Jackie Wayne Sherrill (born November 28, 1943) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
player and coach. He was the head football coach at
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
(1976), the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
(1977–1981),
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
's college football coverage.
Playing career
Sherrill played football at the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...
Washington State
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
for one year, in 1976. During his one season, the Cougars had a win–loss record of 3-8.
Pittsburgh
Sherrill was the head coach at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
from 1977 to 1981. Before going to Washington State, Sherrill had served as an assistant at Pittsburgh under head coach
Johnny Majors
John Terrill Majors (May 21, 1935June 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and college coach. A standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, he was an All-American in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Confe ...
. When Majors left Pittsburgh to return to his alma mater at the
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...
, Sherrill returned to become the head coach of the
Panthers
Panther may refer to:
Large cats
*Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis''
**''Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards.
***Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in Sout ...
. He is credited with grooming
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
after being Sherrill's last quarterback at Pitt, from 1979 to 1982. During his tenure, Sherrill's coaching staff included future NFL head coaches Jimmy Johnson and
Dave Wannstedt
David Wannstedt (born May 21, 1952) is a former American football coach. He has been the head coach of the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He was also the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh foot ...
. In Sherrill's five seasons at Pittsburgh, the Panthers won 50 games, lost nine, and had one tie.
When asked about retirement,
Joe Paterno
Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2 ...
once said that he would not, because it would leave college football in the hands of "the Jackie Sherrills and the
Barry Switzer
Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...
s". Paterno apologized to Switzer for the comment, but wrote in his book that he "didn't give a damn about what Sherrill felt." Paterno later said that the comment was made off-the-record and in jest during a party at Paterno's house, but it was printed anyway. Sherrill and Paterno later became friends – and Sherrill and his wife were guests of the Paternos in State College in 2004. Notably, Sherrill went 2–3 in five games leading Pitt against Penn State, including a 48–14 loss in 1981 that destroyed Pitt's chances at a second national championship in six years.
Texas A&M
On January 19, 1982, Sherrill was hired by Texas A&M as a replacement for Tom Wilson, signing a record six year contract for over $1.7 million. Sherrill was the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies from 1982 to 1988. While head coach at A&M Sherrill started the tradition of the " 12th Man Kickoff Team"; this tradition is still observed by A&M today, though in a significantly scaled back form, including a single walk-on rather than an entire kicking team unit. In his seven seasons as the coach of the Aggies, Texas A&M won 52 games, lost 28, and had one tie. Texas A&M won three consecutive
Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
championships under Sherrill, in 1985, 1986 and 1987. As a result, the Aggies played in the
Cotton Bowl Classic
The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...
at the end of each season, defeating Auburn University 36–16 on January 1, 1986 and Notre Dame 35–10 on January 1, 1988, and losing to
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
28–12 on January 1, 1987. He is also one of the few coaches to leave Texas A&M with a winning record against the Longhorns, winning his last five against Texas after losing his first two. However, he only won three out of seven games versus Texas A&M's other conference rival, Arkansas, in that same time span.
In 1988, Sherrill's Aggies were put under probation by the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
for a period of two years. Violations included improper employment, extra benefits, unethical conduct and lack of institutional control. Sherrill was not personally found guilty of any infractions. However, in December 1988, Sherrill resigned.
Mississippi State
After two seasons away from the game (1989 and 1990), Sherrill was hired as head coach at Mississippi State University in 1991. He took over a program that hadn't had a winning season since 1986, winning only 14 games in that stretch. Mississippi State hadn't had a winning record in
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
play since 1981. Sherrill began his Mississippi State career with an upset victory over the defending Southwest Conference champion Texas Longhorns.
In thirteen seasons in Starkville, Sherrill coached the
Bulldogs
The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.SEC Championship Game, but they lost to eventual national champion
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
. They finished the season with a loss to the
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
and
Heisman
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...
trophy winner
Ricky Williams
Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
After playing baseball ...
in the
Cotton Bowl Classic
The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...
. A year later, he notched a 10–2 record, a final ranking of #12 in the AP Poll, and an appearance in the
Peach Bowl
The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially ...
. That #12 ranking was the highest final ranking achieved by any NCAA Division I-A school in Mississippi in over 30 years. Sherrill, along with
Bill Snyder
William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...
of
Kansas State
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
, were among the first to use the JUCO systems of their respective states to help their programs progress.
Sherrill built Mississippi State into a consistent winner despite playing in the same division as Alabama, Auburn and LSU. He finished with a winning record against arch-rival Ole Miss (7–6), and led the Bulldogs to six bowl games. Before his arrival they'd been to seven bowls in their history. However, just like his tenure at Texas A&M, Sherrill still had difficulty beating Arkansas, finishing with a 3-8-1 record against the Razorbacks, to include losing his last five games against them. Although he only won a total of eight games in his final three seasons, he is credited with resurrecting the Bulldog program.
Sherrill also achieved notoriety by having his team observe the castration of a bull as a motivational technique prior to a game versus Texas. Unranked Mississippi State subsequently beat the #13 ranked Longhorns.
Sherrill retired after the 2003 season, which was followed by the NCAA levying probation for four years on the program. The NCAA announced that its infractions committee found two former assistants and several boosters broke recruiting rules between 1998-2002. Among the violations, the committee found members of the Mississippi State football program improperly reimbursed prospective student-athletes for recruiting trips, giving recruits and their families money for hotel rooms and rental cars. An assistant coach arranged to pay for the summer school classes a recruit needed to become eligible and a booster allowed two recruits to stay in a hotel in Starkville for free. It was the second time in recent years the Mississippi State football program has been sanctioned by the NCAA. Mississippi State was considered a repeat offender because the school also lost 13 scholarships after an investigation in 1996. As a result of the NCAA investigation, Mississippi State's football program was placed on probation by the NCAA for four years. Penalties included being stripped of eight scholarships over the next two seasons, being banned from postseason play, and being limited to 45 expense-paid recruiting visits in each of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years. Despite the sanctions imposed on the Mississippi State football team, allegations of unethical conduct against former coach Jackie Sherrill were dismissed.
On December 2, 2004, Sherrill filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, Rich Johanningmeier (principal NCAA investigator in the MSU probation), and Julie Gibert (an Ole Miss booster), alleging 18 counts of wrongdoing. Among the allegations include charges that the NCAA defamed him and conspired to drive him out of coaching, that Johanningmeier was unethically influenced by Gibert in his investigation of MSU, and that they conspired to fabricate NCAA charges against him. Johanningmeier has stated that he stands by the recordings and transcripts in the case. Nearly 15 years later, Sherrill and the NCAA settled their lawsuit on July 17, 2019.