Texas A&M University head football coach Mike Sherman has been fired. Athletic department officials issued the following release Thursday night:
Texas A&M University Athletic Director Bill Byrne confirmed Thursday evening that head football coach Mike Sherman will not be retained for the 2012 football season. Byrne released the following statement:
“Mike Sherman has operated our football program with the highest levels of character and integrity over the past four seasons and has served as a great ambassador for Texas A&M University. Mike has always put the welfare of the student-athlete and Texas A&M first.
“I appreciate Coach Sherman’s selfless service to Texas A&M as our head football coach and his tireless efforts in building leaders of character. He is truly one of the great offensive minds in football, both collegiate and professional, and I know that he has much to offer the game of football in the future.
“After discussions with our coaches, we will decide who will be the interim coach of the Aggies in our upcoming bowl game. We will meet with the team and assistant coaches as soon as possible, probably tomorrow.”
School President R. Bowen Loftin issued this statement Thursday evening: “Decisions of this nature are never easy, and I appreciate the patience of Aggies everywhere as we carefully evaluated the current state of our football program and the prospects for the future. I would like to thank Mike Sherman for personifying Texas A&M’s core values and instilling them within our student-athletes. Coach Sherman has created a solid foundation for Texas A&M to build upon in the future. For this, we are extremely appreciative, and wish him well in his next coaching assignment.”
Earlier in the evening, multiple media outlets reported Sherman had not signed an extension offered to him after the 2010 season. The Aggies finished 9-4, capping off the regular season with a three-game. They eventually lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl.”
Brent Zwerneman of the San Antonio Express-News reported Thursday that because Sherman reportedly did not sign the extension, it could reduce his contract buyout to $3.5 million to $4 million from the previously reported buyout of $8 million.
With Sherman out, the focus now becomes on the next head coach. Of course, it’s all pure conjecture at this point, but early favorites include Houston’s Kevin Sumlin, Southern Mississippi’s Larry Fedora, Louisville’s Charlie Strong, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, and Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads as a possible darkhorse.
Sumlin is a former Texas A&M assistant. He was wide receivers coach and play-calling coordinator in R.C. Slocum’s final season in 2002. He was an assistant at Oklahoma before being named the head coach at UH in 2008.
Fedora, a former offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, has Brazos Valley, but not A&M ties. He is a graduate of A&M Consolidated High School and brother of Navasota head coach Lee Fedora.
Interestingly, Fedora’s USM Golden Eagles square off against Sumlin’s Houston Cougars in Saturday’s Conference USA championship game. A win for Houston will put the Cougars in a BCS bowl.
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A consistently reliable source has used his twitter account to report that Mike Sherman is apparently out as Texas A&M’s football coach. Billy Luici of TexAgs.com has sent out the message “Coach Sherman has apparently come off the road (no longer making in-house visits). Texas A&M is now in the market for a new head man.”
Earlier this afternoon, Kirk Bohls of the Austin American Statesman used his twitter account to send a similar message, saying that a prominent Aggie source told him that the school has decided to fire Sherman. There is no confirmation from Texas A&M.