DuckSouth.com

Jackie Sherrill ‘un-retires’ with Big 12 Conference Call

By Brown Burnett
MemphisMojo.com editor


Jackie Sherrill coached at Mississippi State for 13 seasons.

Jackie Sherrill greets a visitor to his brand new office in East Memphis with a big grin and a hearty handshake. His furniture hadn’t arrived yet so he’s sitting in front of a makeshift desk, working a laptop computer and opening a pile of mail.

“Yep, getting’ all set up here,” he says, tearing into one piece of non-e-mail after another and occasionally reading an email on his laptop. He’s wearing a bright, print shirt, Bermuda shorts and sandals. He’s tan, fit . . . and couldn’t be any more friendly or welcoming. Is this the same college football coach who roamed the sidelines for 28 years with uncommon intensity? The fearsome coach with the sideline stare, the cautious eye for the media and the ability to rile rival coaches as much as rival fans?

Sure is. He retired from coaching the Mississippi State Bulldogs after the 2003 season, and now he’s got a new challenge and a new career – hosting a syndicated radio program.

On July 11 Coach Sherrill will ‘kickoff’ (sorry, I couldn’t resist) Big 12 Conference Call, a syndicated radio program that embraces news and discussion of Big 12 Conference sports. Big 12 Conference Call, which also has announcer Chris Rushin on board and can be heard on the Internet at D1sports.net, joins Division One Sports’ other syndicated programs, SEC Conference Call and ACC Conference Call as yet another piece of a network that is only a PAC-10 away from being national, and D1Sports plans to put that final piece in later this year. Their SEC program is the most widely heard college sports program out there, with more than 70 affiliates.

“We’re thrilled to have someone of Jackie Sherrill’s stature,” said Division One Sports President and CEO Steve Signaigo. “No one knows college football or the Big 12 Conference better than Coach Sherrill.”

When asked how many games he won, Sherrill opens another piece of mail, looks away for a second and shrugs his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you if I HAD to. You’ll have to tell me.”

The record book shows that he won 180 games – an impressive total by anyone’s standard. Probably his greatest coaching accomplishments were at Texas A&M, which is now a Big 12 school, but when he coached there it was in the old Southwest Conference. In seven seasons, his Aggies won 3 SWC titles and 2 Cotton Bowls as the meticulous Sherrill restored the sagging Texas A&M football program to the ranks of national title contenders. Before Texas A&M came calling, Sherrill’s Pitt Panthers joined Joe Paterno’s great Penn State teams as ‘Beasts of the East’, going 50-9-1 in a 5 year span with 4 national Top 10 Finishes. At Mississippi State, Sherrill brought pride and victories to a Bulldog team who had nowhere to go but up. Bowl trips and winning seasons became the norm in Starkville and he accomplished the previously unthinkable – putting Mississippi State in the SEC title game.

“This (Big 12 Conference Call) is a show with enormous potential,” he said. “When you talk about Texas, Nebraska or Missouri - football alone - there’s a huge audience there and it doesn’t stop with just those schools by any means. The sky’s the limit here.

“I coached at Iowa State under Johnny Majors in the early 70’s so I go back a long way with this conference. I think the Big 12 has made the biggest strides in the last few years – more than any other conference in the country,” he said. “And the Big 12 is not just about football. Big 12 schools are national contenders in every sport.”

The Big 12 as it is today, began play in 1996 with the schools of the old Big 8 (Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Colorado) joining forces with former SWC schools Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor.

Sherrill was a college head coach from 1976-2003 and the league is dotted with former assistants, coaching colleagues, players he recruited and, yes, friends.

“I can really talk to them now,” he says. “When you’re coaching and in a competitive situation, you can’t be as open with people, particularly other coaches. I’m a ‘hands-on’ person and in doing this program, I’ll be visiting all the schools, talking with all the coaches and doing it in a completely different role.

“I get to say things that are facts. I don’t have to be . . . what’s the phrase . . . POLITICALLY CORRECT,” he says. “I can now interact openly, candidly with coaches, exchange ideas and even help them out. I’ll be talking with all of them all season.”

Sherrill says he will take to the road when the season gets underway, traveling to the schools not just for select weekend games and remote broadcasts but also just to visit.

When asked if he misses being a head coach, he quickly says, “No. I’m not going to coach anymore – at least not as a head coach.”

Long known as a special teams-

/kicking game wizard, he has spent his “unretirement” helping other college coaches with that phase of the game. Sherrill, who now makes his home in the Memphis area but says he still has an office in Starkville, even helps out some Memphis area high school coaches.

“I was enjoying being away from it for awhile, but this ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ thing was getting old,” he laughs. “The fact is that you never STOP coaching. Coaching is teaching and I love to teach. ”

Radio, like the Big 12, is familiar territory with Sherrill. He was a semi-regular on George Lapides/Geoff Calkins’ morning show last football season and for a long time helmed his own

call-in show at Mississippi State. When Signaigo and Division One Sports approached him about the Big 12 show, he jumped at the idea.

“It just so happened that Steve (Signaigo) and I were both at the same hospital at the same time waiting on 2 of our grandchildren to be born,” Sherrill said. “We started talking about radio, Conference Call and the Big 12 and here I am.”

Big 12 Conference Call will hear Sherrill talk about much more than football. It’s a year-round program.

“We’ll deal with all college sports – basketball, baseball,” he said, referring to Nebraska’s Cinderella story in the College World Series (eventually won by Texas) and the fact that Big 12 schools such as Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are perennial national title contenders in basketball

Asked how comfortable he feels dealing with non-football topics, he answers, “Very. I keep up with ALL sports and always have.”

Sherrill says the irony of what he’s now doing doesn’t escape him. As with all coaches, he wrestled with the media for all those years and now he’s one of them.

“I guess you could say I couldn’t lick ‘em so I joined ‘em,” he laughs, opening another envelope.

Way to go JWS. It must be nice. The dude has money in the bank, health, and time to do something that has to be fun!

Maybe retirement will be that enjoyable for some of us poor fools

Yep, and a $15 million dollar suit against the ncaa waiting in the wings.

Give em Hell Jackie Wayne

one thing bout jackie wayne... out of all the um fans i know, which would be a lot, they all hated jackie with passion.. never heard a um fan say anything bout jackie postive!!!

That's true because he brought a little respect to a sagging program. Just ask Tommy Luke if he knows a guy by the name of Keo Coleman. Second thought he probably doesn't remember...

Texas fans can't stand him either. Until he came along, they used to drill A&M every year. Now there's a respected foe down in College Station.

I can just envision his future radio commentary:

Jackie: "Well, ol No. 12 for Texas A&M is a very, very good player. No 22 is very, very good as well. This bodes well for the Aggies in their upcoming matchup against the Texas steers and queers, especially since ol No. 44 has an ankle , No. 75 has a shoulder, and No. 2 has a knee. And the Aggies should watch out for Texas inflating their footballs with helium --an old trick that I used to use against them when I was at A&M --he he. And BTW, that piped in music and crowd noise at Texas has got to go ---its just not fair, unless the Aggies can ring their cowbells. Now back when I was at Texas A&M, and we were winning conference championships and contending for national titles, we would fire up the team by removing the balls from a bull, another old trick of mine........"

I'll give you that he brought a few victories to MSU, but respect...I don't think so!

Respect is when people want to be like you. Do you know anyone who will tell you with a straight face "I want to grow up to be like Jackie Sherrill?"

Respect is when you leave a program in better shape than when you got it. Do you really believe State is a better program because of him?

Respect means you don't have to worry about the value of winning against the cost of getting the wins. When measured by a cost analysis, I can't for the life of me see why anyone would say he brought respect to the program!

But, that is just my opinion, and I can remember at least one other time when I was wrong!

crow.. your too hard on jws... he's not evil... sure he may have cheated and bent the rules... but thats par for the course in ncaa sports..

intresting question that you ask about what was the condtion of the football program before jws as compared to after he left....

after thankin bout it.. i'd have to say its a wash.. i mean we were chitty before jws and we're chitty now..

i'm not gonna split hairs over how chitty.. chitty is...

but i will say that i've been keepin up with msu football almost all of my life, and i will say that other than a couple of years under bellard... i'm very thankful for the 4 year run that sherill put together between 97-2000.. that 4 year period was the best in school history (since the black athelte came into the picture...) i know bob tyler had black atheltes and won.. but thats all been wiped out in the record books...

as far as i know the most respect our program has ever had as a football team was under coach sheriils watch..

i wouldn't want to grow up to be like tie cobb.. but i respect his ability to hit a baseball!!!

For that matter, I don't know anyone who says, "I want to grow up and be like Crow!".

What I mean is that teams quit trying to schedule MSU for their homecoming. They at least thought of us as a worthy opponent.

