Please pay your respects and admiration to Coach Sherrill for all he did for Miss State. Despite being a Alabama graduate, Jackie was the best coach in our history. Simply the finest coach we ever had or will ever see in Starkville, MS.
Jackie Wayne Sherrill Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter Preacher Franklin
- Start date
Was in school when he started at state. Roommate and I kicked around the idea of getting bumper stickers made up. "Jackie is nuts for education!"
Neighbor worked in the football offices. Got him to autograph a prototype for us.
Even met him once, very nice guy. That national championship ring was HUGE.
Neighbor worked in the football offices. Got him to autograph a prototype for us.
Even met him once, very nice guy. That national championship ring was HUGE.
I forgot all about that. I remember a friend working at Kirkland's in the mall in Tupelo and Wayne Madkin came in looking for a clown figurine as a gift to Jackie.
I had a few dealings with Jackie back then and he was an odd dude. I was playing in a golf scramble with him the summer after the SEC championship game, and needless to say he was being treated and was acting like a god, and he asked to hit my driver that I had just bought. He did and said that he wanted one and told me to buy him one, and then proceeded to put my driver in his bag. I took it out of his bag at the next tee. I guess he assumed I was going to let him have my driver. I would have gladly bought/given him my driver if he hadn't acted like a complete ***. My playing partner that day still laughs about it.
Jackie's teams were physical and won the LOS. I hope Joe gets back the passion to play aggressive, Miss State style football.
I loved the Jackie era. His first year was also my first year at State. The 90s were a great time to be in Starkville because of him (and basketball and baseball to be fair)
Anyway, his daughter married a frat-brother of mine. She was always very cool/nice. Jackie would come by the PhiDelt house after home games and greet us - it was awesome.
A few years after I graduated (around 2001), I dropped a friend off at the Austin airport and recognized his wife on the sidewalk. I introduced myself, said that her daugher and son-in-law were friends of mine. Jackie was about 50 yards away, about to walk into the airport. So his wife yells to him (I didn't ask her to), and points to me. He immediately turns around, walks all the way back to me, and we talked for a few minutes. It was awesome - she didn't have to call him over, and he didn't have to turn around, but they did.
Fist time I saw JWS at MSU, I was camped outside the Hump for the LSU game that would decide the SEC championship in '91. He was giving out doughnuts. The thing I liked most about JWS was that he did not take BS off of anyone, and that included programs that thought they were better than MSU or him. He absolutely loved sticking it to the "big deal" teams.
Without question, Coach JWS was the best football coach in MSU history. He didn't take any crap off anyone and his teams were hard-nosed and physical. We must get back the good old days and kick some booty.
He has always been like that. I spent a morning with him and some other folks turkey hunting. He talked about a new kid named Keefer that was going to be good. Ran into him years later and he remembered me immediately and struck up a conversation.
Sidenote - what part of Austin are you in?
I agree it's rather odd. But, in that vein the things he would anonymously do to help others, like dress up like a clown & visit children's hospitals, speak volumes about his character.
I agree with the premise. Say what you want, but it was JWS's work that made us matter in football. Prior to Jackie, MSU football did not matter. We played in a run-down, tiny stadium and seldom drew much of a crowd. The television networks hated putting us on TV but had to occasionally because of the SEC contracts. Prior to JWS, we had suffered through the misery that was the Rocky years and the latter part of the Bellard era. We were the whipping boy for the school up north. We had only won 14 games in the past 5 seasons and had not had a winning SEC record for 10 years. Along comes Jackie...
He started out with a victory over Texas who was the defending SW Conference champion. People immediately began to take notice of MSU. Fans started buying tickets and coming to the games again. He got under the skin of the "Mississippi" rebels. He guided MSU to three victories over Alabama--something no other coach in modern history has ever done. He took us to the SEC title game for the first time ever. While his career ended badly with a railroad job by the NCAA and from personal tragedies in JWS's life, he turned the program in the right direction. It is because of him that we started having fans that cared, excitement for the program, and stadium expansion. JWS did for MSU football what Ronald Reagan did for the cold war. Jackie put the wheels in motion for the successes we are enjoying today. I will forever be grateful to Jackie. Godspeed to him.
He started out with a victory over Texas who was the defending SW Conference champion. People immediately began to take notice of MSU. Fans started buying tickets and coming to the games again. He got under the skin of the "Mississippi" rebels. He guided MSU to three victories over Alabama--something no other coach in modern history has ever done. He took us to the SEC title game for the first time ever. While his career ended badly with a railroad job by the NCAA and from personal tragedies in JWS's life, he turned the program in the right direction. It is because of him that we started having fans that cared, excitement for the program, and stadium expansion. JWS did for MSU football what Ronald Reagan did for the cold war. Jackie put the wheels in motion for the successes we are enjoying today. I will forever be grateful to Jackie. Godspeed to him.
Is it?
Through 9 years, Jackie won 58 games (35 SEC games). Mullen won 69 and 33. Add in an FCS cupcake to Jackie's schedule as a 12th game (that Mullen had every year, Jackie's record goes up to 67.
I don't see a dime's worth of difference. Jackie was a tad better in the SEC but would drop the La Tech games sometimes, while Mullen was the opposite. Mullen was starting to use a whole lot more JUCOs in his 9th year, just like Jackie did (1999 was the first year we had a huge class of them and were literally dependent).
One good thing is that Mullen left us before he totally destroyed us, so for that, he gets the title of best, at the end of the day. The only thing he really destroyed was our future offensive line, but at least we have time to correct it.
Jackie also won an SEC West title because of the slightly easier road. Things even out. Very very similar results from both guys. That is a compliment to Mullen. Mullen also had much more money and facilities to burn.
would have been easier just to upvote the post than to reply with the quote and clutter this thread...
Fair enough. Mullen demanded facilities upgrade and got them. Mullen also had more money to work with. It seems to me that while Jackie had some good teams over the years, Mullen gets the edge as far as developing a football program. Mullen transformed and built a program. He changed the dynamic of Mississippi State football. I enjoyed the wins under Jackie. In his mind Sherrill would probably put the Mississippi State job ahead of Washington State but slightly behind Pitt and that Texas A&M is his favorite job hands down. Mullen obviously puts the Florida job way ahead of the State job. He sees it as his home since he was part of winning two national championships there and he feels that he is the heir apparent but of course he is not. He got it by default We'll see what happens next...and probably sooner than later.