Issue date: 12/4/02 Section: Mail Call

In regard to the misconceptions about R.C. Slocum, some issues need to be set straight.

He is not the winningest coach at A&M. If you consider winning percentage, D.X. Bible had a .765 percentage compared to Slocum's .721 percentage. Slocum stated last year after the Texas Tech game that he has done his job as long as the team has a record of seven and three. Aggies should win Big 12 championships, not strive for three losses.

True, Slocum's 11 bowl games are impressive. But consider that he has lost eight of those bowl games. It is also true that he was A&M's first coach to get 100 victories. Those 100 victories came against opponents in the South West Conference: teams consisting of Rice, Souther Methodist University and Baylor. These are hardly intimidating football programs.

Does anyone remember having a 22-game home winning streak, only to have it snapped by Colorado? A&M has given Slocum 14 years to succeed as head coach. He has failed. Like an old dog, Slocum will pass on and A&M will find a replacement.

Slocum has sent Aggies on a roller coaster of emotions. Aggies don't want emotional rides, they want national championships. With a 1-10 record against top-10 teams, it simply will not work.

Neal Litton

Class of 2002

When A&M joined the Big 12 it was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that now A&M gets more exposure and against better teams. The curse, of course, is that we could rarely win against these teams. Yes, A&M has won more of its high profile games in the past few years, but they are not consistently winning enough. For us football fans, this is unimaginably discouraging.

I've followed this team to St Louis to play Kansas State, New Orleans to play Ohio State, New York to play Florida State, San Antonio to play Nebraska, and others. All the trips were worth it, to see the Aggie spirit in action away from Kyle Field, but with the exception of K. State, all were disappointing.

We have some fantastic players and either Slocum doesn't have the knowledge to take them to the next level, or he cannot compile a staff of coaches to help him do it. Either way, he has been given more than enough time to pull out of the slump of mediocrity that the Aggie football team has (for the most part) been mired in for the last several years.

123-47-2 looks like a great record on paper, but no one seems to be reporting that since 1996 the record is 55-32, a less than 60 percent win-to-loss ratio.

A head coach's job is to win football games and keep his players out of trouble. When a person becomes effective at only about 50 percent of his job (any job) there's a really good chance he or she would be out the door without much discussion.

The way I see it, he's had six seasons to turn this program around and only one of those could really be called good. Yes, Slocum has done a great job recruiting some of the best players in the nation, but what has he done with those players? Despite peoples' statements to the contrary, Slocum was allowed to finish the season -- he did it last Friday in probably one of the most disappointing games all year. I personally hope A&M rejects any bid they get for a bowl and takes time to regroup and get headed in the right direction.

Stefanie Roberts

Class of 1996

The numbers on Slocum do speak wonders of what he did for A&M's football program, but a win in the Southwest Conference is incomparable to a win in the Big 12. I didn't watch much Aggie football until I came up here but from what I have been told from those who have watched the Aggies since they knew what football was, the SWC compared to the Big 12 was a joke.

So yes, he may have coached many winning seasons, but that's like taking Mike Tyson to fight in a high school boxing match, it just isn't competition. Coming into the Big 12 we hit strong, but lately there have been mistakes that definitely should and could have been avoided. Look at the past three years; A&M is 21-15. We all know what the Aggies can do, and that sure isn't it.

This is not to say that all of the fault goes on Slocum. Clearly, he does not play the games, he only coaches them. But maybe what the team needs is a different coach to lead them, a different approach that could lead to many more wins, maybe more titles.

Maybe this will work, maybe it won't. But you never know until you try something new.

Justin Decker

Class of 2005

They didn't fire him, A&M just ran out of games for him to coach.

Arran Spoede

Class of 1997

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