I
Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
k.
February 3, 1983 Page 11
Decision time
Top football recruits making choices
by John P. Lopez
Battalion Staff
I In his inaugural season, Jackie
.Sherrill didn't lead the Texas
■ggies to a bowl game, he didn't
roach them to a championship
and he didn’t even have a win
ning record.
I But Sherrill and his staf f may
le leading Texas A&M to the
surprise recruiting haul of the
year.
I The Aggies have already
■nded several blue-chippers
and all indications are that sev-
eial others will soon join the
Texas A&M fold.
High school all-America
iuarterback Craig Stump prob
ably is the most sought-after re-
miiit to verbally commit to
■exas A&M. But another highly
■united quarterback indicated
Wednesday night in a telephone
■terview that he is within an
evelash of also committing to the
■ggies.
I Jay Hess, a 6-foot-I-inch,
lH5-pounder from Eastland,
■id Jackie Sherrill’s recruiting
talents have just about made up
his mind.
1 “I’ve narrowed my choices
Bwht to Baylor and A&M." 1 less
■id, “but I’m leaning towards
■&M right now because I think
Bey’ll win a lot more in the fu
ture. II the signing day was to-
da\. I’d sign with A&M — no
doubt.
I "I think he (Sherrill) can real
ly recruit. He just recruits so
much better than anv other
Eastland QB Jay Hess says
he’s leaning toward A&M
Jeff star Craig Stump has
decided to play for Aggies
coach I’ve been associated with.
To me it seems he’s always going
to tell you the truth and tell it the
way it is."
Hess said he will formally
announce his selection Monday,
but he indicated that Texas
A&M's pass-oriented offense is
definitely a plus for the Aggies.
Another f actor in Hess' decision
may be his sister, who is enrolled
at Texas A&M as a junior.
With Stump leading the flock
of three quarterbacks already
committed to Texas A&M
(A&M Consolidated’s Kip Cor-
rington and Houston Lamar’s
Paul Gasper have also said they
will attend Texas A&M), and
Hess near a commitment to the
Aggies, one would think Texas
A&M already has its share of
cjuartei backs. But Sherrill and
his staff are heavily recruiting
another all-stater.
Dick Stafford, father and
head coach of Belton’s star quar
terback Bret Stafford, said
Wednesday that his son has nar
rowed his choices to Texas,
Texas Tech and Texas A&M,
but added that Bret was im
pressed during his paid visit to
Texas A&M. T he quarterback
was in Lubbock Wednesday on a
recruiting trip to Tech and was
unavailable for comment.
“I can tell you that he had a
very good visit to A&M,” Staf
ford said. “He left (A&M) with a
great taste in his mouth. He was
very impressed with the
coaching staff and with Coach
Sherrill in particular.”
Stafford said he’s letting his
son make the decision on what
school to attend, but added that
he does have some biases.
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“Naturally there are some
things we like and don’t like, but
I think Bret could fit in on a lot
of campuses. I just want him to
be happy. I haven’t tried to in
fluence his decision in any way.
All I’ve told him is that if he ever
has a question, I’ll be there.
“I think his greatest asset is
that he’s a real competitor. He’s
played in 51 varsity games in
high school and has been in
some real tight ones. He knows
how to win ballgames. He’s a
great runner-thrower combina
tion and 1 just hope that where
ver he goes, that team utilizes his
speed.”
Another prize recruit Sherrill
and Co. are trying to land is all-
America tight end Albert Reese
from Temple. Reese said he’s
narrowed his choice to Texas,
SMU and Texas A&M, but he
said his trip to the Texas A&M
campus was a good experience.
“It was a real good visit,”
Reese said Wednesday. “I don’t
have anything negative to say
about A&M. Everyone I met was
verv friendly and the facilities
were impressive.
“I enjoy lifting weights
(bench press of 320 pounds) and
I thought the weight facilities
there were really fine. And I
liked their dorm, too. I thought
those two facilities were better
than the ones at Texas.”
Should Reese decide to play
for the Aggies, it won’t be the
first time he plays on Kyle Field.
“I’ve played games there the
last three years and it has im
pressed me a lot, too,” he said.
