Since I want A&M to win a National Championship, I think it’s important to note what great coaches have done.   I’m not so concerned with what other coaches have done in their first year as I want A&M to be great and not just good.  Some other coaches I should probably research include Tommy Tubberville and Mark Richt.  Maybe I’ll do them later today.

Out of everyone I researched, here are the consistent things I kept seeing:

• Bob Stoops and Phil Fulmer are the exceptions as all had Head Coaching experience elsewhere.  Tressel had lower division experience and we all know about Pete Carroll only having pro experience and it being suspect at best.  Meyer had experience in a non-BCS conference.
• Won their first game.  There is not one exception to any of these coaches winning their first game.  Some were close but most of them stomped whoever they played at home.  They were playing lesser talent most of the time but they all won that crucial first game.
• There are a few exceptions but for the most part all of their first year losses were under 7 points and most of them were on the road.  It’s very consistent.  Bob Stoops and Nick Saban actually did the worst with 3 losses by more than 7 points in their first season.  Stoops was in his first year as a head coach and Saban lost to SEC teams on the road with two of them ranked teams.  They both beat all of their conference foes at home though.
• Only Bobby Bowden didn’t go to a bowl game in their first year but he took over a pretty bad FSU program.  Not on the BCS list, but Butch Davis is the only other coach not to go to a bowl game in the list of coaches I looked at and it can be said he took over a pretty bad UNC team that was previously 3-9.
• Only Les Miles took over a program that was pretty successful the previous season.  It makes sense as most coaches don’t get fired with a winning record.  Sherm took over a team that was 7-6.

So what does all of this mean to Sherman?  Only time will tell but he’s missing one bullet point up there which is winning their first game.  In addition he’s been blown out by Miami, OSU, and KSU.

His toughest games are yet to come and it’s hard to see us going bowling right now which won’t work in his favor as he’s not young enough to be Bobby Bowden and isn’t Butch Davis in my mind.  He also has tough home match-ups against Tech and OU so it’s not looking good for having that solid home record the great ones had at home.  We could easily be 2-5 or maybe even 1-6 at home.  That’s not good folks no matter the state of the program.

I still think Sherm deserves three years but he HAS to get a bowl win next season and then has to have us in the Top 25 at the end of the 2010 season.  If he doesn’t do any of those then I think it’s time to cut bait and move on.  Yes, after three seasons it’ll be time to move on.

I hope like hell he becomes the exception to the norm but he’s not looking good after six games when you compare him to the great ones.