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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1980
sports
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By TONY GALLUCCI
Sports Editor
Last night, the ‘Dean’ of South
west Conference coaches, Dr.
Shelby Metcalf, got his 150th
SWC win. It was a particularly
sweet win. It came against a new
found nemesis, Arkansas’ Eddie
Sutton.
In the short time since the
SWC has been lifted from the
dark ages by Mr. Sutton, too
many people have turned to his
often lead-lined golden throat for
the low down on basketball in the
Southwest.
It is time that people recognize
the class of SWC coaching. In
these days of importing “out
standing young coaches with
marvelous track records” it is fit
ting that the coaches who were
winning in those dark ages are
winning now, too.
Let us briefly look at the top
teams in the SWC. Texas A&M,
coached by Metcalf, has taken on
each of the other two leading con
tenders and won, albeit on the
home court. Arkansas’ only loss is
to A&M as is Texas Tech’s,
coached by the medieval Gerald
Myers.
Granted, the likes of Sutton,
Texas’ Abe Lemons, SMU’s Son
ny Allen and now TCU’s Jim Kil-
lingsworth have had their mo
ments. I can’t make excuses for
either Baylor or Rice, but, if
A&M wins the title this year it
will be the third in six years.
That’s a remarkable track record
for a man who’s coaching is sup
posedly out of date. He is also the
first to put a SWC player on the
pro-trading block and have him
go in the first round in over forty
years.
Part way through his 17th sea
son Metcalf has 262 wins against
176 losses. His 150 conference
wins match up against 88 losses.
He has produced four conference
titlists, in 1964, 1969, 1975, and
1976. He has weathered only
three losing seasons and four
teams have crested 1 the 20 win •
mark.
Myers, the only other SWC
coach left from before the Re
naissance, also has a winning re
cord at Lubbock. Houston’s Guy
Lewis, having coached there
since pre-Sutton days, has only
been in the conference a few
years. His record has dipped
slightly since, dispelling the ram
pant speculation that Houston
would win ten SWC trophies in a
row.
Meanwhile, Metcalf keeps
winning, and Lemons and Sutton
keep their mouths open, keep in
serting their feet and keep sport-
swriters full of, well, quotes.
I’ll match my collection of Met
calf humor against Sutton’s or
Lemons’ best anyday. Well
laugh all the way to Indianapolis.
Now that Arkansas has lost
one, the pressure is on them. Sut
ton had said before last night’s
game the pressure was on A&M
to win at home and thus now
turns the gun on himself.
Metcalf took a very young team
last year and, coupled with the
already developing hunger of the
‘you know’ kids, marched to 24
wins, including whitewashes of
Kentucky, Indiana, Nevada-Las
Vegas and San Francisco.
Virtually the same team has
already picked up 14 wins (plus
an exhibition win over Australia)
this year and appear headed for
more of the same. Because of pre
season ratings that may have
been unrealistic (No. 3 by one
magazine, No. 8 by Sports Illus
trated, etc.) some folks were dis
appointed by the five early season
losses the team suffered. Three
games, perhaps, should not have
been lost. All should have been
won if you ask the players, but
two teams did show well against
them — Iona and Minnesota.
Those two teams currently have a
combined record of 23-8. Neither
team is ranked but on paper they
might look as good as the Ags to a
pollster.
But then neither has had to rise
above the dark ages or Sutton’s
mouth to get where it is.
Time waits for no one. Arkansas head coach Eddie Sutton
gazes forlornly at the Coliseum clock as time runs out on his
Razorback squad in their match last night against A&M’s
ferocious defense and “The Wall”. Staff photo by Lee Roy Leschper
Swimmers
will host
meets here
Texas A&M’s swimming teams,
both men’s and women’s, have
meets this weekend.
The men will face Southwest
Texas State, and the women will
swim against Southwest Texas State
and Lamar in a triangular meet, at
P. L. Downs Natatorium beginning
at 7 p.m.
Both squads are coming off losses
to UT in Austin last Friday. The men
lost 56-39 and the women went down
by a score of 64-31. The teams now
have identical season records of 1-2
Tracy Johnston, a sophomore from
San Jose, Calif., broke two A&M
women’s school records during the
Texas meet and qualified for the
AIAW Nationals.
Her time of L07.8 in the 100-
meter breaststroke broke the old
mark of 1:09.6. In the 200-meter in
dividual medley, Johnston swam a
2:09.8 to break the old mark of
2:11.3.
— Mike Burrichler
4103
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DePaul wins another
tlieksf
wB
Meyer confused
(1 alH
lersoan
United Press International
Top-ranked DePaul plays only as
I well as necessary and they are driv-
jing Coach Ray Meyer crazy.
“The way they’re playing, winning
I by one and two points. I’ll be in the
is nut house before the season is over”
I Meyer said Tuesday night after De-
Paul scored a 57-54 victory over Ala-
1 bama-Birmingham.
The Blue Demons overcame late
second-half jitters to'increase their
perfect record to 16-0 and remain
the only undefeated major college
team in the nation.
“We played our usual game — get
up on somebody and then die’’ said
Meyer. “When we had to play we
played, but we’re still not a great
team.”
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