Sherman Smith (born November 1, 1954) is a former professional
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
who played eight seasons for the
Seattle Seahawks and
San Diego Chargers between 1976 and 1983. He was also the
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
s coach for the Seahawks, as well as the former
offensive coordinator for the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
. After his playing days were over, he embarked upon a second career as a football coach, starting in high school, then college, and finally back in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) with the Houston Oilers /
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...
, the Redskins, and the Seahawks.
Early years
Smith played
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
of the
North High School football team in his native
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
. After graduation, he attended
Miami University
Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...
in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, playing the same position and leading the Redhawks to the
Mid-American Conference
The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...
title in each of his last three seasons, with a stellar record of 33-1-1.
He is a cousin of former NFL tight end
Mike Cobb
Michael Cobb (born December 20, 1955) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League (NFL).
Cobb played football for Michigan State University. He was selected in the first round (22nd overall) by the Cincinnati Benga ...
, whose playing career at Michigan State overlapped with Smith's at Miami. Their respective teams faced each other in the 1975 season, with Michigan State winning 14-13 which was Miami's only regular season loss that year.
Professional playing career
Smith was drafted in the second round of the
1976 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks as a
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
. As a Seahawk, Smith was called "The Tank" in reference to the
Sherman Tank
}
The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...
because of his performance to run through tackles. He was the first offensive player picked by the new
expansion team
An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...
in its first season. He was the first Seahawk to rush for over 100 yards in a game when he ran for 124 yards against the Atlanta Falcons on November 7, 1976. Smith led the team in rushing in his first four seasons, eventually amassing 3,429 yards and 28 touchdowns in his seven years with the team. He also caught the ball 210 times for a total of 2,445 yards and 10 touchdowns. He played sparingly for the San Diego Chargers in the 1983 season.
Coaching career
The following year, Smith began teaching and coaching at Redmond Junior High School, then at
Redmond High School in the state of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. He became the running back coach at Miami University, his alma mater, in 1990. Between 1992 and 1994, he worked as the
tight end
The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...
and running back coach at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
. In 1995, Smith joined the staff of the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) as running back coach, where he helped mold
Eddie George
Edward Nathan George Jr. (born September 24, 1973) is an American football coach and former player who is the current head coach at Tennessee State. He played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily f ...
into one of the league's elite running backs. The organization promoted Smith in 2006, giving him the title of assistant head coach in addition to his continuing duties as running back coach.
In 2008, Smith left the Titans to join the
Washington Redskins
The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...
as offensive coordinator, reuniting with his former Seahawks teammate,
Jim Zorn
James Arthur Zorn (born May 10, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. Zorn was a left-handed quarterback, and is best known as the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks for their first eight seasons. He was the quarterback ...
, who had been named head coach of the Redskins.
After the 2009 season, Zorn was fired and
Mike Shanahan
Michael Edward Shanahan (born August 24, 1952) is a former American football coach, best known as the head coach of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2008. During his fourteen seasons with the Broncos, he le ...
was named as the new head coach in Washington. Smith was not retained on staff by Shanahan. Shortly thereafter Smith was reunited with his former team, the Seattle Seahawks, when hired as a position coach (running backs). He won his first Super Bowl title when the Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos in
Super Bowl XLVIII
Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...
.
As of February 17, 2017 Smith was no longer with the Seattle Seahawks due to a change to the position made by the head coach
Pete Carroll
Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...
.
Personal life
Smith's children are Shavonne, Sherman and Deland. Deland is the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
running backs coach
Deland McCullough
Deland McCullough (born Jon Briggs on December 1, 1972) is a former American and Canadian football running back in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He is currently the running backs coach at the University ...
. The two had known each other since Smith was recruiting McCullough to the RedHawks when the latter was 17, but only learned they were related in 2017,
as depicted in the
Kendrick Brothers
Kendrick Brothers is an American Evangelical Christian film production company in Albany, Georgia, United States.
History
Kendrick Brothers was founded in 2013 in Albany, Georgia by Alex Kendrick, Stephen Kendrick and Shannon Kendrick, filmm ...
2021 film ''
Show Me the Father
''Show Me the Father'' is a 2021 American Christian documentary film by director Rick Altizer, presenting five fatherhood-related stories connected with commentary by Tony Evans, produced by Mark Miller and executive produced by the Kendrick bro ...
''. His brother was former
CFL
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
All-Star
Darrell K. Smith
Darrell Karland Smith (November 5, 1961 – February 13, 2017) was a wide receiver in the Canadian Football League for the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Eskimos. He played college football at Central State University.
Early years
Smith attende ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sherman
1954 births
Living people
Players of American football from Youngstown, Ohio
American football running backs
Miami RedHawks football players
Seattle Seahawks players
San Diego Chargers players
Washington Redskins coaches
Seattle Seahawks coaches
Houston Oilers coaches
Tennessee Titans coaches
High school football coaches in Washington (state)
Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches