"WE Are The Aggies, The Aggies Are WE"

This is a reply to a post from The Battalion that i read the other day. Here is the original article. Hope you enjoy my reply. http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2009/10/19/Sports/Somebody.Needs.To.Take.The.Fall-3806088.shtml

It has come to my attention that some people are unhappy with the football program at Texas A&M University, under head coach Mike Sherman. I can guarantee you that almost 100 percent of these people were the same people calling for Coach Fran's head not even two years ago. They're the same people that wanted R.C. Slocum gone back in 2002, the same year he beat number 1 ranked Oklahoma. To be fair these are the same people that just a mere three and a half weeks ago were praising a 3-0 start and a quick turnaround for the Aggs. These people are called "Fair Weather Fans." They are only "true" fans when their team is winning, which to me is not a fan at all. But I'm not here to preach about how these people aren't true fans. I'm here to prove them wrong.

I've heard that there were other coaching options available at the time we hired Mike Sherman, and he wasn't the best option we had. In that case let me just start with a little profile of Mike Sherman. On top of being a successful assistant coach for many years, a few being under both R.C. Slocum and Jackie Sherrill during which he recruited the great Leeland McElroy (top 10 all time leading running back in Texas A&M history), Mike was an NFL head coach for the Green Bay Packers. In his six years in Wisconsin, he compiled a 57-39 record, which included 5 consecutive winning seasons, 4 of which resulted in playoff births. While coaching at Green Bay he coached players like Brett Favre, Ahman Green and Bubba Franks.

Enough of that, now we'll look at some of the other possible candidates for the job. Kevin Sumlin is now the head coach at the University of Houston. He is famous for beating the Oklahoma State Cowboys earlier this season. He runs a pass heavy offense and just puts 11 players on the field for defense. He holds a 6-3 Conference USA record. The reason Mike Sumlin would not have been the best guy for the job is fairly simple. Prior to his job at U of H Kevin Sumlin had never been a collegiate head football coach. Why would a rebuilding major college football program hire a first year head coach to turn around the team?. Yeah it doesn't make much sense to me either.

Another name that I have heard thrown around is Bobby Petrino. Despite a whopping 8-10 record at Arkansas (Sherman is only 7-11) Petrino also came with a ton of concerns. He was always rumored to be looking for another job (while at Rutgers he was rumored to be in talks with Auburn, LSU, the Oakland Raiders and then eventually the Atlanta Falcons, all after signing a 10 year deal with Louisville). In fact in his 27 years of coaching Petrino has held 16 different coaching positions. Is that somebody we want at Texas A&M. The next Billy Gillespie who leaves us for the next best thing?

The other name I've heard is Chris Petersen, the head coach at Boise State. Petersen has a 41-4 record at Boise State. Petersen is 1-0 in BCS games at Boise State. Boise State is currently the number 5 team in the nation. Enough Said! Why would Chris Petersen leave the Broncos, a year after beating the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, to take over a rebuilding football team. Come on folks.

The second major argument I have heard is that Mike Sherman had enough talent around him to win games already. I was told to stop believing that the cupboard was bare when he got to Texas A&M. First of all let us remember that Mike Sherman took over a program that hadn't finished in the top 25 since 1999. Take a look at the top 5 teams in the country. Four out of the top 5 teams start 15 or more upperclassmen (Florida 17, Alabama 16, Texas 15, Cincinnati 18). The Aggies not only start just 12 upperclassmen but 6 of their 22 starters are freshmen. No top 5 team starts more than 2. It doesn't get more more bare than, starting 9 underclassmen (whom all of them Mike Sherman recruited.)

Since taking over as head coach, Sherman has produced a top 20 recruiting class in 2009 and currently has the number 11 recruiting class in the nation for the class of 2010. Yeah sounds like coach Sherman doesn't know what he is doing to me too...

The truth of the matter is, that some people don't know what they are talking about when it comes to sports, and they tend to overreact to a situation they really don't understand. Fair weather fans are some of the best there are when your team is winning. When they're losing on the other hand, they would rather whine and blame "the top" instead of supporting and seeing through the storm. If you want to walk the plank, that's your business, but don't bring the rest of the ship down with you. True Aggies show support through the best and worst of times. If you cannot do that, we do not need you.

One final note, to Coach Sherman and the rest of the Fightin' Texas Aggies, I believe in what you are doing and look forward to seeing success in the near future. Keep up the good work.