Football
- Title:
- Defensive Line Coach | 26th season
One of the more popular players to ever don the TCU uniform, Dan Sharp is in his 21st year during his second stint as a member of the football staff at his alma mater.
A 2005 inductee into the TCU Lettermen’s Association Hall of Fame, Sharp returned to the Horned Frogs’ staff in 2001. He previously coached nine seasons (1989-97) at TCU before heading to Tulsa in 1998.
Sharp was named defensive line coach in 2015 after serving as director of player personnel for special teams in 2014.
In 2020, Sharp coached Khari Coleman into Freshman All-America and Co-Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year honors with Ochaun Mathis earning second-team All-Big 12 recognition. Coleman led TCU while ranking second in the Big 12 and seventh nationally with 15.0 tackles for loss, a total that topped all freshmen in the country. Mathis was first in the Big 12 and 12th nationally with 0.9 sacks per game. His team-best 9.0 sacks were the most by a Horned Frog since Mat Boesen had 11.5 in 2017.
The 2018 season saw Sharp mentor L.J. Collier and Ben Banogu into first- and second-round NFL draft picks of the Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts, respectively. They were both first-team All-Big 12.
In 2017, Banogu and Boesen were recognized with multiple postseason honors. They were first-team All-Big 12 with Boesen being named a first-team All-American. He was a free-agent signee with the Buffalo Bills. Banogu was the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year.
In 2015, Sharp coached defensive end Josh Carraway and defensive tackle Davion Pierson to first-team All-Big 12 recognition. Carraway led the Horned Frogs with nine sacks.
Carraway repeated as a first-team All-Big 12 selection in 2016 and became a seventh-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans.As special teams coordinator, Sharp guided true freshmen Jaden Oberkrom and Ethan Perry to Freshman All-America honors in 2012.
Oberkrom was also a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award, presented to the nation’s top placekicker. Perry’s 44.5-yard average ranked 14th nationally and second for a single season in TCU history.
Oberkrom was an honorable-mention All-Big 12 selection in 2013. In his first two seasons at TCU, he had two of the four-longest field goals in school history while tying a Horned Frogs’ mark with 79 consecutive extra-points made.
TCU returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in 2013, making it six out of seven seasons that the Horned Frogs had at least one return for a score.
In 2011, TCU was second in the nation in kickoff return average with a 28.2-yard mark. The Horned Frogs returned three kickoffs for touchdowns with Greg McCoy receiving first-team All-America accolades and being the Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year.
TCU had the first-team All-MW return specialist all seven seasons it was in the league (McCoy, 2011; Jeremy Kerley, 2008-10; Brian Bonner, 2006-07; Cory Rodgers, 2005).
Under Sharp’s tutelage in 2010, Kerley received All-America honors and was one of three finalists for the Paul Hornung Award. He was also a 2011 fifth-round draft pick of the New York Jets.
TCU topped the nation in 2009 in kickoff return average with a 29.2-yard mark. The Horned Frogs had three special teams touchdowns. Kerley returned two punts for scores and received All-America honors as a return specialist, while McCoy returned a kickoff 81 yards for a touchdown en route to setting a single-season TCU record with a 35.9-yard average.
Sharp coached placekicker Ross Evans (2008-11) for four seasons and saw him set eight TCU records and three MW marks. Chris Manfredini was 47-of-54 on field goals in being an All-MW selection the previous three seasons (2005-07).
Placekicker Nick Browne and punter Joey Biasatti were semifinalists for the Lou Groza and Ray Guy Awards, respectively, during the 2002 campaign. Browne earned All-America honors and was the Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Year in 2003.
Three of Sharp’s tight ends (Chad Andrus, Brent Hecht, Shae Reagan) were inducted into the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society for academic excellence.
Under Sharp’s leadership, Matt Schobel was the second pick in the third round of the 2002 National Football League draft and the 67th player selected overall. In 2004, Cody McCarty garnered first-team all-league honors.
Sharp previously coached at TCU (1991-97) under both Jim Wacker and Pat Sullivan. He mentored the tight ends for five years and handled the defensive ends for two seasons. Before joining the TCU staff on a full-time basis, Sharp served as a graduate assistant under Wacker.
Sharp was a tight end on TCU’s 1984 team which went 8-3 and earned a trip to the Bluebonnet Bowl. He had a key touchdown reception in a 32-31 win at Arkansas, the Frogs’ first victory in Fayetteville in 29 years.
In addition to providing outstanding blocking for TCU’s vaunted running game, Sharp earned All-Southwest Conference honors in 1984 as he caught 42 passes for 596 yards and seven touchdowns. He spent two years in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons before returning to TCU in 1988.
He received his bachelor’s degree in secondary education from TCU in 1985 and his master’s in liberal arts in 1992.
Sharp and his wife, Cindy, both natives of Boerne, Texas, are the parents of two daughters: Alexandra and Andrea.
