Zac Taylor is widely regarded across NFL circles as a brilliant offensive mind. He’s turned the Cincinnati Bengals into the 2021 season AFC champion and an annual playoff contender through his coaching.
Turns out he’s not the only one who was surrounded by offensive schemes in his household. Even his wife happens to have ties to the league.
Details on Sarah Sherman, Zac Taylor’s Wife
The now sixth-year head coach is married to Sarah Sherman, who he wedded in 2008. And if the surname rings a bell, Sherman is the daughter of former NFL head coach Mike Sherman.
Taylor’s father-in-law is considered one of the more renowned offensive minds during the era of the 2000s. Mike went from an offensive line coach at the college level from 1983-96 to the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator in 1999 under then-head coach Mike Holmgren.
Then in 2000, the Green Bay Packers named Mike Sherman their head coach. He was also handed the general manager reins of the franchise in 2001. He went on to lead the Packers to a 57-39 overall record while coaching future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre.
Mike unfortunately was fired following the 4-12 campaign in 2005, which also came when he agreed to a contract extension earlier in that same season. Mike eventually returned to the college football realm by taking over Texas A&M in 2008. He compiled a 25-25 record but went 0-2 in bowl games. His final season in College Station, Texas, was in 2011.
When Did Taylor Meet Sherman?
We have to go back to the tail end of Taylor’s collegiate quarterback years when he met the daughter of the former NFL and CFB head coach.
In a 2018 interview with Sports Illustrated, Taylor described meeting Sarah at Nebraska — who was a graduate assistant working in the Cornhuskers’ media relations department. He even recalled her work attire when he first met her.
“I remember the first time I saw her,” he told SI reporter Andy Benoit. “We were practicing on our soccer field at Nebraska. When practice ended, there was a girl in a yellow dress. She looked so much more mature; I figured she was probably 30 years old. I’m only 22. As the year went by, I learned we were the same age. I would run into her more often and I realized maybe I had a chance.”
Their meeting also occurred during a time the grad assistant’s father was still in the NFL.
Mike joined the Houston Texans staff ahead of the 2006 season. He spent one more year with the franchise in 2007 before he dove back into head coaching. But Taylor described one moment where he felt “intimidated” by Mike’s presence.
“The first time I met him, he was upstairs in his house. He has his XOS coaches film set up there. I was as intimidated as can be,” Taylor shared. “I figured, I can impress him by watching film with him. He runs a basic play back and forth and says something like, ‘What’s your landmark at Nebraska on this play?’”
Taylor’s response was: “I say, ‘Oh, same as you [at Green Bay and Houston], the inside edge of the field numbers.’ I felt a panic at that point. And he says, ‘But aren’t your field numbers a little wider in college?’ At that moment I realized I had no idea what I was talking about. I didn’t say another word for 20 minutes. That was our first real conversation. He was throwing me a bone on something simple about football and I failed.”
However, it turned out Taylor impressed Mike enough to hire him as a young graduate assistant in 2008 at Texas A&M. Taylor remained on the staff until Mike’s firing in 2011. Taylor pivoted back to the NFL by serving as quarterbacks coach and briefly as offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins from 2012 to 2015.
He made a quick stop back to the college game by serving as offensive coordinator for the University of Cincinnati in 2016. But when Sean McVay accepted the Los Angeles Rams head coaching job in 2017, Taylor was one of his first hires. Taylor served as assistant wide receivers coach then QB coach under McVay. He went on to become the Bengals’ head coach on Feb. 4, 2019.
Now, Taylor and Sarah share four kids together, two boys and two girls. She’s been by his side as Taylor has compiled a 37-46-1 overall record — a tenure that’s witnessed two AFC Championship appearances and one Lamar Hunt trophy.