Indiana Offensive Coordinator Nick Sheridan is Cherishing Family Time While Prepping for 2020
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Nick Sheridan is enjoying his time with his young son while also prepping for a new role Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
In a world of normalcy, college football coaches would be pouring over spring practice film while also hitting the road for the spring evaluation period on the recruiting calendar. However, this is not a normal time and instead coaches have exhausted the tape from Indiana’s four spring practices and have instead gone back to look at the schemes they run. Nick Sheridan, Indiana’s new offensive coordinator, has found the silver lining in all of this and it is spending time with his young son Beau and wife Sarah.
“If you're asking me if I've enjoyed the extra time with my wife and my son, I would say without any hesitation, yes” Sheridan said during a teleconference on Wednesday morning. If you have not seen him, Beau Sheridan has been a fixture on his father’s twitter page during this time of social distancing whether it has been working on his offensive lineman technique while pushing his stroller, practicing his swing to beat the shift and work on his class of 2036 recruiting tape or showing off his dunks with dad.
The elder Sheridan joked yesterday that his Beau “is probably going to be a left-handed hitter. We've been getting some extra batting practice in off the tee. His jump shot is not very good, but we are working on that.” He even sent a little film over to Indiana baseball coach Jeff Mercer showing what Beau can do hitting off a tee. He does have the ability to put the ball wherever he wants.
It’s not all play and no work however. Sheridan will be taking over the reins for an offense that was rejuvenated by Kalen DeBoer, who took over the head coaching position at Fresno State and there is work to be done.
“From a work standpoint we've still been going 100 miles per hour and there's an urgency to improve and adapt to this situation and recruit. It certainly hasn't felt like time off without a doubt. We've been working very hard and diligently. Obviously, we're on the phone more than you normally would be, not just with our players but recruits, families. We've been working efficiently and diligently” Sheridan said on the teleconference.
This week would have been the final week of spring practice with the spring game on Friday and while the Hoosiers were only able to get four practices in, Sheridan believes they have been able to be productive during this time despite the hurdles of distance and social isolation.
“We feel like we've still been able to be productive,” Sheridan explained. “We feel like we've still been able to teach and implement some things. There's no substitution for reps. Obviously, that piece is missing, but as far as the teaching standpoint and being able to communicate regularly and efficiently with the players, I think it's been pretty effective. I think we've done a good job of that and whenever that time comes that they come back, then we'll maximize that time as well. I think because of the technology with Zoom and FaceTime and being able to share your screen and video, it's been very productive.”
Indiana head coach Tom Allen has instilled a family culture at IU and that does not stop with the players. “We've talked about that as a staff. I don't think we'll ever get this amount of consecutive days to be able to be around our families. I've tried to soak that up as much as possible” Sheridan said.
While there is always work to be done, in order to get through tough times people must the victories in every day. Those victories could be having lunch with your family, having extra time to do the projects that you have been putting off, learning a new skill or losing yourself in a good book. For a profession that has seen a lot of burn out recently, coaches being able to do things with their families is a big silver lining, even if they’re still working as hard as possible to get ready for a 2020 football season.
“I think all of the coaches would say that they've enjoyed seeing their children and their families more” Sheridan said, and he’s right.