Jackie Sherrill Jackie Wayne Sherrill ( born November 28 , 1943 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head football coach at Washington State University ( 1976 ) , the University of Pittsburgh ( 1977 – 1981 ) , Texas A & M University ( 1982 – 1988 ) , and Mississippi State University ( 1991 – 2003 ) , compiling a career college football record of 180 – 120 – 4 . Sherrill is currently a studio analyst for Fox Sports Net ' s college football coverage and a writer for Texags . com . Playing career . Sherrill played football at the University of Alabama under Bear Bryant from 1962 to 1965 , helping the Crimson Tide win two national championships . Coaching career . Washington State . Sherrill was the head coach at Washington State in 1976 . During his one season at the Pullman campus , the Cougars won three games and lost eight . Pittsburgh . Sherrill was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1977 to 1981 . Before going to Washington State , Sherrill had served as an assistant at Pittsburgh under head coach Johnny Majors . When Majors left Pittsburgh to return to his alma mater at the University of Tennessee , Sherrill returned to become the head coach of the Panthers . He is credited with grooming quarterback Dan Marino , who went on to a prolific Hall of Fame career in the NFL after being Sherrill ' s last quarterback at Pitt , from 1979 – 1982 . During his tenure , Sherrill ' s coaching staff included future NFL head coaches Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt . In Sherrill ' s five seasons at Pittsburgh , the Panthers won 50 games , lost nine , and had one tie . When asked about retirement , Joe Paterno once said that he would not , because it would leave college football in the hands of " the Jackie Sherrills and the Barry Switzer s " . Paterno apologized to Switzer for the comment , but wrote in his book that he " didn ' t give a damn about what Sherrill felt . " Paterno later said that the comment was made off - the - record and in jest during a party at Paterno ' s house , but it was printed anyway . Sherrill and Paterno later became friends – and Sherrill and his wife were guests of the Paternos in State College in 2004 . Notably , Sherrill went 2 – 3 in five games leading Pitt against Penn State , including a 48 – 14 loss in 1981 that destroyed Pitt ' s chances at a second national championship in five years . Texas A & M . Sherrill was hired on January 19 , 1982 as replacement for Tom Wilson , signing a record six - year contract over $ 1 . 7 million . Sherrill was the head coach at Texas A & M University from 1982 to 1988 . While head coach at A & M Sherrill started the tradition of the " 12th Man Kickoff Team " , this tradition is still observed by A & M today only in a significantly scaled back form , including a single walk - on rather than an entire return team unit . In his seven seasons as the coach of the Aggies , Texas A & M won 52 games , lost 28 , and had one tie . Texas A & M won three consecutive Southwest Conference championships under Sherrill , in 1985 , 1986 and 1987 . As a result , the Aggies played in the Cotton Bowl Classic at the end of each season , defeating Auburn University 36 – 16 on January 1 , 1986 and Notre Dame 35 – 10 on January 1 , 1988 , and losing to Ohio State University 28 – 12 on January 1 , 1987 . He is also one of the few coaches to leave Texas A & M with a winning record against the Longhorns , winning his last five against The University of Texas after losing his first two . In 1988 , Sherrill ' s Aggies were put under probation by the NCAA for a period of two years . Violations included improper employment , extra benefits , unethical conduct and lack of institutional control . Sherrill was not personally found guilty of any infractions . However , in December 1988 , Sherrill resigned . Mississippi State . After three years away from the game , Sherrill was hired as head coach at Mississippi State University in 1991 . He took over a program that hadn ' t had a winning season since 1986 ( and had won a total of 14 games in that stretch ) and hadn ' t had a winning record in Southeastern Conference play since 1981 . Sherrill began his Mississippi State career with an upset victory over a familiar foe from his A & M days , the Texas Longhorns ( who were the defending Southwest Conference champions ) . In thirteen seasons in Starkville , Sherrill coached the Bulldogs to a record of 75 – 75 – 2 . His 75 wins are the most in school history . He led the team to an SEC West title in 1998 , and a berth in the Cotton Bowl Classic . A year later , he notched a 10 – 2 record and # 12 final ranking . That # 12 ranking was the highest final ranking achieved by any NCAA Division I - A school in Mississippi in over 30 years . Sherrill , along with Bill Snyder of Kansas State , were among the first to use the rich JUCO systems of their respective states to help their programs progress . Although Sherrill won only eight games in his last three seasons , he built Mississippi State into a consistent winner despite playing in the same division as powerhouses like Alabama , Auburn and LSU . He also finished with a winning record against in - state rival Ole Miss ( 7 – 6 ) . Under Sherrill , the Bulldogs went to six bowl games ; before his arrival they ' d only been to seven bowls in 96 years of play . Sherrill also achieved notoriety by having his team observe the castration of a bull as a motivational technique prior to a game versus Texas . Unranked Mississippi State subsequently beat the # 13 ranked Longhorns . Sherrill retired after the 2003 season , which was followed by the NCAA levying probation for four years on the program . Despite a prolonged 3 year investigation by the NCAA , Mississippi State was not found guilty of any major violations , and Sherrill was never personally found guilty of any NCAA rules violations at either Mississippi State or Texas A & M . Sherrill has an ongoing lawsuit against the NCAA , Rich Johanningmeier ( the principal NCAA investigator in the MSU probation ) , and Julie Gibert ( a female Ole Miss booster ) , alleging 18 counts of wrongdoing . Among the allegations include charges that the NCAA defamed him and conspired to drive him out of coaching , that Johanningmeier was unethically influenced by the female Ole Miss booster in his investigation of MSU , and that they conspired to fabricate NCAA charges against him .