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Former MSU Coach Sherrill Speaks at a couple of QB Clubs

Filed Under Mississippi State Sports | Posted on September 21, 2006

Tallahassee Democrat Conversation with QB Club speaker Jackie Sherrill

Originally published September 18, 2006
Conversation with QB Club speaker Jackie Sherrill

By Randy Beard
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Since stepping down as Mississippi State’s head coach after the 2003 season, Jackie Sherrill has taken to wearing a press pass with jobs in radio and television.

This year he’s working as a studio analyst for FSN Southwest, primarily focusing on coverage of the Big 12 while keeping an eye on the rest of the country, too.

A former Alabama teammate of Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews, Sherrill compiled an overall record as a head coach of 182-120-4 in stops at Washington State, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M and Mississippi State.

With a long-standing reputation for seizing the bull by the horn, or thereabouts as “Wild Willie” can attest, being an analyst comes naturally to Sherrill. Besides, it’s easier than butting heads with the NCAA.

He believes the defensive trend will continue to favor smaller, quicker players - including on the line - to combat spread offenses.

Arkansas freshman quarterback Mitch Mustain reminds him of Dan Marino, whom he coached at Pittsburgh. “Everyone talks about (Tim) Tebo at Florida as being so good, but Mitch Mustain is probably as good as I’ve seen since I had Marino.”

Sherrill also wasn’t surprised Clemson beat Florida State 27-20 Saturday, saying FSU didn’t have an answer for Tigers tailback James Davis. He pegs Clemson and Virginia Tech as the teams to beat in the ACC.

In the SEC, he now favors Auburn to beat Florida for the SEC title, although he still believes LSU has better athletes. He picks Ohio State to rule the Big 10, and possibly the nation, if Michigan doesn’t prove to be a stumbling block.

Southern Cal is his clear favorite in the Pac-10 and defending champion Texas is still the team to beat in the Big 12, although Sherrill won’t count out Oklahoma. He’s waiting to see how the Sooners respond to their controversial loss to Oregon.

He’ll be in Tallahassee tonight to speak to the Tallahassee Quarterback Club meeting at the University Center Club at 6:30 p.m. Guest meals for non-members are $35.

He spoke with the Democrat Sunday afternoon.

QUESTION: There’s been a lot of talk about the growing parity in college football, which makes it tougher to be a dominating team. It’s made it tougher for the teams in Florida that used to be fixtures in the top 10. What are your thoughts?

SHERRILL: Certainly, the 25 (scholarship limit per year) has made a drastic difference and you can see that in Louisville, and you can see that in TCU and some of those teams . . . It’s like I told Mack Brown. In Texas, you are going to get your share of the top 100, but you better make sure who you take is the best of the 100. After they won the national championship, there were a lot of kids all over the country that wanted to go to Texas, and a lot of those kids were better than the kids that they already had committed.

QUESTION: With the talent level evening out, is it a matter of execution or does it also put more priority on the schemes you play?

SHERRILL: Absolutely. Everybody has gone to throwing the football, using spread offenses, so you better go to a spread defense. If you are playing a four-man front, those guys better have a lot of speed to them and be able to rush the passer. If they can’t, then you are just sitting ducks.

QUESTION: Some coaches don’t hesitate to rotate quarterbacks depending on the situation or when an offense is sputtering. What are your thoughts?

SHERRILL: You don’t want to put a quarterback out there if he is not ready to play. But I get a kick out of all these coaches today who say, “Well, I’ve got to have the athlete to run my system.’ What is your system? I didn’t know you invented football. I don’t know of anything that we are doing out there today that any of us invented . . . We try to make it so complicated. You hear coaches say, “I can’t play this player because he’s not ready, and that’s after a couple of years . . . When I hear that from a coach, my first reaction is ‘Then you are too dumb to coach him.’ You’d better learn ways to coach him. If that kid is your best athlete and he can make plays, you’d better get him out there. How many kids can make plays?

QUESTION: Do you like the rule changes with the clock that have sped up the games?

SHERRILL: No one does. The number of snaps is in the 50s and 60s. Last year it was in the 70 or 80s.

QUESTION: So how would you make it so games aren’t more than three hours long?

SHERRILL: Cut halftime, that’s one way. People say, ‘What about the bands?’ I don’t see people sitting in their seats while halftime is going on. If that was the case, don’t play the game, just have the band show up and perform.

QUESTION: You’ve coached in just about every corner of the country. Are there distinct differences when it comes to the passion for college football?

SHERRILL: Absolutely. There are a lot of places where that coach is going to be able to stay there a long time, and other places he’s gone. It’s strongest in the South. But it’s getting there in the Big 12 because of the amount of money, but it’s not the same at Kansas State and Kansas as it is at Oklahoma and Texas.

QUESTION: Those are tougher jobs, too. The expectations are greater.

SHERRILL: If you have all those advantages, don’t get beat by anybody that doesn’t have the advantages. I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a Wake Forest to turn around if you’ll give me a Miami to turn around.

QUESTION: That job might be open soon. Are you interested?

SHERRILL: No, I’m out of coaching. I get to look at 11 different angles, so I don’t make mistakes.

ONLINE EXTRA: Sherrill wows them at QB Club meeting
By Mike Tankersley
Montgomery Advertiser

Jackie Sherrill doesn’t speak loudly, but his words still carry weight. He had the crowd at the Montgomery Quarterback Club staying overtime Monday night to hear his remarkably candid comments about college football.

“He was surprising,” said QB Club board member David Bowen. “I liked him because he didn’t give you the politically correct answer. He was very candid.”

Sherrill had said before the meeting that he likely wouldn’t go back into coaching because being a coach today requires the public relations skills of politician.

“I’m not a politician,” he said. “There’s no gray with me. I see things as black or white.”

That was clear Monday night at the Embassy Suites.

Among the more intriguing topics Sherrill spoke on was a possible national championship playoff. Sherrill contends it’s coming — soon. And he reminded everyone that he was the one who predicted before anyone else that the old Southwest Conference would disband. Of course, it did.

The way Sherrill sees it, this season is essentially a “dry run” of the process that eventually will include a “plus-one” title game. There is an added BCS game this season, held at the site of the national championship game. All it does this season is add two more teams to the BCS mix.

Sherrill believes eventually the top eight or 10 teams will play in the BCS bowls, with the teams emerging as the consensus top two advancing to play in a title game maybe 10-14 days later.

This type of modified playoff would actually enhance the importance of the BCS bowls, all but one of which each year has insignificant matches under the current setup. And each of the four BCS sites still would get a national title game on a rotating basis.

Sherrill also talked about several SEC coaches. He said the new clock-management rules hurt wide-open offensive teams like Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators, because they reduce the number of plays each team runs on offense. Sherrill added that the rules favor running teams but that most coaches don’t like the new rules because they reduce the opportunity for backups and other reserves to get valuable playing time.

Sherrill also said Mike Shula is safe at Alabama right now because the school doesn’t want to make changes in the aftermath of the Dennis Franchione and Mike Price departures. But Sherrill added Shula doesn’t have forever.

“He’s 0-3 against Auburn,” he said. “If he goes to 0-5, they might make a change.”

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