Sherrill looks for success in Texas

By By Tony Krausz/assistant sports editor
September 20, 2003
Jackie Sherrill is going back to familiar territory.
Well not exactly.
Though the 26-year coaching veteran spent seven years in College Station, Texas, coaching the Texas A&M Aggies, he never guided a team through a game at Robertson Stadium in Houston. It simply wasn't there at the time.
But the coach has led plenty of teams through four quarters of football in the city of Houston.
"I've never played at (the Cougars') home stadium," Sherrill said. "Going back to Houston, we've played at both stadiums, the Dome as well as Rice Stadium."
So the Bulldogs meeting with the University of Houston Cougars is not exactly a homecoming for Sherrill, but it is bringing the dean of Southeastern Conference coaches back to where he had some of his most successful years on the sideline.
Sort of.
College Station, where Sherrill produced a 52-28-1 mark with A&M, is 96 miles from Houston. A mere hop, skip and a jump away in a state the size of Texas.
The embattled MSU coach took the Aggies to three straight Cotton Bowls from 1985-87 before leaving after the '88 season.
And sure the old Southwest Conference had more cheating going on in it than the bad-guy team in Hannah-Barbara's Laugh Olympics, but the 'ol Bulldogs' coach has some very fond memories of his time in the Lone Star State and the SWC.
"The best way to describe it was it was a gentlemen's conference," Sherrill said. "You had guys who would socialize, get together and play golf and were very good friends. Those things were allowed in that conference."
Unfortunately the coach returns to the Southwest region of the country far removed from the whimsical times.
The Bulldogs have lost 18 of their last 24 games, and they are going into Robertson Stadium after wasting a 14-point fourth-quarter lead against Tulane last week.
The 31-28 loss to the Green Wave may have been the worst of the numerous marks in the "L" column the Bulldogs have suffered in their recent stretch.
With about nine minutes to play, the Bulldogs had a first down at the Green Wave's 45-yard and a 14-point lead, but a false start stalled the drive.
Tulane got the ball back on its own 11-yard line and marched 89 yards on 13 plays for the squad's first seven of 17 points in the closing minutes of a come-from-behind win.
MSU's woes continued after the Tulane score, as quarterback Kevin Fant fumbled for a two yard loss, threw an incomplete pass, and the team was called for a delay of game penalty.
The Green Wave responded to the three-and-out by the Bulldogs with a four-play, 41-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 28, and Tulane completed the comeback with a 32-yard field goal with six seconds left. A kick that if missed would have been done again because the Bulldogs had too many men on the field.
After a debacle like that, you would expect tonight's game to be considered a must win situation.
Not exactly, according to Sherrill.
"Tennessee lost the first six games of the season, then came back and won the last five (in 1988). Then they went on to win the conference the next two years in a row," Sherrill told reporters. "Even though you're looking at today, you're also looking at the development of players and those things.
"Does everybody's patience draw short? Everybody wants to win. Sometimes the pressure players put on themselves causes them to make mistakes."
Make no mistake, despite what the coach and the players are saying entering the game against the Cougars, MSU needs to win badly.
Sherrill may not be going sight-seeing when he is in Houston, but the coach did talk about possibly setting up camp in the city after his coaching days are done.
"Probably when I retire, it is probably going to be some place that is so hard for people to get to me," Sherrill said.
If the Bulldogs don't leave Houston with a win, the coach may be starting his house hunting in the area a little earlier than he is anticipating.