Sherman, “Sherm,” Blaser grew up in Eagle, Idaho, and attended Eagle High School; he was a three-sport star in football, basketball, and track. Sherm was a three-time all-conference in high school and allstate tight end, helping the football team win their first state title in 1998. After fulfilling his two-year Mormon mission, Sherm continued his football career at Boise State and was the starting tight end on the 2007 Fiesta Bowl championship team. If you are a college football fan, you might remember this bowl game; if not, let me remind you of the final minutes of that game. First, Boise State scored on a fourth and eighteen with just seven seconds to play on a “hook and lateral” from the fifty-yard line to send the game into overtime. Then in overtime, on fourth and two from the five-yard line, the Broncos converted on a half-back option pass. And finally, instead of kicking the extra point to send the game into double overtime, the Broncos used a Statue of Liberty play where Ian Johnson scored to win the game. However, Ian was not finished with his dramatics. After scoring the winning points, he dropped to one knee and proposed to his girlfriend and Boise State cheerleader Chrissy Popadics. She said yes, and the two married later that year.
After graduating from Boise State, he began his coaching career at South Middle School in Nampa, Idaho. After coaching at South for two years, Sherm took his first high school coaching job at Madison High School in Rexburg, Idaho, about three hundred miles east of Nampa. Unfortunately for Sherm, the glory days of the early 1980s, when the Bobcats won four state titles, were far removed. They hadn’t made the playoffs in the last two seasons before Blaser’s arrival. And it didn’t help Sherm that only eighteen players showed up on his first day of practice.
While Blaser got sixty kids to come out by the end of that season, it didn’t translate into wins. After winning his first game against crosstown rival Rigby, Blaser lost the next seven to finish with a 1–7 record. Madison only scored in double digits twice on its way to putting up an average of just 8.25 points per game. The Bobcats also lost by twenty-six points per game. It was the worst year for the program in the last seven seasons. Blaser stepped down after just one season, and Madison won the 5A title two years later.
