QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION WITH COACH SHERROD
Brad Sherrod steps into a new role in 2016 after being named as the program’s defensive coordinator in February. Sherrod has served his two seasons as co-defensive coordinator/linebacker coach.
Sam Houston has rolled up a 22-9 record, reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs both years, won a Southland Conference championship, defeated nine top 25-ranked opponents and finished ranked among the top four teams in FCS twice in that time span. After the 2014 and 2015 seasons, two Kat defensive players have earned All-America honors and seven have been named as All-Southland Conference selections a total of 11 times.
Sherrod brings more than two decades of experience to Sam Houston State University. Sherrod joined head coach K. C. Keeler’s staff in March 2014 serving as co-defensive coordinator and linebacker coach.
Linebacker Myke Chatman has earned All-Southland Conference honors each of the past two years as the Kat defense has held nine opponents to 20 points or less and totaled 61 quarterback sacks.
After serving one season as defensive coordinator at Elon in 2013, Sherrod reunited with Coach Keeler at Sam Houston. Sherrod was an assistant to Keeler for three years at the University of Delaware. In his first year with the Blue Hens in 2010, the program went 12-3 and advanced to the FCS title game. That year the Delaware defense led the nation in scoring defense (12.1 points per game) and was fifth in total defense (280.7 yards per game).
Sherrod spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons at Western Carolina University where he coached running backs and linebackers. He spent 11 seasons on the staff of his alma mater, Duke University, where he tutored the linebackers for nine years from 1997 to 2005, tight ends in 2006 and running backs in his final two campaigns. He coached three Duke players currently among the school’s career leading tacklers.
Sherrod's coaching career began in 1995 at the University of Massachusetts where he served as a defensive tackle graduate assistant before heading to East Tennessee State University as linebackers coach in 1996. He helped lead ETSU to a No. 8 national ranking, a 10-3 record and the NCAA FCS playoffs second round.
He served two internships in the National Football League, spending the summer of 1998 with the Dallas Cowboys and the 2000 preseason with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sherrod is a 2007 graduate of the NCAA Expert Coaches Academy.
As a player at Duke, Sherrod served as team captain and collected second-team All-ACC honors as a senior in 1993 when he led the team, and ranked fifth in the league, with 113 total tackles. The native of Monroe, N.C., tallied 279 career tackles, including 26 tackles for loss, in 47 games between 1989 and 93. Sherrod played in three games before red-shirting in Duke's 1989 ACC championship season.
Sherrod earned his bachelor's degree in history from Duke in 1993. As a high school standout at Monroe High, Sherrod was a two-time all-state and honorable mention All-America selection.
Sherrod and his wife, Monique, have a son, Elijah, and a daughter, Angelena.
