Being able to decide for himself that this will be his final season as University of Delaware baseball coach makes for “a good ending,” Jim Sherman said Saturday afternoon.
UD had just announced that Sherman will retire at the end of what will be his 22nd season as head coach this spring.
Taking a break from practice inside the Delaware Field House Saturday, Sherman said Delaware has the improved pitching and depth for a successful season that would truly comprise a happy ending.
The Blue Hens open the 2022 season at Stetson on Feb. 18. Delaware plans to honor Sherman during a homestand against Elon May 6-8.
“In this business,” Sherman said, “sometimes the endings don’t go as good. People get fired left and right.
“I’ve had a great run and, personally, I wish that I had brought home more conference championships. But I think the pieces are right finally.”
As an example, Sherman mentioned that the pitching coach is now a full-time position at Delaware manned by Jad Prachniak, also the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Prachniak left West Chester, where as head coach from 2011-19 he guided the Golden Rams to a pair of NCAA Division II titles and a 273-127-1 record, and will certainly be a strong candidate to succeed Sherman.
Sherman, who’ll turn 62 before the start of the season, said after the COVID-19 pandemic stopped the 2020 season after 15 games and forced an abbreviated schedule with less travel in 2021 he just wanted one more year of normalcy before retiring.
“It’s two years of all that,” he said, “and it’s, like, I just want one more year of a regular season and call it a career. Age 62 is good enough in this business, at least for me it is, and give somebody else a chance to take over this program and lead it into the future.”
Sherman will continue to work in the athletic department when done coaching, helping with fund-raising and other projects.
“It is difficult for me to put into words what coach Sherman has meant to Delaware and Delaware baseball,” athletic director said Chrissi Rawak said in the UD announcement.
“Since day one, it was clear how much he cared about this program and our student-athlete’s experience and that has never wavered. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with coach Sherm and I am excited to be able to cheer him and this team on during his final season of coaching.”
A New Castle native out of William Penn High and a former Blue Hens slugger, Sherman has been UD head coach since 2001. His teams are 581-506 overall and 250-246 in conference play. Only six of his teams have had losing records.
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Sherman has long been lauded for the strong Delaware representation he has had on his roster, with 23 of the 40 players on the 2022 squad from First State high schools. Forty-one of his former players have played professionally, including recent Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Chad Kuhl, who is presently a free agent.
Sherman was an assistant and then associate head coach from 1995-2000 at Delaware under Bob Hannah, whom he succeeded. Hannah was Delaware’s coach from 1965-2000 and won 1,053 games en route to induction to the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Hannah succeeded Tubby Raymond, the legendary football coach from 1966-2001 who was UD baseball coach from 1956-64, meaning Delaware has had just three baseball coaches over the past 66 springs.
Before joining Hannah, Sherman was head coach at what was then Wilmington College, which he steered to a 218-128 record from 1987-94. Before their move to NCAA Division II, Sherman guided the Wildcats to a pair of NAIA World Series berths. He was also Wilmington’s athletic director. Counting his years at Wilmington, Sherman’s overall head coaching record is 799-634.
Sherman’s first UD team won the 2001 America East title and reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year while tying the school record with 45 wins. But Delaware moved up to the significantly more competitive Colonial Athletic Association the following season.
In the CAA standings, Delaware shared one regular-season title (2007) and placed third twice (20012 and 2013). The Hens reached the championship round of the CAA Tournament before losing in 2004, 2007 and 2012.
They then beat UNC-Wilmington 10-3 on the Seahawks’ home field to take the 2017 title and earn the school’s 18th NCAA baseball berth but first in 16 years. At the NCAA Tournament at Texas Tech, Delaware lost competitive games to the host Red Raiders and Arizona to finish 34-23.
Delaware has not qualified for the CAA Tournament since 2018, though no such event was held in 2020 when the season ended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Delaware went 12-22 overall last year with an 8-16 CAA mark.
Sherman was inducted into the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the UD Athletics Hall of Fame a year later. He was first-team All-State at William Penn in 1977 and 1978.
As a Blue Hens outfielder, Sherman batted .347, smacked 46 home runs (still No. 3 all-time at UD) and drove in 227 runs (No. 2 all-time) from 1979-82. He was a 14th-round draft choice of the Houston Astros and reached the Triple-A level, batting .267 in six minor-league seasons, before coming home to be a coach.
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