Texas A&M Aggies football under Mike Sherman

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Mike Sherman is the 28th and current head coach for the Texas A&M Aggies football team, which represents Texas A&M University in NCAA Division I FBS college football. He has been the coach since his appointment in November 2007. Sherman replaced former head coach Dennis Franchione, who compiled a 32–28 overall record from the 2003–2007 seasons.

1 Seasons
- 1.1 2008
2 Coaching record
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Seasons

[edit] 2008

See also: 2008 Texas A&M Aggies football team

[edit] Hiring

Although Sherman was informed by his agent while with the Houston Texans that there would be an NFL head coaching job had he waited another few years, Sherman did not hesitate to accept the head coaching job at Texas A&M, which had been vacated by the forced-out Dennis Franchione. Sherman stated, "[I accepted in] as much time as it takes to say yes. I didn't have to think about this. This is where I want to be, where I want to live my life. I raised my kids here when they were young. This is kind-of going full circle. I've been there, done that at other places and I want to be able to do something special here at College Station with Texas A&M."^[1] On November 26, 2007, three days after Franchione resigned, Sherman was announced as the new head coach, becoming the 28th head coach of the Texas A&M football program.^[2] Sherman was contacted after the Aggies' final regular season matchup over Texas on Friday, November 23rd, and was hired after the Texans' loss to the Browns on Sunday, November 25th. The only coaching candidate interviewed for the job, Sherman signed a seven-year contract that pays a yearly salary of $1.8 million.^[3] Sherman requested that he would rather not be paid the $2 million/year that Franchione was making, insisting that he "would rather take less and go out and hire the best coordinators and coaches".^[4] Former Aggie NFL players Richmond Webb, Hunter Goodwin, and Bucky Richardson, as well as former A&M coaches R. C. Slocum and Jackie Sherrill, had approved of Sherman's hire. Additionally, the interim president of the university at the time, Dr. Ed Davis, and the Texas A&M Board of Regents, including former A&M coach Gene Stallings, approved as well.^[5] Former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre and Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy have supported the hire and expect Sherman to do a great job at A&M.^[6]

[edit] Assistant coach appointments

Sherman chose to finish his term with the Houston Texans before working full-time as the Aggies' head coach. The Texans ended their regular season December 30, 2007. While serving both roles, Sherman contacted A&M's orally committed recruits^[7] by telephone,^[8]^[4] and hired former Nebraska recruiting coordinator Tim Cassidy—who had been the recruiting coordinator at A&M from 1989–2004—to serve as the recruiting coordinator as well as the associate athletic director for football.^[9]^[10] Once Sherman started his job full-time, he named Seattle Seahawks wide receivers coach Nolan Cromwell to be his offensive coordinator^[11] and former Arkansas Razorbacks coach Reggie Herring to be his defensive coordinator.^[12] Herring, however, resigned in February 2008 after National Signing Day to become the linebackers coach for the Dallas Cowboys.^[13] Sherman worked with Cromwell under head coach Mike Holmgren at Green Bay.^[14] Sherman assigned Cromwell to call the plays, and he will have veto power when necessary.^[15]

On January 9, 2008, Sherman announced Buddy Wyatt would coach the defensive line. Wyatt had 18 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 3 seasons as a defensive line coach at A&M from 2000–02. In 2001, the Aggie defense ranked 10th in the nation.^[16] Sherman also retained defensive backs coach Van Malone, who coached under Franchione for the 2006–07 seasons. Malone is the only member from Franchione's staff to be retained.^[17] On January 28, 2008, Sherman named former Packers coach Tom Rossley as the quarterbacks coach.^[18] On February 13, 2008, Sherman hired former Alabama defensive coordinator Joe Kines to replace Herring.^[19] Kines' defensive squads at Alabama ranked second in the nation in 2004 and 2005, and 23rd in 2006.^[20] He seeks to bring back Two days later, former Denver Broncos coach Kirk Doll, who also coached at A&M from 1988–93, was hired to be the tight ends and special teams coach.^[21]

