5:52 PM #

    Redfred….
    Have expounded on coaching staff here, ’til the cows come home.
    Towe has been my main target. People change thru life, but I knew him, played with him, partied with him, lived with him…watched him throw DT thru my picture window one night in fact.

    Been wanting to cop to that for sometime.

    He is no more qualified as an assistant to a major program than my sad ass is.

    I firmlly beleive State was seeking some splash when Towe was hired on the heels of the mangled coaching seach.

    Monty was ready to bail out of N.O. after the hurricane ( or maybe Wifey ) and was there for the PUB taking.

  6. Noah 05/08/2008 at 7:06 PM #

    So far, Lowe has shown little evidence that he’s intent on putting his house in order.

    (I’m talking about his actions since the season ended)

    SFN: I couldn’t agree more. We’re still waiting

  7. redfred2 05/08/2008 at 10:08 PM #

    Noah, I’m not disputing what you’re saying at all, and if Lowe is not doing his job I’d like to know about it. I’d love to hear what you’re basing that statement on.

  8. Primewolf 05/08/2008 at 10:27 PM #

    Rest assured, LF is helping Sid figure out all his organization, leadership, and coaching problems.

    After next year, I think you will see alot of folks drop LTR in BB unless some serious changes are made. I will be one of them.

  9. Fletch 05/09/2008 at 6:43 AM #

    Noah, that would be very disturbing.

  10. kyjelly 05/09/2008 at 7:52 AM #

    ^redfred:What prove or basis do you have that Sid is doing anything?
    We blamed his troubles on Herb,Lee his players now it is his staff? For the most part his staff is people he choose!

  11. Texpack 05/09/2008 at 8:12 AM #

    Thanks for the A&M article. Sherman was very well liked by the local media during his stint in Houston. He and Kubiak significantly improved the performance of the Texans offense over the past two years. A&M is a big time sleeping giant of a football program that has slipped to 3rd in the state of Texas (behind UT & Tech) on many scorecards over the past 4-5 years. Their $$ and fan base have them perfectly positioned to take advantage of the slightest stumble by either UT or OU.

  12. blackdom 05/09/2008 at 8:59 AM #

    You can’t compare Mike Sherman to Sid ,for years Sherman was the most sought after offensive asst in the NFL who was a head coach at green bay for 5 years.He had the one losing season with the packers and won 3 division titles his record was 53-27 2-4 in playoffs.
    The only comparisons is there are non really between him and Sid.

  13. Wulfpack 05/09/2008 at 9:07 AM #

    ^Exactly. Kind of hard to compare a successful head football coach in the NFL (.594 winning percentage) to a guy with one of the worst NBA coaching records of all time (.257 winning percentage) and now with one of the worst ACc records for a coach starting out at 9-23 (.281).

    If this year is another bust, his third in a row, it will most certainly be see you later Mr. Lowe.

  14. ktoh 05/09/2008 at 9:10 AM #

    SFN:What is Sid up to? Last I heard from him was he “hopes” we have a better season this season? Low profile is fine ,sitting back and doing nothing another matter altogether.

  15. choppack1 05/09/2008 at 1:16 PM #

    ktoh- The big question is whether Sid thinks he did something wrong the last 2 years. His success will be determined on his ability to learn from these last 2 years.

    One would think that our AD – who “knows basketball” would have an appreciation for just how steep the learning curve is.

    I’ll put it this way – there are lots of guys who toil in years in the college ranks and never make it to HC. They know the game, and they are probably great coaches. It’s expecting a lot for Sidney Lowe to learn what the best coaches in the game spent years learning before they got their big break.

    Translation: Sid’s significant experience from coaching so many games from the NBA is great once the ball is rolling. But games are usually won and lost before they throw the ball up – and this is where Sidney struggles. The management of teenagers, making sure they are capable of being of getting and staying in school, is a different skillset entirely.

    Obviously, the staff shares in the blame in getting these kids mentally and physically prepared to take the floor – for really the last 2 years w/ the exception of March of 2007. That there hasn’t been a change on this staff is a little concerning.

  16. redfred2 05/11/2008 at 10:10 PM #

    What is Sid up to?

