Mike Sherman fired

Submitted by MichiganAggie on
Like RichRod, he is a great offensive coach, but his teams didn't play defense.

BrewCityBlue

December 2nd, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^

Mike Sherman sleeping at what most likely was an NFL draft scouting combine at some point. 

(which pisses me off since i'm a packer fan)

Hence, either you or I is on LSD, and your description sounds much more "LSD-y"

I'm just sayin..

BlueAggie

December 1st, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^

I'm really, really angry about this.  Somebody behind the scenes is acting like a spoiled child and canning the coach because this season was a disappointment.  The difference between where A&M actually is in the national landscape and where our fans think we should be has to be greater than any other university.

Now we get to rebuild at the same time as moving to the hardest division in the history of college football.  What a great idea.

FreddieMercuryHayes

December 1st, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^

I wouldn't be as mad at the coach firing as I would at the SEC move.  I feel like A&M screwed itself over because they had a good season last year, and now think that's the standard.  They get spiteful to UT (totally understandable), and they end up moving to the SEC?  How is that going the help the program gain any momentum?  I think this past season kind of showed they aren't quite ready to take the SEC by storm.

PurpleStuff

December 1st, 2011 at 10:44 PM ^

Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Florida State, Miami, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, ...

That is 16 schools off the top of my head that I would expect to be better than A&M just on pedigree, talent base, fan support, etc.  And that is before you get to places like Wisconsin, Washington, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Virginia Tech, etc. that have had more recent success than A&M. 

The Aggies have a solid program with great fan support and traditions, but they aren't any better than a top 25 or 30 program nationally.  Teams at that level go 6-6 from time to time, through no fault of the head coach (though I can certainly understand thinking this particular squad underachieved).

NoVaWolverine

December 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^

I'm a Michigan alum, but my dad and grandfather both went to A&M and I spent many a Saturday at Kyle Field when I was a youngin', so I know about the expectations in College Station. You're right that the gap b/w where A&M actually is in terms of national perception and where the alums/fanbase think it *should* be is a little extreme. I think a lot of this goes back to the famous Jackie Sherrill comment when he took the coaching job there about A&M being a "sleeping giant" that only needed to wake up to dominate.

And it's true -- a lot of the elements for a national power are there: A great recruiting base, fanatical & passionate alumni and fans, a rich tradition, excellent facilities. And during those late-Sherrill/early R.C. Slocum years, it seemed finally to come togetherm, partly due to Sherrill's less-than-pristine recruiting methods. (From 1989-2002, Slocum was 123-47-2, a .721 winning percentage.) But since then A&M's performance on the field has always seemed to be less than the sum of its parts, except for last year.

I hope Aggie fans are ready to readjust their expectations with the move to the SEC West. Going 8-4 or better every year in that division would be a hell of an accomplishment.

Needs

December 1st, 2011 at 9:43 PM ^

I wonder how much of this is seeing Sumlin as the hot coach du jour and fearing that they'll lose out on a great candidate from their backyard unless they fire Sherman. The same kind of logic was at work, of course, when ND fired Willingham in the assumption that they could hire Urban. That didn't work out too well. (Not that Ty was going to last much longer there, anyway).

There are getting to be a lot of openings without a bunch of apparent coaches. Sumlin, Beckman, and the guy from Southern Miss are the only real hot candidates at the non-AQ level. I guess Peterson looks like he's going to move on too. There are going to be some schools firing coaches who are going to regret it when they actually have to hire a new one. 

 

BlueAggie

December 1st, 2011 at 10:01 PM ^

The Southern Miss coach is Larry Fedora, who is originally from College Station.  His brother is the coach at Navasota, which is the next town south and has sent a few players to A&M in recent years.  Fedora may eventually enter into this.  It seems like Sumlin is the first place A&M will look though.

bronxblue

December 1st, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^

I think what we all learned is that if your team is going to blow massive halftime leads, don't make it so publicly that the internet calls a collapse as being A&M'd.

BRCE

December 1st, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^

I wanted to say "who the hell do they think they are?" but it's Texas A&M -- the nation's ultimate "who the hell do they think they are?" program.

turtleboy

December 1st, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^

I object. It's pretty tacky for an NFL coach to get fired mid-season, but this year a solid bakers dozen college coaches were fired before the last game of the year. I mean, this is cahwlidge! Not the pros, but ameteur footbaw! All those poor seniors playing their last game for some coach they just met. Not cool, America. Not cool.

mGrowOld

December 2nd, 2011 at 12:00 AM ^

Minnesota laughs at this firing. They too felt that Glenn Mason and his unaccetable 7-5 seasons had to go. Then suddenly....they found out they were Minnesota.

Needs

December 2nd, 2011 at 9:37 AM ^

Eh, this feels different than that. Mason was by far Minnesota's most successful coach since their glory days in the 1940s. He had a system in place that allowed him to draw semi-elite running backs and linemen, because they knew they'd have a good possibility of moving on to the pros. He was regularly competitive with, if he didn't regularly beat, the conference's elite. He basically got fired because he openly pined for the OSU job and was on the losing end of a historic comeback against Texas Tech.

(Sidenote: Mason must be a pretty unpleasant guy, as he hasn't gotten a sniff at another job, despite being fairly successful at Minnesota, a place where it's very hard to win).

Sherman has been about the same as Franchione and below the historical success rate of A&M coaches, going 4-8, 6-7, 9-4, 6-6. Add in complete collapses in all but one of their losses this year, collapses which appeared to be connected to poor in game coaching decisions, with a team that was ranked top 10 preseason, and the firing's understandable and justifiable. Maybe not well timed, given their move to the SEC, but it makes a lot more sense than Mason's firing, particularly if they can get Sumlin or Fedora.

South TX MFan

December 2nd, 2011 at 3:09 AM ^

I think it's funny. A vast majority of A&M fans I know walk around with a chip on their shoulder about Texas being "big brother" in the state (sound familiar?). First they turn into crybabies about Texas and the LHN, then they get beat by Texas in their last game at home and sent packing with their tails between their legs, now this. Beautiful.

mikoyan

December 2nd, 2011 at 9:41 AM ^

I used to read a column in various places called the "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" and he sort of had an explanation for the coaching carousel of the NFL and I guess that applies to college.  Team owners (in the case of the NFL) don't have much they change.  Players are pretty much locked into contracts and changing one or two players doesn't demonstrate a serious commitment.  But the can fire coaches.

Oh yeah...Sherman....fire.  Sherman tanks were nicknamed Ronson lighters at one point.