Texas A&M
Battalion
Serving the University community
Pages
College Station, Texas
Wednesday, January 20, 1982
of search for athletic director ends
Sherrill follows cluttered path to AScM’s door
I
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ICE
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Dr. Frank E. Vandiver
Angelique Copeland
Battalion Editor
Out of the confusion and rumors
of the last few days, Jackie Sherrill has
emerged as athletic director and head
coach for Texas A&M. Before the
search for the new athletic director
ended, Texas A&M had become the
state-wide butt of jokes about install
ing a revolving door for official use,
and the University president almost
resigned.
During the saga, University offi
cials offered a wide spectrum of con
flicting reports which enhanced the
confusion. The following is a step-by-
step look at the path that led Sherrill
to Texas A&M’s door.
— Sept. 25 — Regents H.R. “Bum”
Bright, Royce Wisenbaker and Wil
liam McKenzie give Athletic Director
Marvin Tate the option to resign or be
fired. Tate resigns.
— Nov. 26, Thanksgiving Day —
In response to rumors that Head
Coach Tom Wilson’s job may be on
the line, University President Frank
Vandiver gives Wilson a vote of confi
dence. Vandiver says the last year of
Wilson’s contract will be honored.
— Thursday — Rumors that G.E.
“Bo” Schembechler, University of
Michigan head coach, will be offered
thejobof A&M athletic director begin
to circulate.
Bright confirms that Schembechler
has been approached about the athle
tic director’s position.
Schembechler neither confirms
nor denies the offer.
Vandiver issues a statement saying,
“We are not at a point where we can
discuss particular persons. So we can
neither confirm nor deny any name
that might be posed to me.”
Wilson is out of town on a recruit
ing trip.
— Friday — Schembechler rejects a
reported l()-year, $3 million offer for
the athletic director position saying
his loyalty to Michigan, where he has
coached for 13 years, has prompted
his decision. Schembechler admits
that he found the offer “alluring.”
Schembechler tells reporters that
he understood the offer to be for both
head coach and athletic director.
Bright denies that Schembechler
was offered the job of head coach, but
says that as AD, Schembechler could
have elected to fill that spot.
Bright says that Vandiver has been
involved in the negotiations and
would have been the one to make the
hiring decision on Schembechler.
Earlier in the day, Vandiver has
released another statement reiterat
ing his refusal to confirm or deny that
Schembechler is being sought as AD.
University sources say Vandiver is
being ignored in the search for an AD
and that he is “distressed” by the
handling of the affair.
Vandiver issues a statement saying
he “deeply regrets” the “particularly
unpleasant” situation Wilson has
been placed in.
An angry Wilson says he has not
been fired, but that “it’s obvious that
See related editorial, page 2
Bum Bright doesn’t want me as the
coach here.” Wilson says he will not
resign.
— Sunday — University of Pitt
sburgh Head Coach Jackie Sherrill
takes the spotlight, confirming that
he has been offered the A&M athletic
director’s job.
Bright, chief spokesman for the
University throughout the Schem-
Sherrill discusses job;
reasons for accepting
by Frank L. Christlieb
Sports Editor
Former University of Pittsburgh
Head Coach Jackie Sherrill, who
Tuesday accepted Texas A&M’s offer
to become athletic director and head
football coach, was scheduled to
speak at a 1 p.m. news conference in
Cain Hall today.
Sherrill, 38, resigned his position
at Pittsburgh Tuesday morning and
will be replaced by Assistant Head
Coach Serafino Fazio. Sherrill re
places former Texas A&M Head
Coach Tom Wilson, who was fired
Tuesday by University President
Frank E. Vandiver.
An announcement issued by Van
diver late Tuesday afternoon stated:
“It was my lamentable duty ... today to
inform Mr. Tom Wilson that his ser
vices have been terminated. He
accepted that decision as the gentle
man that he is.
“He was informed that he will re
ceive his regular salary for one year
and that all of his assistant football
coaches will be paid their regular
salaries through May 31.”
“The decision to take this action
was not easily reached, but many felt
it necessary to take such steps to carry
out our desire for the University to
move forward and achieve pre
eminence across the board — in
academics, athletics and all other en
deavors in which this institution is in
volved.”
Sherrill had flown here Monday
with his wife, Daryle, to
See Sherrill page 15
bechler saga, can not be reached for
comment.
Concerning Sherrill, Vandiver is
3 noted as saying, “All I can tell you is
on’t ask me. I guess the loop will get
around to me sometime.”
