m
>n the spot
'ersial head coach and athletic director
gest booster Texas A&M has, it very well
might be true.
He didn’t know what he was getting into
when he came from Pitt. About all he knew
about the school itself was what he had seen
on summer coaching trips back in the late
1960s. And that wasn’t much.
He says he just saw an opportunity that he
didn’t want to miss — putting a program that.
was on a downward turn into overdrive by
taking charge as head coach as well as ath
letic director.
The dual position appealed to him — per
haps just because it gave him more things to
do.
The first words Sherrill uses to describe
himself are, “Active, very active.”
That’s always been his way, he says.
Even as a boy growing up.
“You name it — I did it,” he says. “Th
rowing papers, setting pins in a bowling al
ley, working on the farm.”
He remembers being a grade-school kid
“riding a ramp” at the county fair. That in
volved riding a motorcycle at speeds high
enough to reach the top of an inclined circu
lar track, where the rider would try to snatch
a handkerchief from someone at the top.
Too dangerous for his sons Justin and
Braxton, 7 and 5. At least that’s what Dad
says. But Dad did it as a kid.
And he is still active as a 44-year-old
adult. Bighorn sheep and antelope trophies
are mounted in his office, attesting to his
love of hunting. He’s an avid golfer. He
campaigned actively for George Bush before
this month’s presidential election.
But his perpetual-motion lifestyle is most
clearly seen in his work with the team. At
practice he can be seen playing the mother
hen over his assistant coaches, constantly
moving from offense to defense to offense.
Now he’s looking at the offensive line. Now
he’s inspecting the secondary. Now he’s
checking out the quarterbacks. If you don’t
keep an eye on him all the time you’ll lose
him.
He doesn’t really say much. He usually
just stands to the side with his chin resting in
his hand, just observing and taking notes,
letting his assistants yell at the players for
him.
He is just the conductor, he says, letting
each section leader take care of his own area
of expertise.
His coaching philosophy is not difficult to
understand: As he says at least once at every
press conference, “Put the hats on the right
people.”
But then, he’s not difficult to understand.
He says he’s the same person he was back at
the county fair. Always looking for some
thing to do, something to work on, some
thing to accomplish. Just going about his
business. ,
His methods of doing business have an
gered some people. Jim Wacker raised a big
fuss about A&M running up the score on his
Texas Christian team. And he wasn’t the
only one.
But it didn’t seem to faze Sherrill. This
year against Rice, with about a minute to go
and ahead by two touchdowns, he sent
Lance Pavlas into the game and started
throwing for the endzone.
His explanation: “We wanted to work on
the passing game. We tried to get him into
the game earlier but we didn’t. That was my
fault.”
Not much of an apology. But he didn’t
think one was necessary. He was just doing
what was best in his eyes for the team. And
he didn’t seem to care what it might look
like to someone else.
That may be one of the reasons he is hard
to warm up to. He’s all business, no PR,
when it comes to the game.
And the media will have to deal with that.
r:
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