COLLEGE STATION – Mike Sherman’s fate at Texas A&M might be decided today, and after a lot of discussion late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning with multiple insiders on and around campus, here’s what I know:
It appears Sherman has about a 50-50 chance – this could still go either way and nothing has been decided for certain – of returning for a fifth season. This has all moved very fast over the past 24 hours, perhaps with the idea that some mightily influential Aggies, with the backing of school president R. Bowen Loftin, have already targeted a candidate to replace Sherman, 25-25 over his first four seasons.
Sherman has four years remaining on a contract that pays him $2.2 million per year. The Aggies are entering the Southeastern Conference starting next season, and Sherman has been hesitant (at least publicly) to really embrace the move. It didn’t help that 6-6 A&M lost its last scheduled game against rival Texas a week ago at Kyle Field in blowing its fifth halftime lead – a loss a lot of Aggies can’t seem to shake because of its significance.
Sherman received a show of support from athletic director Bill Byrne on Wednesday in Byrne’s weekly online address, but at this point this all seems much out of the hands of Byrne, who gave Sherman a $400,000 raise and a one-year extension on his contract last summer.
Will be here in Aggieland throughout the day, of course, and keep in mind this all could end up with an assurance that Sherman will be back. One thing’s for sure – at this point A&M will need to announce something one way or the other soon regarding Sherman, based on the uncertainty this has created for his top 10 recruiting class.