— Monday — Sherrill visits the
Texas A&M campus. Bright is not
present. Sherrill meets with regents
McKenzie, John Blocker and Wisen
baker, along with Vandiver and Sys
tem Chancellor Frank W.R. Hubert.
Sherrill goes back to Pittsburgh to
discuss the offer with his family and
University of Pittsburgh officials. He
leaves without making a statement.
A Texas A&M press release says a
decision from Sherrill is expected the
next day. No one will elaborate on the
statement.
A high-placed University official
confirms for The Battalion that Van
diver, angered by the handling of the
situation, has turned in his resigna
tion, but that Hubert has pursuaded
him to stay.
At the same time that Sherrill is
meeting with University officials, Wil
son meets w ith his players to tell them
they will soon have a new coach. The
players are told not to comment.
The Houston Aggie Club passes a
resolution supporting Wilson. Club
President John Liptak says that the
club “wanted the powers to know that
we are in support of Tom Wilson and
feel his contract should be extended.”
The club, the largest and most
powerful in the state, sends copies of
the resolution to Wilson, Bright and
Gov. Bill Clements.
— Tuesday — Sherrill accepts both
the head coach and athletic director
positions at Texas A&M. During
negotiations, Sherrill has stipulated
that both jobs must be included in the
offer for him to accept.
Vandiver fires Wilson.
Vandiver publicly denies he ever
offered his resignation.
Bright has no comment.
Jackie Sherrill
Tom Wilson
rogrammg
Council to finish budget
Leader says foreign agencies
financing Italian terrorism
by Nancy Weatherley
ISP r 4 BattaIion Staff
Council and Directorate offic-
imwhed committee hearings
way night in preparation for an
night P ro S ram budget approval
Council members will hold their
ni„i 0 t rma i, mee, ing of the semester
J J! 1 in the Student Prog-
l^e, 216T MSC. Budget
s_or the meeting will be avail-
^T a . t5 p.ni. today.
usth! a PP roved program budget
Passed on to Dr 5 John .I Kol-
ces Kv P! l es *d en t lor student ser-
ibient ,. rsday. The budget is
T i° l 115 a PProval. 8
oto L | i^ et w ’ t * 1 F ina I approval
a"h2° 2 ldus > be returned on
Council President Doug Dedeker
said the bulk of tonight’s meeting will
be to get the budget in a presentable
form for Koldus. Preparations for the
annual budget start in mid-October
when the Financial officers prepare
and send out budget packets to the
various MSC committees.
Committee members complete the
packets, preparing their own
budgets, and returning them to the
financial officers.
“The program budget is the direct
result of each committee’s own work,”
Dedeker said.
Todd Norwood, Council vice presi
dent of finance, said that after the
officers look at the budgets, they
make changes and corrections if
necessary and return the packets to
the committees.
Last week Norwood and other
officers began individual committee
hearings at which officers discussed
specific areas with each committee
chairman and treasurer. Dedeker
said the officers made sure every
thing on the budgets was correct and
legal before they go on to the Council.
Norwood’s hectic job was eased
considerably this year by the Council
reorganization implemented last
spring. Five Council officers were
added to the original 19, making a
total of 24 officers.
The reorganization also added 17
new directors and coordinators
w'hose jobs are to assist the vice presi
dents.
“The increase in personnel has re
duced my amount of work by half,”
Norwood said.
United Press International
ROME — The leader of Italy’s main political party
accuses foreign intelligence agencies of bankrolling the
Red Brigades kidnappers of U.S. Army Gen. James
Dozier in an attempt to destabilize the NATO nation.
Flaminio Piccoli of the dominant Christian Democratic
Party, in an interview, provided support for earlier claims
that both pro-and anti-Western intelligence services in
the Middle East had backed the Red Brigades.
Investigating magistrates over the weekend said the
terrorists received aid from Libyans, Palestinians and
other Middle Eastern intelligence services acting for the
Soviets. Up until 1978, they also had received backing
from Israel, a magistrate said Sunday.
“In the past, the Red Brigades needed to carry out
robberies to finance themselves, to buy arms,” Piccoli
said. “But now, they are financed directly from abroad
and therefore can dedicate themselves completely toward
the destabilization of the country.”
Piccoli said last month’s kidnapping of Dozier, the chief
administrative officer of NATO's southern Europe land
forces headquarters, was part of the destabilization plan
that began with the assassination of former Prime Minis
ter Aldo Moro in 1978.
“The weapons found in the hideouts, the documents,
the evidence, shows the Red Brigades have a well-
equipped arsenal,” Piccoli said.
Dozier, 50, was kidnapped from his Verona home Dec.
17.
Recovery work continues on crash
'ecision saves death row youths
TEXAS
A&Nl
UNIVERSE
*HIW P TONr"TteSupren,e
(th tv* Tuesday that the
«niles na ty 1S unconstitutional f° r
'unffl dec ' s * on spares at least 17
0l intrv en ^ eal ^ R°ws across the
y ~~ including Monty Lee
Eddings, whose appeal to the court
prompted today’s ruling. Eddings
was a 16-year-old runaway when he
fatally shot an Oklahoma state troop
er with a sawed-off shotgun in 1977.
The outcome was considered a ma
jor victory for opponents of capital
punishment, as well as a national
group of psychiatrists, psychologists
and social workers who specialize in
treating abnormal behavior in chil
dren.
The group had contended the
death penalty is an “inhumane pun
ishment” for adolescents.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Salvage opera
tions entered their seventh day today
for the sunken wreckage of an Air
Floridajetliner and the director of the
recovery team worried aloud that
some of the missing 18 bodies might
never be found.
The cause of the crash remains
unknown, although authorities have
focused on the possibility the Boeing
737 was improperly de-iced. And evi
dence has mounted that the jet’s nose
was at an extremely high angle on
takoff.
Seconds after taking off in a snow
storm from Washington National
Airport last Wednesday, the plane
clipped the 14th Street Bridge and
plunged into the water, killing 78
people — 74 in the plane and four on
the bridge.
Three more bodies were pulled
from the water Tuesday, leaving 16
— 18 adults and two children — still
missing.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Steve Delaplane,
in charge of the recovery operation,
said the river has a half-knot current
and “there is no absolute guarantee
that we will recover all the bodies.”
Divers concentrated on salvage
operations Tuesday and made no
progress on pinpointing two crash-
resistant “black boxes” that contain
tapes of cockpit noises and of flight
characteristics such as altitude and air
speed.
The recorders were missing when
the tail section of the wreckage where
they are normally housed was raised
Monday. As of Tuesday, both were
still emitting signals from the river
bottom.
Two witnesses reported seeing the
plane’s nose at a steep 30 degrees af
ter takeoff, authorities said.
An excessively high angle of ascent
can cause a plane to stall — the air
flowing over the wings is insufficient
to support the aircraft.
Insurance law requires
proof of policy in car
h y Terri Zawacki
li Ce i Batta n<m Reporter
lew la w e P artm £ ents in Texas have a
Co,n Panies u en * orce anc I insurance
a new responsibility
dilatory lnsura nce has become
!NoflW g c ^ T exas Depart-
3v e a 9o a ! ' lc Safet y has decided to
, ot issue w-v S race period and will
’ I 1 * Br arning tlckets unti I March
jflice den^r? and c °l Ie ge Station
£ ' ments ^gan to issue
n uiance violations Jan.
The new insurance law requires
car owners to carry at least $20,000
coverage for medical expenses and
$5,000 coverage for property dam
age. Drivers must be able to show
proof of coverage by carrying a copy
oftheir insurance policy or a com
pany-issued card.
Persons found driving without
proof of insurance can be fined $75
for the first violation and $200 tor
subsequent violations. Even if a driver
has insurance, he can be fined he
does not have proof of coverage when
checked.
Sgt. Fred Forsthoff of the Depart
ment of Public Safety in Bryan said
state troopers will be conducting sys
tematic insurance checks. This will be
done in the same manner as license
checks; for example, all cars traveling
the same direction on a road or every
second or third car on a road will be
stopped and checked, he said.
Single cars will not be stopped ran
domly for checks because officers
must have probable cause in order to
do this, Forsthoff said.
TEXAS AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE IDENTIFICATION CARD
THE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANIES
NAMED INSURED
DOE, JOHN S.
POLICY NUMBER
123456789
EFFECTIVE DATE
09-17-81
123 1
EXPIRATION DATE
09-17-82
YOUR COVERAGE MEETS THE MINIMUM LIABILITY INSUR
ANCE PRESCRIBED BY LAW. KEEP THIS CARD IN YOUR MO
TOR VEHICLE.
inside
Classified
P a g e 10
Local
P a ge 3
National
page 7
Opinions
page 2
Sports
page 14
State
page 4
Whatsup
page 11
Insurance companies are giving out cards such as this, or copies of
the auto policy, to comply with the new Texas law requiring proof
of insurance. The law went into affect Jan. 1 and B-CS officers are
enforcing it now.
forecast
Today’s forecast: Overcast and
foggy again with light drizzle with
no significant chance of rain. High
today in the mid-70s; low in the
mid-50s. Thursday’s forecast calls
for partly cloudy skies through
Thursday.