[edit] Preseason

Sherman was able to retain most of Franchione's recruits for the 2008 season.^[22] On February 6, 2008—the 2008 National Signing Day A&M received letters of intent from 24 players. Of those 24, 3 ranked in ESPN's top 150 national players list,^[23], and 5 ranked in Rivals.com's top 250.^[24] 22 are from Texas.^[25] Rivals.com also included 14 of the commits on its Texas Top 100 ranking.^[26] The recruiting class was ranked No. 16 by Rivals, No. 15 by Scout.com,^[27] and No. 25 by ESPN.^[28]^[29]

Sherman has emphasized improving the team's speed, particularly on defense. He also stated that a run-oriented offense, which former head coach Dennis Franchione emphasized, is antiquated,^[30] and improving the speed on offense is crucial in matching the speed of current successful college teams.^[15]^[31] He, along with defensive coordinator Joe Kines,^[32] also seeks to bring back the "Wrecking Crew" Aggie defense that was among the nation's best in the early 1990s.^[1]

During the preseason, Sherman made some player adjustments to fit his pro-style offensive scheme. Von Miller, who was a backup defensive end in the 2007 season, was moved to outside linebacker. Safety Jordan Pugh was shifted to cornerback, which he played in high school. Devin Gregg moved to free safety from strong safety. Jordan Peterson, after playing two seasons at cornerback, became a safety. Jamie McCoy, who moved from quarterback to wide receiver the previous season, shifted to tight end. Running back Jorvorskie Lane is losing weight to make the move from tailback to fullback.^[33]^[34]^[35]^[36] Sherman stated that Lane would need to block and catch more as a fullback.^[37]

In April 2008, a Sporting News writer ranked Sherman 8th among all Big 12 coaches, above first-year Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, Iowa State's Gene Chizik, and Kansas State's Ron Prince, who ranked 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively.^[38] The same writer ranked Sherman 46th among all the BCS 66 coaches.^[39]

Sherman had stated that the "football team belongs to Texas A&M, and Texas A&M belongs to the students." For the 2008 Maroon and White spring exhibition game on April 19, 2008, Sherman called for two students to serve as honorary coaches, one for the maroon team and the other for the white. Students interested in the position were to submit a video clip no longer than 2 minutes detailing why they should be selected. Each of the student coaches would give their respective team a pre-game speech and interact with players, coaches, and staff on the sidelines during the game.^[40] Two days prior to the spring game, he also held an open forum for students at the Memorial Student Center. Approximately 300 students attended, and questions were asked about the team.^[41]

Upon the completion of the spring practices, players had described Sherman as "no-nonsense and all business". Sherman held ten 6:00 a.m. meetings prior to spring training, and continued to hold meetings at the same time on the days of spring practice. According to Sherman, the meetings featured "40 minutes of chaos. Drills, drills, drills, running, with coaches on their butts." Players who were late to the meetings were asked to jog an unspecified distance as punishment. In fact, Sherman stressed that "being on time is a matter of respect", a lesson he believes that young people should be taught early. He even placed 25 digital clocks throughout the Bright Football Complex—the facility that houses the locker room, player's lounge, and coaches' offices, among others—so that players can be certain they manage their time well. None of the players missed the workouts, except three who had a medical excuse. Defensive end Cyril Obiozor commented "I guess (Sherman) commands respect. It's like nobody wanted to be that first person to miss. Nobody wanted to be the example guy". Obiozor, who played under former coach Franchione for three seasons, also pointed out the difference between Franchione's and Sherman's coaching technique: "This staff also has scheme, of course, but they coach more technique. There's more attention to detail." You know why you're doing something instead of just running around." He also set a rule to punish players who miss class. Quarterback Stephen McGee stated: "If you missed a class, coach would call you out in the team meeting in front of everybody. Nobody wanted to be called out like that, so they took care of business".^[42] McGee also included: "Just being around him, there is no doubt he knows his stuff. Just the way he takes care of his business, he gets everyone to buy in and make sure they are doing what they are supposed to do. He did that from day one."^[43]^[44]

[edit] Coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference
Texas A&M Aggies (Big 12 Conference) (2008 — present)
2008	Texas A&M	0–0	0–0
Texas A&M:		0–0	0–0
Total:		0–0
National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title
^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll of the season.