Hall of Fame
Position: Coach
Years: 1978-1985, 1986-1992
Place of Birth: Augusta, GA
Date of Birth: August 9, 1941
Place of Death: Garden City Beach, SC
Date of Death: July 6, 2023
Record: 121-52-5 (69.4%)
A national coach of the year at both the FBS and FCS levels, Dick Sheridan won 69.4% of his games during a stellar 15-year run as a head coach. After guiding one of the most successful runs in Furman history, he led a massive turnaround at NC State.
Sheridan began his head-coaching career at Furman from 1978-85, winning 69 games in eight seasons and posting a 74.4 winning percentage that remains the best in school history. During his first season in Greenville, he guided the Paladins to their first-ever conference football championship while earning his first of three Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors. Sheridan's Furman teams would win six SoCon titles in his eight seasons, and they became just the second program in league history to win four in a row (1980-83). After overseeing the Paladins' transition from the FBS to the FCS in 1982, he directed Furman to a first-round playoff appearance that year followed by a 10-2-1 season in 1983 that culminated with a trip to the FCS Semifinals. Sheridan's final year at Furman was his best, as the team won a then-school record 12 games and narrowly lost the FCS National Championship Game.
The 1985 AFCA FCS National and Region II Coach of the Year earned multiple South Carolina Coach of the Year accolades during his career from the S.C. Sportswriters Association, Columbia Touchdown Club and Charleston-Palmetto Touchdown Club. While leading the Paladins, Sheridan coached eight First Team All-Americans, 75 all-conference players and five SoCon Players of the Year, including the league's first three-time selection Stanford Jennings. He also coached two-time Academic All-American and 1985 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Brian Jager, and he served as Furman's athletics director from 1983-85. Sheridan is the first player or coach from Furman to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.
Sheridan's success followed him to NC State where he helped spark a turnaround as the coach from 1986-92. Prior to his arrival, the Wolfpack had posted three consecutive 3-8 seasons. During his first year in Raleigh, Sheridan would be named the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year after leading NC State to an 8-3-1 record, a second-place finish in the conference and a berth in the Peach Bowl. He would guide the Wolfpack to five more bowl games, including wins in the 1988 Peach Bowl and 1990 All-American Bowl, as well as national rankings in 1991 (No. 24) and 1992 (No. 17). Boasting a winning record in all but one of his seven seasons at NC State, he would finish with the second-most wins in school history (52) while coaching four All-Americans and 31 all-conference players.
A native of Augusta, Georgia, Sheridan graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1964. He began his coaching career at the high school level, compiling a 37-8-1 record and leading Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School to a South Carolina state title in 1971. Two years later, Sheridan joined the staff at Furman as an assistant before becoming head coach in 1978. He is a member of the Furman Athletic, South Carolina Athletic and South Carolina Football halls of fame.
