COLLEGE STATION – Mike Sherman told Texas A&M goodbye on Friday, and indications are his boss might not be far behind.

"Do I feel I deserve to be terminated? No, I don't," Sherman said in a press conference the day following his firing. "This program is headed in the right direction. But I understand we live in a society where it's easier to change than to fix."

Meanwhile an A&M insider said Friday that based on recent turmoil in the athletic department and a growing divide between the athletic department and university administration, that longtime athletic director Bill Byrne also will be dismissed or perhaps resign, possibly within the month.

Byrne's right-hand man, senior associate athletic director Jeff Toole, was discovered this past week sending what he thought were anonymous posts on an Internet message board ridiculing university president R. Bowen Loftin – dubbing him a "putz," "hopelessly underachieving puppet" and "idiot" – while at the same time praising Sherman's 25-25 tenure.

Loftin was responsible for A&M's recent move the Southeastern Conference starting in July 2012, and ultimately for dismissing Sherman, who on Friday profusely thanked Byrne for his support.

"I'm proud to be associated with our athletic director, Bill Byrne, he's a professional in everything he does," Sherman said. "When he needed to kick me in the butt, he did, and when he needed to encourage me, he did that, too. He's been a mentor to me and very supportive over these last four years, and I can't thank him enough."

Sherman, in also thanking a host of folks, mentioned Toole, A&M athletics' chief financial officer hired in 2009 to straighten out a fiscally-strained department that's in the process of repaying a $16 million loan to the university.

"He really put our program headed in the right direction financially," Sherman said.

Byrne, whose contract is up in 2013, played a minimal role in the Aggies' SEC entrance, and steadfastly supported Sherman all the way up until the coach's firing by Loftin on Thursday night. Sherman said he found out he'd been fired while pulling up to a recruit's driveway in Houston on Thursday in fielding a cell phone call from Byrne.

"It was disappointing, because my family found out before I did, because it was released (through a media leak) sooner than I was told," Sherman said. "That's disappointing, because I think we're better than that."

Byrne was out of town Friday and didn't attend Sherman's farewell press conference. Meanwhile a search is on for Sherman's replacement, and Houston coach Kevin Sumlin appears to top the Aggies' wish list, while Louisville coach Charlie Strong also is earning a long look from university brass, according to an A&M insider. Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter will serve as interim coach in the Aggies' bowl, according to a program insider, likely either in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Reliant Stadium or the Pinstripe Bowl in New York.

Senior safety Trent Hunter of Katy said Sherman will be missed this last month of the season.

"We look to him as a father figure," Hunter said. "He really taught us core values I'll take with me the rest of my life. There's not much more you can ask for in a man than what coach Sherman brings to the table."

How much money the school brings to the table for Sherman's exit fees is another question, although an A&M official on Friday assured the two sides will sit down and hash out an agreement. The university announced a raise and one-year extension for Sherman over the summer, and Sherman said Friday he signed the new agreement in September. Loftin spokesman Jason Cook said after the document traded hands between attorneys, it didn't actually land on Loftin's desk until late October.

Loftin then never signed the new deal, and A&M is contending it will pay Sherman the remainder of his original contract: three years at $1.8 million annually.

"I'm not going to get into my contract, but I signed a five-year contract in September," Sherman said. "I never asked for (a raise and extension), it was brought to me. I never talked numbers, whatever they gave me I just signed."

The Aggies entered their most anticipated season in more than a decade with 18 returning starters from a 9-4 squad, and rose to seventh in the rankings before blowing five large leads en route to a 6-6 finish to the regular season. Sherman said today's technologically-drenched, fast-paced society hastened his removal.

"When you think about fathers abandoning their families and husbands and wives getting divorced – it's a lot easier to do that than to fix things, and honor commitments, and get things right," Sherman said. "We live in a society today that is motivated by anonymous people who write faceless texts and twitters, and it gets things stirred up. There's no accountability to that type of society, and there's an immediacy that they request.

"It's very important that when people make decisions, they make them based on facts and analysis and insight. What's real, not what's false. Sometimes that gets skewed up a little bit. I hope the next coach appreciates the opportunity that he's going to get with this group of young men. And I'll help him in any way I can, because I want to see A&M be successful."

Sherman, a former Green Bay Packers head coach and general manager, said returning to the NFL is a "strong possibility."

brent.zwerneman@chron.com

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