Dick Sheridan, who led NC State, Furman football teams to success, has died. He was 81

Few coaches have ever had their teams better organized or better prepared than Dick Sheridan’s football teams at N.C. State.

Sheridan, who died Thursday at 81, built the Wolfpack into ACC contenders during his seven seasons at NCSU from 1986 to 1992. The Pack did not win an ACC title but Sheridan developed one of the conference’s strongest, most solid programs, spurning offers from such schools as Georgia and LSU during his tenure to stay in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack played with a certain precision under Sheridan, who was something of a perfectionist in all phases of his program, even in demanding chairs were properly aligned in neat rows for team meetings. His teams at N.C. State did not have the players’ names on the back of their jerseys, in keeping with his team-first priority. The helmets had a distinctive diamond-shaped logo.

Former ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan once said of the Pack under Sheridan: “N.C. State plays as hard and well as any team I’ve seen.”

Sheridan resigned suddenly from N.C State in June 1993, primarily because of health reasons. He returned to South Carolina, and to the surprise of many of his peers, never coached again.

“I have great respect for Coach Sheridan and am saddened to hear this news,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said Thursday in a statement. “He did so much to build the football program at N.C. State and impacted many players, coaches and staff during his time as coach. I enjoyed getting to know him during my time here.”

Sheridan, after a highly successful eight-year run as head coach at Furman, was hired at N.C. State in 1986 to replace Tom Reed, who had recruited well but could not translate that into wins. The Pack, 3-8 in 1985, was 8-3-1 in Sheridan’s first season, finished second in the ACC and earned a berth in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

Sheridan was named ACC coach of the year and also received the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year award that season.

When Sheridan left in 1993, he had won 52 games, the second-highest total in school history, and had taken the Pack to bowls in six of his seven seasons. The Wolfpack, 52-29-3 overall under Sheridan, defeated its biggest rival, North Carolina, six times, including the last five seasons.

In his final season, the Pack finished No. 17 in the AP poll after a loss to Florida in the Gator Bowl.

Sheridan, a graduate of South Carolina, was named to the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame in 2020, recognized for his 121-52-5 overall record. His Furman teams won six Southern Conference titles in his eight seasons and posted a 69-23-2 record that included wins over N.C. State in Raleigh in 1984 and 1985.

Sheridan was invited back by Doeren for a football game in 2016 and was able to reunite with many of his former players. During an interview that fall at Carter-Finley Stadium, he conceded he missed coaching.

“I think when August comes and the fall comes, anyone who has ever coached gets the itch,” he said.

Asked what he missed most about coaching, Sheridan did not mention big wins or bowls.

“It mostly has to do with people,” he said.

Sheridan is survived by wife Brenda; sons, Jon and Bobby, and five grandchildren.