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A&M builds statue for coach that didn’t do much

Gerry Hamilton
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Glass Joe All-American

Glass Joe

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A&M got a 5-year NCAA probation (including no TV appearances and no bowl game in 1994) for violations in Slocum’s first 3 years as HC.  This was after aggy fired Jackie Sherrill for recruiting violations and probation in 1988 (with RC as his DC, and noted by the NCAA investigation as being a facilitator of illegal payments to recruits).

Those recruiting violations (boosters paying players), led to the apex of the Slocum era (and perhaps aggy football all-time), where they won 3 straight SWC titles from 1991-1993.  Of course, those aggy teams managed to lose all 3 Cotton Bowls those years, as well as losing non-conference games to schools like Tulsa (yes, Tulsa!), and a 30-pt loss to OU.

My personal favorite Slocum achievement was his first season in the Big 12 (1996) where he lost his first two non-conference games to unranked foes (one loss to Steve Sarkisian-led BYU, and another loss to ULaLa).  He then opened Big 12 play by losing to Colorado, K-State, and Tech.

In fairness, Slocum did finish second in the B12 conference in 1997, and celebrated this by losing another Cotton Bowl (0-4 in Cotton Bowls for RC).

 In 1998, Slocum was a heavy underdog but managed to upset K-State in the B12 Championship game in OT.  Slocum celebrated by losing the Sugar Bowl, making him 0-5 in NY6 Bowl games for his career.

After 1998, Slocum went 16-16 in Big 12 play over his final 4 seasons, and was fired in 2002. 

It doesn’t require much connecting of dots to conclude Slocum inherited the best team money could purchase in the dying SWC era, parlayed that into 3 SWC titles.  But, his teams always lost non-conference and bowl games during that 3-year apex era, so nothing translated into any worthwhile national achievements.

Once the Big 12 came into existence (1996) it didn’t take too long for Slocum and aggy found their historical level (mediocrity) and he was fired by 2002.

I assume aggy built the Slocum statue so that current generations of aggy fans would be aware that they actually won a conference championship within the last 30 years. 

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