Mike Sherman once led the Green Bay Packers to back-to-back 12 win seasons. At the height of his head coaching career, he was considered among the best of the best when it came to offensive game plans. It appears Sherman’s career has officially come to end as he resigned earlier this week from his high school football coaching gig, in order to open an athletics training facility in Cape Cod this summer. Sherman finished his career at Nauset Regional High School with a record of just 4-18.
Sherman started strong with the Green Bay Packers
The losing record caps off what is one of the most stunning falls from grace witnessed in the coaching ranks.
Sherman began his head coaching career with the Packers after spending several seasons as an assistant in Green Bay. The beginning of that career seemed to portend the next great for the storied franchise. His first season the team went just 9-7 but won 12 games a piece in the next two seasons.
The squad regressed a bit in 2003 and 2004 where they topped out at 10 wins a piece and then the Packers stumbled mightily as they went 4-12 in 2005 and Sherman was fired. Almost immediately after being let go, Sherman was picked up by the Houston Texans and quickly named the offensive coordinator.
Headed to the college ranks and on down
In 2007, the former Packers’ coach decided to take a head coaching job with the Texas A&M Aggies.
His slide downwards continued. Hailed as an offensive genius who would turn around a struggling program, Sherman won just four games in his first season, and six in his second. The former Green Bay head man won nine games in this third year with the Aggies and tied for first in the Big 12 south but he won just seven games the following year and was fired again.
In 2012, the Miami Dolphins gave him more one shot as an offensive coordinator, but it appears he lost his touch. Sherman lasted until January of 2014 when he was fired after his offense was ranked 27th in the NFL. With no other college or NFL teams willing to give him a shot, it was time to turn to the High School ranks.
It’s not clear whether or not Sherman believed winning at Nauset was going to jumpstart his career back to the level he was at when he was with the Green Bay Packers, or whether he always knew this was the last leg.
That 4-18 record certainly put the final straw on the camel’s back if he was hoping to rise the ranks again. As he steps away from coaching, it’s hard not to take a long look at Mike Sherman’s career and wonder what in the world happened to start the impressive spiral