My Jackie Sherrill Tribute

[Todd4State]

I think this is appropriate today because of Jackie settling out of court. I'll say it- Jackie was our best football coach ever. And I'm about to prove it to the Dan fans. Here are my favorite Jackie Sherrill football wins (mostly) at MSU over every SEC school and a couple of OOC teams.

Let's start this off right: My favorite Egg Bowl win during the Jackie Sherrill era is of course 1999. Probably the best Egg Bowl game I have ever seen- and yes, 2013 was really good too. It's a firm second place for me. But you can't beat the Pass, the tip, the pick, and the kick. How no MSU fan has made a highlight video of the entire game is beyond me- and my skill because I would have done it by now if I could.


https://youtu.be/XalQhL-azXA


https://youtu.be/JI79AzdmBGE

The 1998 Egg Bowl gets an honorable mention since that was the game where we officially won the SEC West. And this may sound familiar- but some loudmouth Ole Miss fan got on the field and said something about Jackie's family to his face and Jackie almost killed the guy. Toxic rivalry right?




Next up- hey Dan! Here's how you beat Alabama. From 1996. Never forget the guy that had the parachute accident and delayed the game about 30 minutes.


https://youtu.be/5pGPf-maglE

Honorable mention for 2000 the Jackie Sherrill white towel game and the 1998 game where JJ Johnson went absolutely off on Bama as beat them for the third time in a row. He had over 200+ all purpose yards that day.

Biggest comeback in school history? Auburn 1999 gets the nod. Honorable mention to Auburn 1998 where our special teams dominated including scoring a touchdown on special teams after we got penalized for the Dawg Pound Rock.



Eli isn't the only Manning that Jackie beat. He beat the best one in the game where Peyton took over for Todd Helton.



Vanderbilt 1999 gets the nod from me because that was the now infamous Fred Smoot "I'll let you get a catch if you do my homework" game. 1998 Vanderbilt gets honorable mention because that was when the Dawg Pound Rock first appeared.


For homecoming- MSU vs Tulane 1994. We won 66-22 and Derrick Taite set school passing and total offense records that stood until Dak Prescott came along. Tulane decided to stack the box and never adjusted. At least they stuck to the game plan!


I may get some disagreement here- but to me Florida 1992 was more memorable than Florida 2000. Although both were pretty awesome and both resulted in Steve Spurrier looking like he was about to cry.


It's just too good to not remember though.


https://youtu.be/dKzgfOFoxS0

Jackie never beat Georgia at MSU. He did at Pittsburgh though.

Jackie didn't do very well against LSU either. However, 1999 was pretty memorable. We won the game on the final play when Rod Gibson snuck in under the offensive line and LSU fans for years claimed that we didn't score. Never mind the fact that they went 2-9 that year and it didn't matter or maybe more pertinently- we probably scored on the play before and didn't get the call. (Why are there no highlight videos of this game?)

Kentucky 1999 was the most memorable for me. On a Thursday night- you know how LT loved those during this era because of "exposure" we had a typical 1999 comeback. Joe Lee Dunn vs. Hal Mumme and Mike Leach was pretty intriguing football. It was like clash of the mad scientist football coaches.


Arkansas is easy. 1998. Put us in sole possession of the SEC West. Arkansas fans whined for years about the kick being good. But how about Wayne Madkin? Talk about coming up clutch when you needed to.



South Carolina was average to bad but we had a nice shutout in 1999 in Lou Holtz's first year and then we had 1998 where we beat them 38-0.


Memphis we played and beat a lot. To me the most memorable has to be 1997 after Keefer passed away and we won the game on a 53 yard Brian Hazlewood field goal. 1998 and 1999 were fun games as well for me personally.

