I think we have to takea historical perspective on Sherman/Rossley. Under their tenure, the y have had some very talented teams from a personnel standpoint...particularly offense. Damn near every year under their "leadership", this offense and the entire team have come out slow and flat and have given away at least 2 games per year to terribly inferior competition. Clock and game situation management have always been suspect, and cronyism (Novak, Slowik, Rossley) rampant.
Now, some of you will argue that the defense has been suspect during the entire tenure..I do not agree they have been all that bad...middle of the road, for the most part. But, for arguement's sake, let's say the defense has been consistently poor under MS and the offense obviously potent. Given this knowledge, why has not MS/TR uncorked the mighty offense to put up mind boggling points each week to compensate for the supposedly porous defense he fielded? With this knowledge, MS has run a pretty pedestrian offense, given the talent he has on that side of the ball. And we can always count of his pulling the reins in even further on the offense when his team accumulates a lead...allowing some teams to mount unthinkable comebacks and losing a few along the way.
I know MS is a good and decent man, and when his and the team's back is against the wall, they respond the his leadership. But what type of leadership is it?
MS and his teams perform when brought to the brink of collapse, but he is the one who leads them to the brink. He does not seem to be able to lead from the front and start the season in a manner that puts his team in that position. Personally, I think his leadership is more "rally the troops" than "take it too the opposition".
In case nobody has noticed, the league has changed the rules to benefit offense and aggressive play in recent years. For the most part, the league has gotten more aggressive on both sides of the ball...and he has ALWAYS possessed the talent on offense to do so better than most teams...and yet he hasn't.
I think MS is inherently methodical and conservative, and past history indicates he is a micro-manager who spreads himself too thin. I think he has much more ego than his "aw shucks"veneer would suggest, and that ego does not allow for change from what he thinks is right and proper.
Bottom line, he will probably be here next year, and should be if #4 decides to return as Brett is not in a position to learn a new offense at this point of his career. Only way Brett stays without MS is if the next coach retains current playbook until #4 retires, and then has liberty to blow up the playbook when Brett is gone. But TT should can TR as a matter of course!