The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1506671
36 ■ THE WOLFPACKER His time at Furman taught him how to recruit and coach under difficult cir- cumstances. "I got used to having to recruit for the highest academic standards in the conference," he once said. "Recruit- ing character and academics, reaching academic goals, I got used to that. I also learned that height was not that im- portant. "We won with a lot of players who were one or two inches shorter than other schools wanted, but they were good players." Sheridan and his staff, most of which came with him from Furman, made them even better. "He was just a remarkable coach," said O'Cain, who succeeded Sheridan as head coach just weeks before the start of the 1993 season. "He believed in his role as a strict disciplinarian and he was a perfectionist. We would practice a play 150 times a week. "He didn't always win with the best players, but he always got the players that he thought would be successful in his program. He always tried to do things the right way. He would never bend a rule, much less break it. He re- cruited by the book. He was a fine per- son, and that is something all the folks who followed him took with them." Sheridan was stern and demanding. He didn't much abide by folderol and mischief, a stark contrast in an athlet- ics department led by Valvano that also included baseball coach Sam Esposito, wrestling coach Bob Guzzo and men's soccer coach George Tarantini. "I was too scared to talk to Coach Sheridan," said NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent, who was a young gradu- ate assistant during Sheridan's career. "You have to understand, 90 percent of what happened in Weisiger-Brown Building and the Case Athletics Cen- ter was coaches acting up, calling each other names, smoking cigars, throwing darts at each other. " W h e n C o a c h S h e r i d a n c a m e through, it was like the Pope walk- ing in the door. Everything stopped. That's how much respect everyone had Former players and staffers shared the lessons they learned under the late Dick Sheridan, a stickler for rules and discipline who used to begin every season with a reci- tation of nearly two dozen guidelines that were built upon a foundation of self-control, fundamentals, going to class, integrity, work ethic and unity. • "We had something called DST—Dick Sheridan Time, which meant you always had to be at least five minutes early. Being on time and always prepared for meetings, events, appointments, etc., was reinforced daily. And for me is now a habit." — Charlie Cobb, a former Wolfpack football player who is now athletics director at Georgia State • "Coach Sheridan was a strict disciplinar - ian and a perfectionist. If you made a mistake but still got the job done, he wanted you to know that it still wasn't the right decision and that you could hurt the team the next time if you made the same mistake. He always explained why you need to do things a certain way. That is something I have tried to follow in my 30-plus years of coaching." — Former NC State quarterback Shane Montgomery, who went on to become head coach at Miami (Ohio) University and was a longtime offensive coordinator and position coach for multiple college teams • "Whenever I have a hard decision to make, I do two things. First, I pray about it, then I think to myself, what would Coach Sheridan do? He always had a knack for thinking things through and making great decisions. I still do that today." — Retired Wolfpack Club executive director Bobby Purcell, who was NC State foot - ball's recruiting director under Sheridan • "Accountability and attention to detail — those are things that everyone learned from Coach Sheridan. And they are things every successful coach knows are important in building a program." — NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent • "Coach was such a disciplinarian. One thing I didn't understand at the time was the 'No mustache during the season' policy. I think the uniformity he wanted us to have infused a mindset that no one person was above, better or more im- portant than the team as a whole." — Former NFL and NC State defensive back Dewayne Washington • "He might rub you the wrong way as a young player with the rules he enforced. But he always taught you valuable life lessons. That discipline always helped me later in life. He molded men into adults. To this day, I have to be on time everywhere I go. If I am late, I don't feel right. He also taught me that there are always repercussions for breaking a rule, that there are consequences for every action. The important part of that is that he treated everyone fairly. If you were a star or a reserve, the same rules applied." — Former Kansas City Chiefs and NC State wide re - ceiver Nasrallah Worthen • "When things got tense, Coach Sheridan would get quiet; he spoke softly with clear articulation and strong eye contact. He was calm when others were emotional. Coach Yow used silence in those situations; Coach Sheridan used calmness. They were similar in many ways, and I took their demeanors into my own skill set — I just wished I had used their tools more often." — Nora Lynn Finch, former assistant to NC State women's basketball coach Kay Yow, senior women's administrator and ACC associate commissioner for women's basketball • "The thing he did when he arrived at NC State was transform the culture. Everybody talks about the no swearing, everybody dressing the same. He would call out the superstars to prove to the others that there was no preferential treat - ment for anyone. I didn't know why he was doing all those things until I played a season [for the Cleveland Browns] under Bill Belichick. Coach Sheridan was Belichick before Belichick was Belichick. — Danny Peebles, former NC State and NFL wide receiver and NCAA champion sprinter • "He is without a doubt the most influential coach I have ever been around, in high school, college or professional football. He always modeled how to live life. More than anything, he taught me how to respect people. He really didn't have a lot of rules, but he strictly enforced the ones he had. It didn't matter who you were or what you did for the team, you learned and followed his rules." — For- mer NFL and Wolfpack quarterback Erik Kramer, who played only one season under Sheridan at NC State but maintained a long friendship afterward — Tim Peeler The Enduring Lessons Of Dick Sheridan Quarterback Erik Kramer (right) threw for 2,092 yards in his lone season playing for Sheridan at NC State. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS