Catchin' up with TexAgs Radio's first guest: Former A&M coach Jackie Sherrill

Key notes from Jackie Sherrill interview

• You don't survive at Texas A&M unless you fit Texas A&M's culture. A coach will not win and won't survive here if they don't adapt, enhance and use Texas A&M's culture. I was lucky. The students grabbed me and brought me in.
   
• When we went to the Cotton Bowl in 1985, they put the student tickets on sale. The students started camping out on Friday night, and there were tents out in front of G. Rollie White. I took them donuts and spent time with them, playing cards and such. What really impressed me was that tickets went on sale at 8:00 a.m., but at 9:00 a.m., you couldn't tell anybody had been there. The people, the tents and the trash were all gone. That would not happen at other universities.
   
• Jimbo Fisher is a great fit. He's also an outstanding member of Texas A&M. He is as solid as a rock, and what he says is what it is. He is moving up the ladder as far as putting Texas A&M in position. Everybody is afraid of A&M. Even Nick Saban said he feared A&M more and any other opponent this year. There are so many tools here, and whenever you can use all of those tools, you have a chance to get on top of that mountain.
   
• It all depends on who is taking the snaps and how well he plays. If you look at this team, there are tools at every position. The offensive line could be a little deeper, and I think the kids they recruited will give them depth. They have talent. It's just a matter of putting it all together on that one day against Alabama. Certainly, we're all hoping that will happen this year.
   
• Everybody asks me who the best player I coached was. I would respond with: What position? How do you compare a tight end to a running back? Which player is going to be the most valuable and most productive? It's hard to say that Isaiah Spiller is not the most productive with what he does on all of his touches. It's going to be hard to pick the best and most valuable guy on this team. When you can't name the most valuable player, that's when you know you've got some players.
   
• Some teams will have distinct advantages in today's college football. When you look at Arkansas, you have Walmart, Tyson and other big companies that have already said they will allocate money for name, image, likeness needs at Arkansas. That gives them somewhat of an advantage over other schools. Universities understand this and will each put a program into effect.
   
• Let me say something about the transfer portal because everybody is concerned about the portal. If a kid doesn't want to be at Texas A&M, let him go. It's very simple. There's a reason he doesn't want to be there, and 99 percent of the time, it's deeper than not getting snaps, even though that's used as an excuse.
   
• There is no place like Texas A&M. When you look back, it used to be 5,000 students and then jumped to 40,000 students. It won't be long until there are 80,000 students here. Things have changed. Texas A&M has surpassed Texas, and they're not looking back.
   
• At the end of the 1983 Texas game, the Longhorns were chanting. I turned to Billy Pickard and asked what they were chanting, and Billy told me they were chanting "Poor Aggies." I told Billy that they'd never do that again.