As far as the most memorable bowl win- for me it's the 1999 Peach Bowl. I know many will go "Snow Bowl" here but for me I'm staying with the Peach. It's a better bowl than the Independence Bowl number one. But it was also Jackie's first bowl win at MSU and it capped off the best season I have seen in MSU football history. Sorry 2014 but you have to at least beat Ole Miss for the title of best season for me and 1980 almost gets it but the bowl win in 1999 separates it out not to mention the embarrassing loss to USM in 1980.



Hail King Jackie! Hail State!

[Coach007]

That is the BEST DPR ever done. EVER!!!!

[Goldendawg]

Thanks Todd. Jackie will always be the Kang for me! He got us to Atlanta for more than a Peach Bowl and my family and I were there. When Kevin Prentiss ran back the punt, I just knew we were going to be SEC Champs. Hail Jackie! Hail State!

[Commercecomet24]

I will always love King Jackie! He kicked back at the sec and the establishment and showed us that we don't have to settle for bottom of the SEC! I'll always be grateful for him changing our perception and showing us we could win! He needs a statue!

[Goldendawg]

Bring Jackie back to work with the kickers and for fund raising. Bring back Kinsaki Jones to teach the players how the Dawg Pound Rock should really be done! Hail State!

[BuckyIsAB****]

Jackie def showed MSU people that we didnt have to take shit off of anyone when we needed it most. He gave you something to stick your chest out about and probably the best of all, he made OM people hate his guts.

I dont think Mullen will ever pass him in the eyes of many bc of the way Dan left.

[bobtail bob]

I miss those unis and helmets so bad.


Kang>Muffin all day every day

[Todd4State]

That is the BEST DPR ever done. EVER!!!!

Definitely the Dawg Pound Rock's zenith.

[Todd4State]

I miss those unis and helmets so bad.


Kang>Muffin all day every day

Agree on all accounts. It's really weird- Dan rarely lost the games he wasn't supposed to and we were better in bowls, but he also rarely had the big wins like Jackie. It's almost like they were opposites of each other in some ways. I'd like to find a coach that can do all things.

[State82]

Two statues should adorn the entrance to DWS......Jack Cristil and Jackie Sherrill

[Jarius]

Bring Jackie back to work with the kickers and for fund raising. Bring back Kinsaki Jones to teach the players how the Dawg Pound Rock should really be done! Hail State!

The DPR needs to be done correctly or it needs to go away. I think with the way officials allow celebrations a bit more now we could get away with doing it on kickoffs the way it started back in the 90s. We did some dancing against LSU on the kickoff team in 2017 and no penalty was called. It needs to be done with a bunch of emotion and the crowd will get back into it. The way it's done now is almost cringe worthy.


To the main topic, Jackie played in the SEC when we had budgets much similar to the smaller schools we played and the divide between lower tier SEC schools and decent non power 5 schools was not nearly as noticeable. We had some really tough games against teams we kill nearly every time we face now. SEC money did A LOT to help Dan Mullen look like he was working a miracle in Starkville when in actuality he was just doing a pretty good job for most of his career here. He is no doubt a good coach, but if Jackie would have been in his prime during Mullen's tenure here he would have done much better than Mullen IMO.

[msbulldog]

I will be forever grateful to JWS for showing us the way! Hail State and Go Dawgs!

[BrunswickDawg]

Todd that list is pretty spot on and brings back some great memories for me. I was a freshman in Jackie's first year. When I visited MSU the first time in 1990, I remember "Fire Felker" banners hanging in windows in Sessums as I arrived on campus.
It was amazing what a difference Jackie made instantly in the atmosphere on campus. That first season was just wild. The Texas game was such a statement. I think a big overlooked win that first year was at Auburn. We road-tripped to that game, and the Barners were just apoplectic that we beat them. They had won 9 straight against us and we put the nail in their coffin that season.

That UF game in '92 was huge and was the most fun I had at a game until the 2014 Auburn game. Shane Matthews talking smack leading into the game about how he didn't stay in MS because none of the teams were good enough for him just set up a classic Jackie "FU" game and we never let up. It was a real arrival moment for the program and showed 1991 wasn't some fluke.

While Jackie did seem to have problems getting some of those automatic wins - he was a big game/big moment coach who sure could get his David to punch Goliath in the mouth. It always gave you hope.

[Tbonewannabe]

I think this is appropriate today because of Jackie settling out of court. I'll say it- Jackie was our best football coach ever. And I'm about to prove it to the Dan fans. Here are my favorite Jackie Sherrill football wins (mostly) at MSU over every SEC school and a couple of OOC teams.

Let's start this off right: My favorite Egg Bowl win during the Jackie Sherrill era is of course 1999. Probably the best Egg Bowl game I have ever seen- and yes, 2013 was really good too. It's a firm second place for me. But you can't beat the Pass, the tip, the pick, and the kick. How no MSU fan has made a highlight video of the entire game is beyond me- and my skill because I would have done it by now if I could.


https://youtu.be/XalQhL-azXA


https://youtu.be/JI79AzdmBGE

The 1998 Egg Bowl gets an honorable mention since that was the game where we officially won the SEC West. And this may sound familiar- but some loudmouth Ole Miss fan got on the field and said something about Jackie's family to his face and Jackie almost killed the guy. Toxic rivalry right?




Next up- hey Dan! Here's how you beat Alabama. From 1996. Never forget the guy that had the parachute accident and delayed the game about 30 minutes.


https://youtu.be/5pGPf-maglE

Honorable mention for 2000 the Jackie Sherrill white towel game and the 1998 game where JJ Johnson went absolutely off on Bama as beat them for the third time in a row. He had over 200+ all purpose yards that day.

Biggest comeback in school history? Auburn 1999 gets the nod. Honorable mention to Auburn 1998 where our special teams dominated including scoring a touchdown on special teams after we got penalized for the Dawg Pound Rock.



Eli isn't the only Manning that Jackie beat. He beat the best one in the game where Peyton took over for Todd Helton.



Vanderbilt 1999 gets the nod from me because that was the now infamous Fred Smoot "I'll let you get a catch if you do my homework" game. 1998 Vanderbilt gets honorable mention because that was when the Dawg Pound Rock first appeared.


For homecoming- MSU vs Tulane 1994. We won 66-22 and Derrick Taite set school passing and total offense records that stood until Dak Prescott came along. Tulane decided to stack the box and never adjusted. At least they stuck to the game plan!


I may get some disagreement here- but to me Florida 1992 was more memorable than Florida 2000. Although both were pretty awesome and both resulted in Steve Spurrier looking like he was about to cry.


It's just too good to not remember though.


https://youtu.be/dKzgfOFoxS0

Jackie never beat Georgia at MSU. He did at Pittsburgh though.

Jackie didn't do very well against LSU either. However, 1999 was pretty memorable. We won the game on the final play when Rod Gibson snuck in under the offensive line and LSU fans for years claimed that we didn't score. Never mind the fact that they went 2-9 that year and it didn't matter or maybe more pertinently- we probably scored on the play before and didn't get the call. (Why are there no highlight videos of this game?)

Kentucky 1999 was the most memorable for me. On a Thursday night- you know how LT loved those during this era because of "exposure" we had a typical 1999 comeback. Joe Lee Dunn vs. Hal Mumme and Mike Leach was pretty intriguing football. It was like clash of the mad scientist football coaches.


Arkansas is easy. 1998. Put us in sole possession of the SEC West. Arkansas fans whined for years about the kick being good. But how about Wayne Madkin? Talk about coming up clutch when you needed to.



South Carolina was average to bad but we had a nice shutout in 1999 in Lou Holtz's first year and then we had 1998 where we beat them 38-0.


Memphis we played and beat a lot. To me the most memorable has to be 1997 after Keefer passed away and we won the game on a 53 yard Brian Hazlewood field goal. 1998 and 1999 were fun games as well for me personally.

As far as the most memorable bowl win- for me it's the 1999 Peach Bowl. I know many will go "Snow Bowl" here but for me I'm staying with the Peach. It's a better bowl than the Independence Bowl number one. But it was also Jackie's first bowl win at MSU and it capped off the best season I have seen in MSU football history. Sorry 2014 but you have to at least beat Ole Miss for the title of best season for me and 1980 almost gets it but the bowl win in 1999 separates it out not to mention the embarrassing loss to USM in 1980.

Hail King Jackie! Hail State!

2014 also lost the Bowl Game so 1999 gets the nod there also. And of course now that the Peach is one of the top bowls, it looks even better in hindsight in today's bowl system.

[gtowndawg]

Loved the Kang. I'm paraphrasing but when he was first hired he said something like "when you walk into work on Monday morning after a football game, you're going to be proud to have a MSU coffee mug in your hand." Something like that.

Also, my Dad and Jim Ellis are close friends. I remember my Dad told me he called Mr. Ellis after the first week of football practice with Jackie. My Dad asked would would be any good. Mr. Ellis said, "We should be ok but Jackie has them thinking they can beat the New York Giants."

[Bodawg]

There's a reason we call him the king. He's the greatest football coach we've ever had. Love the way he got under Tsun's skin by calling them Mississippi.

[shoeless joe]

Believe it was 97 when JJ ram all over bama

[Dolphus Raymond]

Long live The Kang!

[Johnson85]

Jackie def showed MSU people that we didnt have to take shit off of anyone when we needed it most. He gave you something to stick your chest out about and probably the best of all, he made OM people hate his guts.

I dont think Mullen will ever pass him in the eyes of many bc of the way Dan left.

It's not the way he left. He was always a highly compensated employee, never a part of the University. And that's fine. That's most coaches. I don't think Urban has ever been anyhing other than a highly compensated employee and I doubt you'd find many fans of his prior schools complain about it much.

Mullen and the Kang are 1a and 1b in some order as far as best football coaches we've had. Just hard to compare the different eras and the circumstances they inherited and make a conclusive argument one way or the other. But Jackie is going to remain on the pantheon even if we end up having other coaches that are better. Mullen will just be a footnote about another pretty successful employee that helped us get better.

[NCDawg]

Thanks Todd. Jackie will always be the Kang for me! He got us to Atlanta for more than a Peach Bowl and my family and I were there. When Kevin Prentiss ran back the punt, I just knew we were going to be SEC Champs. Hail Jackie! Hail State!

My family and I were there also. Tremendous atmosphere. Wish we could get there again, but it doesn't appear likely, at least not in the foreseeable future.

[Tbonewannabe]

It's not the way he left. He was always a highly compensated employee, never a part of the University. And that's fine. That's most coaches. I don't think Urban has ever been anyhing other than a highly compensated employee and I doubt you'd find many fans of his prior schools complain about it much.

Mullen and the Kang are 1a and 1b in some order as far as best football coaches we've had. Just hard to compare the different eras and the circumstances they inherited and make a conclusive argument one way or the other. But Jackie is going to remain on the pantheon even if we end up having other coaches that are better. Mullen will just be a footnote about another pretty successful employee that helped us get better.

I would agree with this but looking back, Mullen never truly embraced MSU as his home. Through everything that he helped build and what we went through as a team and fans, he never truly felt like he wanted to be here. It just seems in hindsight that he always viewed us as a stepping stone (nothing wrong with that exactly) but his constant job shopping at the end of the year definitely cost us wins and cost him Goodwill from the fans. In modern day football, I would put Jackie as 1 and Mullen as 2 simply because the gap between MSU and the rest of the SEC was closed due to SEC money. Jackie was constantly fighting up hill and had us as the best program over a 4 year period in the West. Mullen stabilized the program but only truly elevated the floor and not the ceiling like Jackie did.

Jackie proved we could go toe to toe with anyone in the country on a given day. Other than a run in 2014 with Dak, Mullen never really proved that. Also the teams we beat in 2014 just ended up being average teams for those schools. You take away the loss to us and they were still 9 win teams with only Auburn finishing the year ranked.

[Johnson85]

I would agree with this but looking back, Mullen never truly embraced MSU as his home. Through everything that he helped build and what we went through as a team and fans, he never truly felt like he wanted to be here. It just seems in hindsight that he always viewed us as a stepping stone (nothing wrong with that exactly) but his constant job shopping at the end of the year definitely cost us wins and cost him Goodwill from the fans. In modern day football, I would put Jackie as 1 and Mullen as 2 simply because the gap between MSU and the rest of the SEC was closed due to SEC money. Jackie was constantly fighting up hill and had us as the best program over a 4 year period in the West. Mullen stabilized the program but only truly elevated the floor and not the ceiling like Jackie did.

Jackie proved we could go toe to toe with anyone in the country on a given day. Other than a run in 2014 with Dak, Mullen never really proved that. Also the teams we beat in 2014 just ended up being average teams for those schools. You take away the loss to us and they were still 9 win teams with only Auburn finishing the year ranked.

This is what I mean by saying he was always a highly compensated employee. It was just a job to him that gave him the opportunity to make a lot of money and further his personal goals. He was an outlier as far as barely even pretending to view MSU as anything other than an arms length employer. But I don't think his attitude was atypical. I think most coaches are the same way. They probably form a little more of an attachment to the people they work with and friends in the area. But I don't think many of them view their place of employment as a special place that really means something to them.

[lastmajordog]

I really loved how he LOVED actually using the TE in big situations.......

[gtowndawg]

Mullen stabilized the program but only truly elevated the floor and not the ceiling like Jackie did.

Dead on, most accurate description I've seen. Mullen raised the floor but Jackie raised the ceiling.

[BB30]

Reggie Kelly was a freak athlete.

[Liverpooldawg]

A lot of truth in this thread, but Mullen was a better coach here. Mullen did what he did here during the Golden Era of SEC football. The West in particular was MUCH better during Mullen's years. The only thing JWS did better was pull upsets. Then again, he had multiple howlers too. Mullen really only had one. The thing that makes Jackie special and my all time favorite MSU coach is he showed us that it could be done here.

[R2Dawg]

Two statues should adorn the entrance to DWS......Jack Cristil and Jackie Sherrill



I think I could go for something; hard not to for those two.

JWS the best and for all the reasons so many posted. He picked MSU off the mat and brought us to respectability the first game against Texas and beyond later in the 90s. Remember the mad dawgs on kickoff. It was awesome. Davis Wade is partly what it is today because of JWS. Without JWS, Mullen never comes here and none of what Mullen did would even be possible. Mullen basically said so himself. JWS proved you could win at MSU.

[gtowndawg]

A lot of truth in this thread, but Mullen was a better coach here. Mullen did what he did here during the Golden Era of SEC football. The West in particular was MUCH better during Mullen's years. The only thing JWS did better was pull upsets. Then again, he had multiple howlers too. Mullen really only had one. The thing that makes Jackie special and my all time favorite MSU coach is he showed us that it could be done here.

That's my thing. Jackie showed us it could be done. Mullen confirmed it.

[99jc]

Jackie coached against shitty Bama teams. I was ready for him to go. JLD saved his ass numerous times.

[Todd4State]

A lot of truth in this thread, but Mullen was a better coach here. Mullen did what he did here during the Golden Era of SEC football. The West in particular was MUCH better during Mullen's years. The only thing JWS did better was pull upsets. Then again, he had multiple howlers too. Mullen really only had one. The thing that makes Jackie special and my all time favorite MSU coach is he showed us that it could be done here.

