Now former Texas A&M Football Coach Mike Sherman went out today with the same class that he’s conducted the program for four years, bringing what he called closure to his coaching tenure in Aggieland with a 45 minute address to the media and others on Friday afternoon..
Sherman ofcourse was fired last night after his teams went .500, both over four years and this season.
In a sometime emotional tone, Sherman talked about the hardest part, leaving the players
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Sherman talked about the program’s long term future and the immediate future
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One of the questions about his firing was how he found out the news.
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During a Q&A period, Mike Sherman was asked if he felt he deserved to be fired and he took the opportunity to voice his concern about message boards and twitters and the like
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Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyer, we have learned will be the interim coach for Texas A&M in the bowl game coming up.
More excerpts from Mike Sherman’s press conference:
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MIKE SHERMAN
“Howdy. Let me just begin by saying no one has had greater expectations for this program that I’ve had. And no one after this season has been more disappointed than me. I feel totally accountable and responsible for everything we’ve done in the last four years, including this past season. But in spite of that, I’m proud of how our football team always came back, week in and week out, and battled despite some heart-wrenching disappointments that happened on the football field. At no time did I feel that they ever gave in to that disappointment. They gave it their all, all the time. If anything they probably pressed too hard sometimes and missed opportunities they normally would make. As I said I’m disappointed and I’m accountable for this season but I’m proud of the men in this program. I’m even prouder to be called their coach. Last night saying goodbye to them was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do in my life. It was gut-wrenching to say the least. We’ve developed relationships that will last a lifetime. I told them that I’ll always be their coach and they can always count on me and they can call me any time.
“I truly believe this past season came down to about 6 plays that would make the difference from us to being 10-2 or 11-1. Winning is such a fine line in the game of football and we were on the wrong side of that line about 5 times, and I take full responsibility for that. Let me say this, however. We are a good football team. We are going to play in this bowl game, we’re going to play well and we’re going to win. I’m disappointed that I won’t be there to coach. It’s going to be very difficult to watch this game from the sidelines.
“I believe in the last four years this program has come a long way. Over that time we’ve changed a culture where we now are expected to win every game, and that wasn’t the case when we got here. And that’s a good thing. This season we probably fell victim to our own expectations that we created with improved play and talent.
“What I’m most proud of in regards to this football team is the development of their character and their work ethic as football players. I’ve asked a lot of these guys and they’ve given a lot. They’ve always responded when I put them to the task. We recruited some great kids over the last four years from great families. Of those families, sometimes it was a single mom raising five kids, but that mom was such an influence on that young man that he came to us with character that we could build with. Sometimes it was just a grandma or a grandpa, sometimes a brother or sister that raised them, but somebody was in their life that led them here that allowed them to do the things I asked them to do.
“I’m very thankful to the parents of our players, they’ve been very supportive. I can’t tell you the phone calls I’ve received supporting me in coaching their son. Even when it was very difficult and even when I was very demanding and very critical of some things, they were always supportive and I’m thankful for that. Over the last four years I feel like we’ve developed their talents, we’ve developed their character and we’ve developed them academically. And I’m proud of all three of those areas. I’m going to miss coaching them both on and off the field.
“I wouldn’t trade the last four years for anything. They’ve been great. I’ve had the opportunity to coach my son Matt and see him grow into a man. Not many guys get a chance to do that. Along the same lines, I’ve been able to watch other young men grow into men. I treat them all like my sons and I think they responded to that.
“Let me say this, it’s been an honor to be a part of this great University. This university, the students, the former students, the fans…they’ve motivated me and inspired me. I’ve worked 24/7 for four straight years. Not a day has gone by in the last four years that I haven’t done something on that day related to Texas A&M football, whether it was drawing plays, calling recruits, laying out a strategic plan for our facilities, talking to parents…not a day has gone by that my efforts have not been directed toward the development and success of this program.
“I’m proud to be associated with the great faculty we have here. I know this is a research university, but we have a group of faculty here that are unbelievable teachers. They embrace these kids. They educate these kids. It’s not just about a grade, it’s about education. I’m proud to be associated with each and every of the faculty members on this campus. They care about kids, and that doesn’t happen at a lot of campuses across this country on the university level, but it happens here.
“We have a great athletic staff and coaches in all our sports. They motivated me as well with the bars that they raised. I’m proud of my coaches and my staff that have worked with me through the last 4 years. I’m thankful for the sacrifices their wives and families have made for this program. I’m proud to be associated with our athletic director, Bill Byrne. He is such a professional in everything he does. When he needed to kick me in the butt, he did. And when he needed to encourage me, he was there for that too. He has been a phenomenal mentor to me throughout the last four years and been very supportive. I can’t thank him enough for that. Penny King, our associate A.D., has always been supportive. John Thornton was part of me coming here. Jeff Schmahl, what he does with 12th Man Productions. Jeff Toole, our CFO, who really put our program heading in the right direction financially and fiscally. The 12th Man (Foundation), they’re always raising the bar, always pushing the envelope, always trying to make A&M the best place it possibly can be. Sam Torn, a man behind the scenes who with me has taken my strategic plan and vision for football and put legs to it and I’m anxious to see that come to fruition, where A&M will have the very best facility in the SEC when it’s complete. Our athletic training staff has been phenomenal, Karl Kapchinski, Dave (Weir) and Matt (Kee) have been great. Our doctors have been second to none. Nancy Maly, my secretary, Janet (Elkins) and Jennifer (Bunner)—who work with the offensive and defensive coaches—are always doing the extra to help us win.
“I’m going to miss a lot of things over the next however many years. I think one thing I’m going to miss is walking across campus on Wednesday or a Thursday, and going to All-Faiths Chapel with Tim Cassidy to Mass at noon time, and as we walk across campus the students encouraging and talking to me about A&M football…always supportive, always with a ‘Howdy’, always with a handshake. I am going to miss going to Aggie Band practices and the opportunity I’ve had to be able to talk to them. Going over to the Corps of Cadets, which is the core of this university, the backbone of this university. Visiting with them has been one of my greatest honors as a football coach.
“Speaking of our students, to tell you the type of people that they are, around 11 o’clock last night there were a group of students out at my house encouraging me. I can’t tell you how moved I was by that demonstration. It was very special to me and it tells me that we made the connection that I thought was so necessary between our football athletes and our students. I always told our football players (that) you’re a football player on game day but during the week, and you walk across campus, you’re a student. What I’ve tried to do over the last four years is break down those barriers between athletes and students, between athletics and academics. And I think we’ve moved very far that way, where there’s a connection now between our athletes and our students and our players, who understand they have to be students first and athletes second.
“Our former students have been unbelievably supportive over the years and over the last couple of days. The phone calls and text messages I’ve gotten…I can’t thank all of them. It would take too long to do that. But I’m very thankful for them I appreciate them. Our benefactors are people that not only donate money but their energy, time, wisdom and hearts to making A&M the very best university they can. That’s not just in athletics but across campus. They’ve always stepped up to the plate for us when they’ve been asked. They’re always out to make A&M a better place, they’re always pushing the envelope in that direction, to help our students and our athletes.
“Our lettermen…it’s been great to see them come back in numbers. I was able to create with the help of Bill Byrne an opportunity to get them on the sidelines before the games. Our lettermen are now on the sideline before every home game so our players can see the history and tradition that they represent that was before them, and hopefully inspire them to play at a higher level. It’s been great to see them come back. Our academic support group is second to none in the country. There is not another school in America that helps their student-athletes the way we do. It’s by far the greatest recruiting tool that we have at Texas A&M, that we can take a young man from any place in this country, no matter what his background, and not just get him the grades he needs to get but to educate him to a much higher level. I’m so proud of the men and women in our academic support staff.
“High school coaches in the states of Texas and Louisiana…I don’t know if I enjoy anything as much—other than practice, I enjoy practice—but the second best thing for me is to go out and visit with high school coaches. I felt like when we came here we weren’t as well-received as we should have been, that something was wrong. We embraced the high school coaches and they embraced us, and I feel like we’ve opened up avenues for Texas A&M in recruiting that hopefully will continue to improve as we move on into the SEC.
“Recruits…we have a great group of recruits out there that can really take A&M to another level. I encourage, am encouraging and will continue to encourage every one of them to stay with their commitments. You don’t make a commitment to a coach, you make it to a school and what it stands for. You make it to the culture of Texas A&M and what A&M is all about.
“I believe since I’ve been here I’ve been able to embrace the values of Texas A&M and infuse that into our players, of honor, integrity, loyalty, trust, family…and I believe they’re better men today because they’ve bought in to the Aggie culture and Aggie code of honor. We’re not perfect, but I believe these men have embraced that part of A&M and believe in it and that’s important to me.