    ^I don’t know. What is K up to, anybody know? What is Roy up to, anybody know that? That’s besides latching onto free publicity and photo opts from illegal BB exhibitions every now and then of course?

    That’s not really the question anyway. The real questions are whether or not Sidney Lowe has much more to offer than what he has shown already? Can he, or is he willing to, adapt amd do whatever it takes on this level? Is he even capable of shunning the status quo crowd, then formulating a new direction, and getting people to follow him in that direction? His honeymoon period is all but over, but it will officially end very early in this upcoming season if he hasn’t figured out how to fix most of those problems before the season even begins.

  17. BoKnowsNCS71 06/18/2008 at 7:00 AM #

    Only in a Texas A&M football thread can Sidney and basketball become the topic. There’s even a HWSNBN sighting.

  18. BJD95 06/18/2008 at 7:07 AM #

    ^^ Homerun by chop, as usual.

    I’d rather not get into much detail until we see how this season plays out, but a certain rotten apple is still part of our program. Nothing good can come of that.

  19. RAWFS 06/18/2008 at 7:33 AM #

    BJD

    I understand your need and desire to keep this under your hat, but you now have us all playing mental guessing games. Sounds like there’s some major dysfunction still going on over there.

  20. old13 06/18/2008 at 7:48 AM #

    It is not a matter of Lowe succeeding or not succeeding as head coach at NCSU – and I certainly hope that he does. But he was simply NOT the proper hire at the time given his (lack of) college coaching credentials, the history of BB at NCSU, and the number of promising “mid-major” coaches available. And the product on the floor certainly does not reflect a program on the rise! In fact, last season looked like a giant step backward from the days of you-know-who! I personally have little optimism about Wolfpack BB (or any other sport for that matter) these days.

  21. Ed89 06/18/2008 at 7:52 AM #

    BJD,
    I know the rotten apple of which you speak, and for others out there, it is not Monte, or Larry, or Pete. Our “coaching” staff is more than capable.

  22. Ed89 06/18/2008 at 8:22 AM #

    Old13,
    I’m not sure I agree with you. Here’s why:

    In the two years that Sid has been head coach, we have only had two seniors, Atsur and Grant. Atsur was hurt most of that entire year. When he finally got healthy, we nearly won the ACC tournament. Grant, while maybe a good guy, was clearly “inconsistent” and did not step up to be a senior leader. In recruiting, Sid scored a major coup by getting the #3 center in the country, JJ to come to NC State over offers from defending National Champion, Florida and Tennessee. He will now probably be a top 20 pick in the NBA draft. His other recruits really haven’t had a chance to show anything yet. Now, I will concede on the negative side, that personnel issues and chemistry problems contributed to last years debacle. I personally would not have started JJ in the first game over Ben, but that is water under the bridge. I think he’s learned from that experience. Secondly, after only having one PG his first year (Atsur) who was hurt most of the year, his second year he had 3 PG’s coming in with virtually no experience. None of these was a Top 10 PG in HS either. Then Farnold goes down to injury. I know we lost to ECU and NO prior to the injury, but we did beat Davidson and Villanova. After the injury, we had Javi and Johnson. I think Javi did a respectable job as a Freshman who was not expected to come in and start from Day One. Johnson on the other hand, struggled mightily. I think he was recruited for his size, and his just lacks quickness for the PG position. What I’m saying is that Sid, in two years, has only had two seniors, one who was hurt all year, and one who was, for lack of a better term, not a team leader. He has not had a reliable PG, and that has hurt the team. The Johnny Thomas injury did not help either. I think this year (2008-2009 season) and the 2009 recruiting class with be very telling. However, the real direction of the program will be determined the following year when the 2009 class are Freshmen and Sid gets his 2010 class in order. The 2010 class is a big class, and the 2009-2010 season will be the first year Sid will be playing with all of his players. We should have a very solid line-up, to possibly include a couple of Freshmen McDonald’s All-Americans at PG and PF/C. I hold out optimism that we will be back to the Top 3 or 4 in the ACC in 2 years.

  23. SMD 07/07/2008 at 8:22 AM #

    I know that BJD can’t/won’t comment, but my personal guess is that the “rotten apple” has the initials QJ.

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