The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506671
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 ■ 35 AN OLD-SCHOOL SOUL Sheridan went 52-29-3 in his seven seasons with the Wolfpack and won the Bobby Dodd College Coach of the Year Award in 1986. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS BY TIM PEELER O n a hazy Saturday night in C a r te r- Fi n l ey S ta d i u m , NC State's captains walked out to midfield for the tra- ditional pregame coin flip before the season opener against East Carolina. Then, to the surprise of a rowdy re- cord crowd of 58,650 spectators, every- one else on the roster walked arm-in- arm to the home sideline hash mark, a show of team unity that had not been seen in Raleigh since the latter days of the Lou Holtz era. On Sept. 6, 1986, Wolfpack players showed the sold-out crowd what they had been learning for the previous eight months: Everything had changed for a Wolfpack football program that had en- dured three consecutive losing seasons under coach Tom Reed. Or so they thought. The Wolfpack quickly fell behind 10-0 to the Pirates, and the deflated crowd thought that the latest football miracle worker — the pro- gram's fourth head coach in just 10 years — might not be so miraculous after all. Then, systematically, senior quarter- back Erik Kramer started picking the Pirates' defense apart, throwing for a touchdown, running for another and rambling on another long run to set up a score. He found Nasrallah Worthen so many times the statisticians lost count. Senior Mike Cofer broke the school re- cord with his eighth consecutive field goal. The defense forced 3 fumbles, in- tercepted 2 passes and blocked a field goal that would have given the Pirates a seven-point lead at the half. In the end, the Wolfpack scored 32 unanswered points, including 25 in the fourth quarter. Things, indeed, were different. The architect of that change, head coach Dick Sheridan, died July 6 in Gar- den City Beach, S.C. He was 81 years old, and he died almost 30 years to the day after abruptly retiring from an NC State program that he had completely rebuilt into a regular postseason partic- ipant and contender for the ACC title. In just seven years, Sheridan restored credibility to the program, built on a foundation of personal integrity, stabil- ity and accountability. He challenged legendary coach Earle Edwards as the second-winningest coach in program history, logging a 52-29-3 record that included six bowl appearances, a 23-5-1 record against in-state rivals and a 6-1 mark against North Carolina. He won the Bobby Dodd College Coach of the Year Award for the Wolf- pack's 8-3-1 season in 1986 and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020. A member of the Fur- man Athletic, South Carolina Athletic and South Carolina Football Halls of Fame, Sheridan is survived by his wife, Brenda, two sons, Jon and Bobby, and five grandchildren. His program got stronger as the coach stayed longer — until, for a multitude of reasons, Sheridan stepped down a month before practice for the 1993 season began, following back-to-back nine-win campaigns. He mostly cited health reasons, though disgust for the way the university's administration treated his unlikely friend and boss Jim Valvano, the NC State men's basket- ball coach and athletics director, had as much to do with it as colitis. Sheridan returned a few times to NC State, and only with an express invi- tation from the head football coach. The first time was in 2007 for a coach- ing clinic held by Tom O'Brien, who thought Sheridan reminded him of his Navy coach and former boss George Welsh. Sheridan came a little bit more frequently after that, most recently in 2021 when NC State celebrated his en- shrinement into the College Football Hall of Fame. "It felt like coming home," he said of those return visits to Carter-Finley Sta- dium. An Imposing Figure Sheridan caught the eye of former NC State athletics director Willis Casey long before he ever arrived in Raleigh, while still at tiny Furman University, a Southern Conference school that Sher- idan had turned into a Division I-AA powerhouse. Casey offered the Paladins coach a job in 1983, but Sheridan declined because his two sons were finishing their high school careers at Travelers Rest High School, and he didn't want to disrupt his family. After three consecutive 3-8 seasons that included losses to Sheri- dan's Paladins in 1984 and '85, Casey returned to the coach, saying "If you can't beat 'em, hire 'em." Sheridan, who never played college football, began his coaching career as an assistant football coach and head bas- ketball coach at Eau Claire High School in Columbia shortly after graduating from the University of South Carolina. In three seasons, he took his hoops squad to the state semifinals and finals. He moved on to Orangeburg High School to become a head football coach in 1969 and, in his third season, led the team to a 13-0 record and the state's Class AAAA championship, thanks in part to the play of quarterback Mike O'Cain. Throughout his career, he turned small-town schools into big-time powers, often by recruiting players who didn't fit the weight and height pro- files that the larger schools required. Tough But Fair, Dick Sheridan Dispensed Life Lessons While Building A Winner At NC State