“Since I’ve been here at Texas A&M it’s never been about Mike Sherman. It’s never been about me. It’s always been about Texas A&M. Today’s not about me either. It just ends one chapter in A&M history and the start of another. I just hope when this chapter is turned back in years ahead and is read, that this chapter is a chapter that led to greater times for Texas A&M. That we were the springboard to bring it into a period of greatness as Texas A&M goes into the SEC.”
How were you let known that you were dismissed, yesterday or last night?
“I was on a recruiting trip going to a home visit to a great young man who’s going to be a phenomenal player at Texas A&M—I don’t think I can mention his name that this point. Great family. We were about almost in the driveway when I got a call from our athletic director informing me of termination. It was disappointing to a degree because my family had the opportunity to find out before I did because it was released a little sooner than I was told, and that’s disappointing. Because I think we’re better than that.”
Where do you go from here? What’s your plan?
“I will become a beat sportswriter for the local newspaper (laughter). I’m going to reintroduce myself to my wife of 30 years, 28 years, whatever it is. I haven’t been around very much. That’s the most important thing right now, to make that connection. And maybe these things come for a reason, to make sure that those connections are made. We’re going to go make a trip to New York and relax and go for walks and talks and rehash the last four years. But after that I have some plans. I love coaching and I love kids and I love the game of football. I think it brings out the best in people. I think it really builds chemistry and character and I want to be a part of that.”
In terms of your contract, were you aware it had not been executed?
“I’m not going to get into my contract. But I signed a contract in September that was a 5-year contract. I never asked for one, it was brought to me. I never talked numbers. Whatever they gave me I just signed.”
Do you see yourself staying around the A&M program or coming back to the A&M program in the future in some capacity?
“I don’t know if that opportunity is necessarily out there. I want to see our facilities finish what we’ve begun to start doing. I take great pride in the fact that when I first got here I laid out a strategic plan. At that point we weren’t fiscally able to do the things I wanted to do. Last year I updated it and laid it out again and Bill Byrne brought it to the 12th Man and they ran with it. Myself and Sam Torn and Stu (Starner) have worked through the issues and I’m excited to see that come to fruition, because I do think the facilities at A&M will be second to none when completed. I’m anxious to see that but I don’t know if there will be any other opportunities for me here.”
Where there in many ways you found being a head coach college more difficult than the NFL?
“It’s more difficult in the sense that you wear more hats and you do more things. Players are up in my office constantly. You’re mentoring a lot more, you’re developing a lot more. They’re dealing with so many things at this point in their lives between the ages of 18 and 22 where they have the chance to make decisions on the direction of their character as men and as football players. They’re very malleable, and you have a chance to really mold these guys. That takes up a fair amount of time. In the NFL you have 40 hours with your players, that part I thoroughly enjoy as well, where you have a chance to do football all the time. But I have enjoyed my time and my opportunities to embrace young men and bring them along and see guys like a Damontre Moore to go from one point to another point. And I could name 100 guys that have made some marvelous transitions in their lives. And I’m real proud of them for that. But it’s different from that standpoint, the time on the football field is different, the time in meetings is different, and as a head coach in college you have to be able to wear multiple hats to be able to navigate yourself through the collegiate atmosphere that these guys are a part of.”
When you talked to Bill Byrne, did he give you reasons why this was happening?
“No.”
Did you ask why or did you just accept it?
“No, I didn’t ask why. I know it was a difficult call for Bill to make. We have a very close relationship, professional relationship. But no, I didn’t put him on the spot and ask him why.”
What would you consider you greatest accomplishment as you leave A&M?
“I think we’ve improved in a lot of areas. I think we’ve re-established connections with high school coaches in the state of Texas and Louisiana. I’m real proud of that. I love going to a high school, sitting down with a high school coach, sharing ideas and talking with them about their program and what they’re doing and sharing things we do as well. I thoroughly enjoyed writing letters to high school coaches over the last four years, talking about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, more of a personal nature—not form letters. I’m proud of that. I’m proud that the expectation levels at A&M has changed, that the expectations of our fans have changed. Last year I think we pretty much expected to win every single game—I always expected to win every game over the last four years—but I think fans will mark on their calendar games they think we’ll win or lose and so forth, and I always say they put Ws by just about every game last year. So I think the expectation level has changed. The talent level has changed dramatically. In our football program we have five guys going to the Senior Bowl. In our football program I see a handful of first- and second-round draft picks that will be great players, young players that will be great players. We’ve upped the ante on the talent part of it. The thing I’m probably the most proud of is I’ve seen guys go from 18-year-old boys to 22-year old men that are accountable, that don’t make excuses, that work hard. They understand life a little bit better. So I think I’m pretty proud of that. I’m proud of how hard they played. I thought we played hard this year and last year. That wasn’t always the case. I think we’ve upped the ante as well. The game didn’t go the way we wanted it to go this year, but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort or ability.”