No he wasn't. Jackie coached in a different era including one where for much of his career wins against I-AA didn't count so we didn't play them and we also only played 11 games compared to 12 for much of his career. If Jackie was able to play I-AA teams he would have had approx. 10 more wins and would have been way ahead of Dan- as it is he is still ahead of Dan anyway in terms of number of wins.


Then you factor in the upsets, the fact that he won a SEC West Title and take everything into account Jackie was clearly better.

[Todd4State]

Jackie coached against shitty Bama teams. I was ready for him to go. JLD saved his ass numerous times.

1996 Alabama who he beat won the SEC West. And early in the 1990's Bama was very good.

That said JLD did save his ass numerous times.

[NCDawg]

1996 Alabama who he beat won the SEC West. And early in the 1990's Bama was very good.

That said JLD did save his ass numerous times.

Especially after his 5th season. We were 1-7 in the SEC and in last place. There were rumors that he was going to be fired, but he was not. The next season he hired JLD and 3 years later we won the SECW and went to Atlanta. He brought in a bunch of really good JC players who were instrumental in helping us win the West.

[lastmajordog]

JWS talked to JLD for a suspiciously long time at midfield after defeating him as the OM head coach. I remember thinking Kang either has a lot of respect for JD or he is setting up hiring him when he gets fired.......my suspicions got confirmed in a fairly short time. Too bad they ended on bad terms.

[Jarius]

No he wasn't. Jackie coached in a different era including one where for much of his career wins against I-AA didn't count so we didn't play them and we also only played 11 games compared to 12 for much of his career. If Jackie was able to play I-AA teams he would have had approx. 10 more wins and would have been way ahead of Dan- as it is he is still ahead of Dan anyway in terms of number of wins.


Then you factor in the upsets, the fact that he won a SEC West Title and take everything into account Jackie was clearly better.

And the fact that about half of Mullen's teams that went to bowl games in this era would not have went back in Jackie's early days. We had a 7-4 (would have been 8-4 if we could have scheduled 1-AA teams back then) team not make a bowl game. Mullen won more than 7 games in the regular season 5 times in 9 years and all but 1 of his teams would have won 7 or less in the regular season if the season was only 11 games because Mullen feasted on teams he should beat in an era where the SEC money pushed us WAY ahead of all non power 5 teams.

[Johnson85]

A lot of truth in this thread, but Mullen was a better coach here. Mullen did what he did here during the Golden Era of SEC football. The West in particular was MUCH better during Mullen's years. The only thing JWS did better was pull upsets. Then again, he had multiple howlers too. Mullen really only had one. The thing that makes Jackie special and my all time favorite MSU coach is he showed us that it could be done here.

Which is why you can't say he did a better job. The same thing that made his job harder when trying to pull the upsets made his job easier when facing OOC opponents. Plus he had the extra FCS game that Jackie didn't. I'd lean towards Mullen myself if I had to name a 1a, but there is no definitive case to be made for either. Just two different eras.

[Commercecomet24]

I would agree with this but looking back, Mullen never truly embraced MSU as his home. Through everything that he helped build and what we went through as a team and fans, he never truly felt like he wanted to be here. It just seems in hindsight that he always viewed us as a stepping stone (nothing wrong with that exactly) but his constant job shopping at the end of the year definitely cost us wins and cost him Goodwill from the fans. In modern day football, I would put Jackie as 1 and Mullen as 2 simply because the gap between MSU and the rest of the SEC was closed due to SEC money. Jackie was constantly fighting up hill and had us as the best program over a 4 year period in the West. Mullen stabilized the program but only truly elevated the floor and not the ceiling like Jackie did.

Jackie proved we could go toe to toe with anyone in the country on a given day. Other than a run in 2014 with Dak, Mullen never really proved that. Also the teams we beat in 2014 just ended up being average teams for those schools. You take away the loss to us and they were still 9 win teams with only Auburn finishing the year ranked.

Very well said. Best description yet of the 2 eras. Rep Given.