On Friday Texas A&M Athletic Director Wally Groff resigned, effective in December. He resigned following a meeting with the new University President (which means he likely was forced out). I think this means one of two things will happen: 1. RC will be promoted to AD and a new football coach found. 2. An AD from outside will be hired and RC will be fired following the football season. RC getting fired assumes that A&M does not make waves in the Big XII this year. What do you all think?
What do I think? I hope you're right, that's what I think. I just saw the Young ESPN College Football guy (forgot his name) Picked A&M and Oregon State as his two surprise teams this season. Not that it means a damn thing...just thought I'd mention it.
The sad thing for RC is that he finally seems to have a good team, but he has to play Nebraska, VaTech, OU, and Texas, which probably means 4 losses right there (although 3 of those games are at home). They could have their best team in a while and still go 7-4. Same problem Texas Tech has, I think. Last year, TT lost 4 games - 3 to Top 10 teams.
Knowing the Aggies, they'll probably hire Bob Davie, an RC Slocum clone. Davie contributed to the demise of a once-proud Notre Dame team. He was an awesome defensive coordinator of the Wrecking Crew in the early-mid 90's.
All they really need is an offensive coordinator that has full control of the offense. Defensively, they are fine. Recruiting, they struggled with the Mack Brown blitz, but they are getting back on track there. It's just the offensive schemes. They need a Mike Leach type to just change things up.
Actually for the last few years I have been hearing that RC's successor will be Gary Kubiak. We'll have to see though.
I just can't see anyone who replaces RC doing a better job than he did. I mean, he's got his faults, and he's fallen back to a dogfight with Tech for third in the Big XII South - but I can't see A&M getting someone better. Besides, RC has the support of the Big Money Ags - it will be nearly impossible to get rid of him w/o a disaster season, though things really aren't looking too good for the Aggies next year, so who knows.
They have had one of the worst, most uncreative offenses in all of college football for the past couple of years. There's is A LOT of room for improvement. You have to think the Aggies would be able to find someone who at least has some idea on how to run an offense. And it doesn't seem to be an offensive coordinator problem. Every year or two the Ags bring in a new OC, and the offense always looks the exact same. And I'm not sure how much support RC has from big money Ags...I've heard otherwise.
That's just crazy. RC has had the program in a downward spiral since 1996 while Texas has been on an upswing. Certainly A&M could hire somebody who can give Brown a run for his recruiting money (metaphorically speaking of course) and can then do something other than up the middle...up the middle...chuck it long...punt. If these big money Ags were so pro-Solcum then they would have fought to keep Groff. Wally Groff is the SOLE reason why RC has lasted this long.
Of course A&M's been on a downward spiral since 96 - because they're success was built on the back of Texas's poor play(and cheating in the 80's). Now that Texas is building a powerhouse, you can't possibly expect A&M to stay the same. Recruiting is a zero-sum business, if you ain't getting the athletes someone else is. A lot of the really good athletes that would've probably gone to A&M - have gone to Texas and OU(and to a esser extent LSU) instead. That's just what happens when two storied programs like Texas and OU rescue themselves from the doldrums, their success has to come at someone else's expense. Now, as far as the offense - yes, it sucks. It sucks baaaaaaaad. Its an horribly unimaginative scheme and the talent on the offensive side of the ball ain't there. RC should bear the blame for meddling with the offense, and encouraging such a conservative game plan. The inability to put up points vs teams like Baylor and Tech, is inexcusable. However, he must also get credit for his handling of the defense. Ty Warren, Jarrod Penright, Sammy Davis. That's it - and Warren is enigmatic, and moving to a new position. But that defense still managed to keep the other team off the scoreboard, so that the Ags anemic offense had a chance. I can't see another coach having similar success. Also, it must be considered how plausible it is for the Aggies to being in a big name coach - Florida tried extremely hard, and was stuck with Ron Zook. And I don't think there's anyone who'll argue that Florida isn't a more attractive job than A&M, and they had considerable problems finding a top notch coach. It must be said however, that I believe you will get your wish for a new coach after next season. This season, the Aggies should have a remarkably solid team. The defense will be good, as usual, and the running game will be above average - and Farris will be . . . .Farris - he's got talent, but ever since the OU INT and Texas INT two years ago, he's been pretty poor. Nine wins is a good ceiling for the Aggies - though it will slip if they suffer any more injuries like Yates'. Next year however, yikes. The Aggies football team graduates so many Important Players after this year that unless they put together an absolute beast of a recruiting class with a number of players who can step in immediately on defense - well, it'll be bad times in College Station. And you'll get your new coach, and we'll see how things work out. I don't think you'll be that much better, but I don't think y'all will be any worse. Anyways, good luck this season - try to do the Conference proud in OOC play, don't drop any stinkbombs like Tech did today in the Horseshoe.
That does not explain losing to Tech, losing to USL, having Wyoming make it a tight game, choking away the Cotton Bowl against UCLA, losing the Independence Bowl to Miss. State, only making it to the "galleryfurniture.com bowl" last year against TCU, etc etc etc... If you can't stay competitive in the recruiting game then step aside so somebody else can give it a whirl. Put in a good coordinator and he'll run the defense. I'll give RC credit for building the Wrecking Crew...but I believe that a good coordinator can keep it going. Doesn't need to be a big name coach. A solid young coach can get the job done. Kubiak would be just fine. He's got a great mind for offense and can relate to the kids coming out of high school in a way RC can't. But a good defensive coordinator will be very important. We have a good number of guys redshirted who will be ready to step in next year. It should be interesting to see who will be the QB once farris is done. Bottom line...there is one reason why I think it is time for Slocum to go. At some point you must look around and say that if you aren't going forward you're moving backward. Now is that time. I appreciate it. I hope we'll have a good season...but I'm not holding my breath.
The Ags have changed offensive coordinators frequently, but it takes time to learn the different schemes. Dino Babers has been there for like one or two years. Mark Farris is a horrible QB, who doesn't make plays. There is some hope in Aggieland as they have Reggie McNeal to take over soon. During my 4 years in Austin, I have seen A&M decline from a top-10 team to a laughingstock. The galleryfurniture.com bowl was a sign of just how bad things have gotten. The Sidelines show was supposed to help recruiting, but instead people were appalled at how strange they are.
The Sidelines show was supposed to help recruiting, but instead people were appalled at how strange they are. I agree on Reggie McNeal. He's their hope for the future, and if Farris struggles, I bet he plays this year. They also have finally implemented the Mack Brown program of recruiting early and apparently have some very very nice commitments for next year, from what I've heard from my Aggie friends. The future is good for them, if they could get an O Coordinator who had full reign over the thing rather than being conservativized by RC.
RC had better be getting his resume together. He is living on borrowed time. I usually love college football (especially my Aggies) but if I see up the middle on 3rd down 1 more time I'm gonna vomit.
That show was horrible. 99.9% of people at A&M hated that show. The only people that ended up watching it were the screwed up people who were on it. It was supposed to be about the football team, but they ended up following around a bunch of people who were dumb. As an Aggie, I hated that show.