At any point of the season did Bill Byrne come to you and say you needed to win some games? When did you feel in talking to Bill that maybe you might not be back next year?
“In talking to Bill I never got that feeling that I wouldn’t be back.”
Why did you decide to have a final press conference, and did you feel like you deserved to be fired?
“As far as the press conference is concerned, I always need closure. It’s just who I am. My wife is frustrated at me because any argument we have can’t hang out there. We have to get it over with. I always have to have closure before I move to the next opportunity. So it’s important to me do to that, plus the fact that I have so many people to thank. This has been a phenomenal experience. I wouldn’t trade it and I have no regrets in being the head football coach. I’ve been proud every moment. I’ve been very blessed. I’ve been the head coach of the Green Bay Packers and Texas A&M. I’m very proud of having had those opportunities. I can honestly say I gave each one of those opportunities everything that I had. Sometimes it’s not always good enough, but I gave everything I had and I can leave here knowing I gave everything I had. And that’s a good feeling.
“Do I feel like I deserved to be terminated? No, I don’t. I think this program is heading in the right direction. But I also understand that we live in a society today where it’s easier to change than to fix. When you think about fathers abandoning their families and husbands and wives getting divorced, it’s a lot easier to do that to fix things and to honor commitments and to get things right. We live in a society today I believe that is motivated by anonymous people that write faceless texts and twitters and it gets things stirred up. There’s no accountability to that type of society. There’s an immediacy that they request and I think it’s very important that when people make decisions that they make them based on facts and analysis and insight. What’s real, not what’s false. And sometimes I think that gets skewed up a little bit. But no I don’t feel like I deserved to be terminated. I feel like the program is definitely heading in the right direction. I hope the next coach appreciates the opportunity that he’s going to get with this group of young men. They’re a good group, as is the group coming in. And I’ll help him any way I can because I want to see A&M be successful.”
What’s your message to the Aggies, the 12th Man, the supporters…those who have stood by you?
“I can’t answer all my emails, texts and phone messages. I can’t tell you how honored I am to have been the football coach at this university. It’s been very special. I remember coming home after the Missouri game, I’m driving down the road, and a guy pulls up, a 24-year old gentleman, tells me to roll my window down. And he says, ’Coach, hang in there, we’re with you, this will be okay’. I stop at the (convenience) store on Wellborn (Road) and somebody else tells me the same thing. A&M fans, the silent majority, has been very supportive of me and I’m forever grateful for that. It’s been inspiring. When I get that type of message from people after a terrible loss, it motivates me. I think the hardest part of my job is when you’re in college as opposed to the NFL, you have relationships with former students and students and faculty and everyone depending on you to win the football game. And you don’t want to let them down. That’s probably the hardest and most difficult thing that I’ve had to handle walking off a field, probably more so than any other, walking off the field after that last ballgame and feeling like you let people down, that we didn’t do what we were supposed to do. That feeling only comes because of the respect and the gratitude you have for those people. They’ve been great. I can’t say enough about that group of people that will take the time to make sure that coach is okay.”
What was your message to the team last night and how disappointed were you that you didn’t get to tell them in person?
“Well, I was disappointed on a couple fronts there, that it had leaked out previous to my own knowledge and my ability to sit down with my family. A football family is totally connected and they’re very defensive. I have five kids and they’re so protective of their dad and what’s said. I can handle anything, I don’t put a whole lot of stock in what’s said usually, because 90 percent of time it’s not true. But they are very protective of their dad and their husband. So I would have liked to have that opportunity, that they didn’t have to experience that on their own. I wish I’d have had an opportunity to tell the team before it was let out, but I didn’t, so we made the most of the situation. My message to them was to win the ballgame. My message to them was they are good football team. Don’t let anybody tell them anything different. My message to them was simply, be great men and men of character.
“I want to say one other thing before I go. Media-wise, I didn’t always agree with what you wrote but I thought it was always fair. Sometimes I even took your opinion once in a while, believe it or not. You stumbled upon something once in a while that I really hadn’t thought about. But I want to thank you for being fair to me. Like I said, I didn’t always agree but I thought it was always fair. I appreciate that. Thank you.”