Central Methodist University didn’t have to look far for its next athletics director. He’s actually been on the Central campus 37 years. And he’s quite familiar with the product.
All Jeff Sherman '83 ever wanted to do was coach college basketball. And he’s done is exceptionally well for nearly four decades. So one might think it would be bittersweet to step off the basketball floor and into the office to run a large athletics department. But not for Sherman. He’s overjoyed.
That’s because his son, Matt Sherman '10, will step into his father’s footsteps as head coach.
“It was the icing on the cake for me,” Sherman said. “But as for the athletics director position, I am honored. We have the best coaching staff in the nation. I’m excited to see where we go in the future.”
Sherman said his move to the A.D. position was an “opportunity allowing me to continue my passion of athletics on a higher level.”
His personal vision for athletics is simple: “to develop lifelong leaders of character through academic and athletic excellence.”
Sherman is the longest tenured and winningest coach in CMU history, and was the 5th winningest active coach in the NAIA. He was Heart of America Conference Coach of the Year eight times, and had thirteen 20-win seasons, and one 30-win season with six national tournament appearances. His teams finished in the Sweet 16 three different times, and he finished with 668 coaching victories at Central.
He is a member of two Hall of Fame classes, and likely there are more are ahead. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mo. in 2009, and in 2012 he joined Central’s Hall of Fame. Yet again, his greatest hall of fame moment wasn’t about himself.
“My greatest Hall of Fame moment was watching my son, Matt, inducted into CMU’s Hairston Hall of Fame in 2015,” he said.
In addition to Matt, more than 75 of Jeff Sherman’s former players have gone on to coach.
Sherman and his wife, Julee, vice president for finance and administration at CMU, continue to reside in Fayette. They have one son in addition to Matt – Ryan Sherman '13. Matt and his wife, Stasia, live in Fayette and have a son and a daughter, and Ryan and his wife, Nicole '13, live in Glasgow and have two sons.