Bill Sheridan


William "Bill" Sheridan is an American football coach who is currently the defensive line coach for the Air Force Academy Falcons of the Mountain West Conference. Sheridan was previously the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League. He was also a coach for a number of college teams, including Notre Dame, Army, and Michigan State. From 2005 to 2008 he was the linebackers coach for the NFL's New York Giants. In 2009, he was the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. He had stints with the Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions before returning to NCAA football at Boston College in 2018. After two years there, he was hired by Air Force Academy to be their new Defensive Line coach beginning in 2020.

Personal life

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Sheridan earned four letters as a linebacker at Grand Valley State University. He graduated from De La Salle Collegiate High School in Detroit.
Sheridan and his wife, Jaycine, have four children: Joe, Nick, Mark and Natalie. Nick was a quarterback at the University of Michigan from 2008–2009, and is currently the offensive coordinator for Indiana University. His son, Mark, is the Defensive Coordinator for his alma mater, Albion College.

Coaching career

Sheridan's coaching career began in 1981 in Shrine High School in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he was the football coach until 1984. In 1987, he moved to the college level and became the linebacker coach for Maine, followed by Cincinnati and Army. In 1996, he shifted to defensive line coach at West Point. He had been on Lloyd Carr's staff at the University of Michigan the previous three years before his stint with the Giants, serving as both the linebackers coach and then as coach of the defensive line.
Prior to being the defensive coordinator he was the Giants linebackers coach. Sheridan replaced Steve Spagnuolo after he left to take the head coaching position with the St. Louis Rams. Sheridan had been the linebackers coach for the Giants for the previous four seasons after his hiring in 2005. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin promoted Sheridan over secondary coach Peter Giunta. He was fired on January 4, 2010, after the Giants defense slipped as the team dropped 8 of their last 11 games and allowed 40 points on five different occasions, a franchise record.
On January 19, 2010, Sheridan was hired by the Miami Dolphins to coach their inside linebackers.
On February 17, 2012, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Sheridan as their defensive coordinator. He was relieved of his duties on January 2, 2014.
On January 1, 2014, Sheridan agreed to become the linebackers coach for the Detroit Lions.
In June, 2016, Sheridan was named to Sports Illustrated's Dream Coaching Team for the NFL for Linebackers.
In 2018, Sheridan became a coach for the Boston College Eagles, beginning as a defensive backs coach and ending as their Defensive Coordinator.
In 2020, Sheridan was named defensive line coach for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.