You have something stuck up your tail about JWS. Did he not recruit your nephew?

I've just been in the education business too long. Yes, I have had many conversations with Jackie Sherrill; he a has recruited several players from schools where I coached and worked. I have relatives who have played for him...some like him, some don't; my family lives near the school and all of us still support the school, including the sports programs, financially; I have relatives who teach at MSU and have attempted to work with Coach Sherrill; I also have a very good friend who works for the NCAA and have been privileged to read the file on the man...it ain't pretty and it was the same everywhere he worked. I'll give him this...he is consistent!

So, yeah, I got a bug up my butt about Coach Sherrill because I know too much about him to like him. I didn't like it when he was considered for the job and told everyone I could about it; I didn't like it when he was there (I don't ever remember being embarrassed to be from MSU except when his teams came to Atlanta and acted like a bunch of hooligans); I don't like him now; and I am very happy he is no longer wearing maroon and white! And, I wish him well in his new career.

Other than that, I consider him a scholar and a gentleman! But, I think you are right and I need to get off this soapbox. I'm sure Coach Sherrill has some redeeming characteristics and I just don't know about them. I won't say anything else bad about him...maybe!

Oh, yeah, about that part about someone wanting to be like me...I wouldn't recommend it because I usually take the hard way for everything. But, I don't have a hard time going to sleep at night worrying about what kind of person I am. I'm comfortable letting those who know me as well as I know Coach Sherrill judge me. I'll say my reputation and name stand for something positive...around here, anyway.

Now those who know me from my early years in Yazoo City, Holmes CC and MSU probably tell some bad lies about me!

crow

Well spoken there, Crow. Good for you on all that.

However, if I ever work for the ncaa, remind me to never let you have access to my files. You read and tell

Oh yeah, speaking of good ole yazoo, we finally got some rain in Yazoo county. My corn was just about gone. I think it's gonna make

Speaking of Holmes Jr, I hated to hear of the president's (Starkey Morgan) embezzlement charges. Seems like a good man.

I am sure Jackie has done things he is not proud of as well as some good things. I liked him and saw some MSU teams play way over their head for him. Saw a couple of MSU teams not lift a finger for him. I heard him speak on a couple of occasions, one was a FCA meeting. Do not know if he was just an out right con or what, but he told great stories of young boys building character and learning to do the right thing. No doubt, a lot of his players did not do the right thing, but I think he offered a lot of them a chance at it anyway. He was very sincere in his giving advice, just not sure if many of his players heeded his advice. I liked him as a coach. He was very close to having some very special teams. Had no. 12 not got hurt the year Alabama won the national championship, MSU would have been right there...lol.

One more thought Crow-

So you've seen the ncaa files on JWS? Now that's saying a lot! We are learning everyday about the ncaa's methods of compiling "facts". With each day of court testimony and new documents available for public record words like "fabricated" and "trumped up" come to mind. "ncaa file" on JWS!? Are you kidding me? Talk about a rogue, how about Johaningmair?

It all started in the 1980's w/ the TX media and quickly spread to the Beano Cook's of the world. JWS refused to suck up. He didn't produce those slick sound bites like Paterno or Bowden. Plus, he regularly mettled with the Tony Barnhart's of the world-- they no longer could casually say, "And of course, rounding out the SEC this year will be MSU at the bottom".

He didn't give a happy dadgum about media-types and all their stupid questions and exposes'. In time he was labeled as a rogue. Every program has violations of some type. Nobody can argue w/ that. But to totally write off man and his accomplishments because he doesn't turn a phrase like Lou Holtz is stupid. Everybody cries fowl when JWS comes up. BUT where's the smoking gun? If you were in his position and you knew there was feces in the pot, would you stir said pot by filing a lawsuit?

No, he ain't exactly the Apostle Paul. I just refuse to get on the "cuss Jackie" bandwagon that so many have ridden for years.

Thank you sir, I feel much better now

I don't trust the NCAA as far as I can throw 'em! But, I do trust my friend! And, for me to say I "read his file," that's not totally truthful of me. I only read a synopsis prepared for a meeting of a committee. That was misleading for me to say that...let my mouth get out ahead of reality there (but, I promise, that's the only time I've ever done that). But, the synopsis was cumulative and for a committee that would be looking at sanctions. Far as I can tell, for the NCAA to sanction anyone for lying or making decisions based on profit instead of what is right is sho nuff like the pot calling the kettle black!

I wish Coach S. well...long as it ain't at State!