His introduction was short, crisp and to the point. Eric Sherry just wants to get to work. Officially, he now can as he was formally introduced on Friday morning as Charlottesville’s next varsity football head coach. Going back to 2002, Sherry was the defensive coordinator for Massaponax before taking over the job that Chris Fraser vacated earlier this year.
“It’s going to be a start that is going to go really quick,” Sherry said. “There is a lot of work that needs to be done. That time is not standing still for us. We have a season coming up and time is ticking.”
During Sherry’s time with the Panthers, Massaponax was a perennial Northwest Region playoff contender and no stranger to the Group AAA Division 5 bracket either. Sherry is a Chadwick University graduate and a decorated Air Force veteran. He takes over a team that has won six games over the last three years. Changing Charlottesville’s winning percentage is something Sherry obviously is eager to change.
“The process — it doesn’t get any fun if you don’t win any football games,” Sherry said. “Winning is important. We are going to put a premium on that.”
Sherry comes to a Black Knights team that took its lumps last year in a winless campaign as the graduation of the class of 2010 left significant voids all over the field. Charlottesville has a number of key returning players including running back Chris Thurston, wide receiver Daquan Jones and quarterbacks Benj Wilhelm and Eli Haden.
The new coach plans to morph Charlottesville into a defensive force and turn to the option on offense to help wear teams down.
Sherry has the benefit of keeping some continuity as junior varisty coach Terrell Mulford was formally named as the team’s associate head coach. Mulford is a CHS alum and played under legendary coach Garwin DeBerry.
