In case you’ve been on another planet the last two weeks or your head has been buried in the sand the same amount of time, Sherman is looking for a new athletic director/head football coach to replace Drew Young, who retired and took an athletic director position in Durant.
Young officially leaves the 26th of this month, and although it’s a short amount of time to make the best hire possible, a coach should be attained no later than the Fourth of July if for no other reason than the simple fact practices begin Aug. 3 — which is right around the corner.
Not saying the hire will be made by that point, but June 22 could very well be a key date with the impending school board meeting. Several names are being mentioned, including one from a certain 2A school down the road.
It remains to be seen whether or not those in charge make a similar move to the 2003 board’s original or stay in house as it eventually did in the same time period. There’s no doubt a majority of the Bearcat “faithful” want to step away from the family tree.
That said, it’s laughable reading online about trying to get Sherman back to the “powerhouse” it once was. Powerhouses don’t have a career 19-25-3 mark in the playoffs.
Only 13 Sherman teams in school history have gone to the second round or beyond, and the number drops to four to reach at least the third round (all since 1991).
Slice the number in half, and you have the amount of Bearcat teams who have gone past the third round (1994, 2004). Cut it in half again and you have the one and only team to advance to the state semifinals, and it was coached by none other than Young himself.
Yes, Young averaged a “mere” six wins per season and was only 3-3 in the playoffs. Only his predecessors John Outlaw and Ronnie Tipps (six wins each in a combined 25 playoff games) won more, and numbers don’t lie.
If you wanted him gone because of his 1-5 mark against rival Denison, then so be it, although I thought such numbers mattered more if you were Oklahoma not being able to beat Texas, Auburn not being able to beat Alabama, or vice versa.
Heck, if you go by one game in an entire season, then Dennis Franchione should still be coaching at Texas A&M after beating the Longhorns his final two seasons.
If you want to go further, why don’t we use the first 10 weeks of this fall to prepare for the next installment of the Battle of the Ax with the winner advancing and the loser going home — simple as that.
Aren’t you glad such a formula hasn’t existed the last six years, Sherman fans? It is better to look at the final product isn’t it, yet I’m sure you would’ve traded the 2004 season for a win against the Yellow Jackets (warning: Sarcasm level is on Code Red).
Outlaw (eight) and Tipps (seven) were the only Sherman coaches to average more wins per season than Young. As a matter of fact, Outlaw and Tipps each won 59 games leading to the program’s most successful 15-year stretch with a combined six of the school’s 19 district championships, yet they still averaged under eight wins combined.
Tommy Hudspeth (1971-78) won slightly more than six games a year during his reign, and although Verde Dickey (1929-37) won four district titles in nine seasons, he still averaged only six wins.
No other Bearcat coach with that number lasted more than three seasons, even the great G.A. Moore (who must not have been good enough to coach in this “dynasty” — again Code Red).
Powerhouse in the dictionary is listed as a person, group, “team”, or the like, having great energy, strength or potential for success.
The Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, Detroit Red Wings (despite their loss this year) and Los Angeles Lakers are professional powerhouses, while the Southeastern Conference, Oklahoma, Texas and others are collegiate powerhouses.
Sherman won eight games a year ago, which for many wasn’t enough, despite losing to three talented teams in Rockwall-Heath, Denison and Richardson Pearce.
Yes, the playoff game was a winnable one in which the team failed to achieve victory, but (no offense to the young men who took the field last year), there was no way they were going to beat Dallas Carter or Longview in the area round, two great definitions of a high school powerhouse.
Expectations, whether they be high or low, realistic or unrealistic are the right we have with our wonderful freedom of speech, but to put a man down who has given 32 years of his life to a profession with many looking over his shoulder (and who almost gave his life after a heart attack two falls ago) isn’t very humane.
It also won’t make the “big name” coaches gravitate to a community whose definition of success is accomplishing something only two teams in 90 years have done.
Congratulations Coach Young, the fifth winningest coach in school history, and best of luck in your retirement and return to your home of the Sooner State.
May the next coach come in and find a way to average at least eight wins a year in hopes of avoiding the microscope which will always have its button turned “on.”
