|
PRINT
THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE
Saturday, November 28, 1998
Slocum enjoys the good, new days at A&M
By MICHAEL A. LUTZ
AP Sports Writer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) -- Don't talk to R.C. Slocum about
the good old days at Texas A&M. He doesn't think they were
all that good.
Slocum has been the Aggies' head coach since 1989, but he still
remembers the atmosphere when he arrived as an assistant coach
in 1972 amid campus unrest that wasn't all centered on a losing
football program.
Slocum recalled the tension brought on by Vietnam. A&M's
Corps of Cadets and its military-style band became entangled in
the controversy over an unpopular conflict.
The football program was in disarray. Sure, the Aggies had
their pride, the 12th Man tradition, silver taps and muster, but
they also had losing records in 15 of 16 seasons starting in 1958.
"It's not as much where you are, but how far you've come,"
Slocum said recently. "We are in the process of completing
the best decade in the history of Texas A&M football. For
that, I am proud."
Many of the gleaming facilities that now grace the 5,200-acre
campus weren't even in A&M's wildest dreams when Slocum arrived.
Rudder Tower, the main conference center, wasn't there. Neither
was newly christened Reed Arena; it was a cattle pasture in Slocum's
early Aggie years.
Slocum offered the brief history lesson to show where the Aggies
football program was and where it is -- which is near the top,
in Slocum's opinion.
The Aggies are on pace to have the best winning percentage
of any decade since they started playing in 1894. With one full
season remaining in the 1990s, they could easily top the .816
winning percentage from the 1910s.
These Aggies have been to more bowl games (it'll be seven in
a few months) and won more league championships than their predecessors
in any other previous decade. They have won the Big 12 South title
two straight seasons after dominating the Southwest Conference
in its waning years.
To Slocum, these are the good days. The old days were just
old.
"Our facilities were awful. We had a rundown stadium and
a rundown press box. There were few female students," said
Slocum, who arrived on campus a few years after A&M began
admitting women and left only for one year, 1982.
When he first arrived, the atmosphere was a step back in time.
Coaches eerily reported to the same old locker room under Kyle
Field where coaches of decades past dressed and showered.
Slocum and his staff now dress in expanded, clean quarters
under an updated Kyle Field that is undergoing its third expansion,
boosting capacity to 80,000 for the 1999 season.
Slocum is pleased to forget some of the old days of Kyle Field.
"You could hear the Phantom of the Opera and old coaches
back there," Slocum said. "(Associate athletic director
Billy) Pickard is the only one who would talk to them. You'd go
to the same showers that Elmer Smith and coach (Bear) Bryant used."
Slocum's goal has been for Texas A&M to be considered a
perennial national power. He thinks the Aggies are almost there.
"Plot Ohio State, Alabama, Tennessee, some of those name
programs," Slocum said. "They've been doing what they
do for a long time. We've closed the gap. With our program, we
have steadily improved to where now we are operating on a level
or better than a bunch of those folks."
There were just 2,700 female students on Slocum's arrival.
Now women comprise 45 percent of the student population.
And yes, it should come as no surprise that a coed population
is a plus, even though there may still be some old guard who think
otherwise.
"I am trying to make this politically correct," Slocum
laughed. "In reality, part of being a young person is dating
and parties and the reality is that's important. I think it's
added a lot to campus life."
Send a Letter to the Editor about This
Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
|
