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 >cir .sette ICE aR 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