“The locker rooms and training
facilities are great.”
In Reese, Sherrill and his staff
are recruiting the services of one
of the most sought-after players
in the country. Reese has all the
characteristics of a great tight
end. He’s 6-foot-4-inches,
weighs 230 pounds and can cov
er 40 yards in 4.6 seconds.
Another plus for Reese is that
See RECRUITS page 13
Big Four have locks
on college dynasties
* -
College basketball has seen only four mc>d-
ern dynasties — by modern, I mean in the last
25 years — and they would be UCLA, Ken
tucky, Indiana and North Carolina.
The dynasty is the school that does not re
cruit, but selects. When they call the Blue Chip
High School Athlete, the phone is always
answered. They are usually THE school in the
state as far as tradition and prestige, the school
that is habitually on national television.
Most obvious, of course, is the world created
by John Wooden, The Wizard of Westwood, at
UCLA. Nobody won more than John Wooden.
Starting in 1964, he won 10 NCAA titles in 12
years, a record that will never be matched,
which makes him the Caesar of college basket
ball, and Larry Farmer, his disciple, his Marc
Anthony, is carrying on today at UCLA.
The Bruins normally go nine deep, with
every player being an all-stater and potential
first-round draft choice. They usually win
more than half their games during warmups,
and their cheerleaders are better-known than
the winning teams of some major conf erences.
Second is the University of Kentucky, which
started with “The Baron,” Adolph Rupp, who
won 880 games in 41 seasons, and is being
continued today by Joe B. Hall. The Wildcats
seat 23,000 for every home ballgame at Rupp
Arena, and have done more damage to the
Southeastern Conference than Sherman did
when he went through Atlanta.
The Wildcats are true thoroughbreds. They
have won the NCAA championship five times,
and they run probably the best college basket
ball program in the nation today. Basketball in
Lexington is a way of lif e, socially oriented, the
Park Avenue sport for the in-crowd, and Joe B.
Hall is just one of hundreds of thousands who
bleed blue in the commonwealth.
At Indiana, again the baton has been passed,
this time from Branch McCracken, who won
the national title in 953, to Bobby Knight, who
has won it twice since he took over for
McCracken in 1972. Basketball in Indiana is a
H oosier Hvsteria that makes football take a
rumble seat and lights up the moonlight on the
Wabasha.
Bobby Knight’s dictatorial style of yesterday
is also the envy of every coach that has a fear of
administration, parents or ballplayers. Knight
is his own man, the master chef of his own
restaurant, who tells you what to order, cooks
the food his way. And it’s so good, the custom
ers keep coming back for more!
ibali
CIHCU*
by A1 McGuire
Rounding out the magic four are the Tar
Heels from Chapel Hill, who have won every
thing in sight, with the dynasty starting with
Frank McGuire in the 1950s when North Caro
lina was the NCAA champion in 1957. Now
they have broken through the sound barrier
under Dean Smith, who made it to the Final
Four six times and finally grabbed the brass
ring last year.
Now just what makes a dynasty? As I said,
the school has to be THE school in the state, it
has to govern its conference, and it’s always the
team the other seven or eight schools vote
against. It has to come from a basketball state,
which all these four do and it has to be THE
sport in the school. It also has to get network
exposure.
The coach of a dynasty is a power broker
inside his own school, and many times in his
home state. He’s a guy everybody wants to see
run for governor. If he has a basketball camp
in the summer, it’s always SRO (Standing
Room Only) and without any bid advertising
campaign. He has his own TV and radio shows,
and is a key clinic speaker — a guy his fellow'
coaches want to hear.
The last, and maybe more important crite
rion of a dynasty is that it has to repeat over and
over. The four teams I mentioned — UCLA,
Kentucky, Indiana and North Carolina— have
w'on the NCAA championship 20 times be
tween them: UCLA 10 times, Kentucky five,
Indiana three and North Carolina two. The
NCAA is 26 years old, which means these four
have won it more than half the time.
There is one school, in my opinion, that’s
knocking on the door to join the dynasty club
and that’s Louisville. All the ingredients are
there: Denny Crum has brought the Cardinals
out of the shadow of Kentucky. They’re almost
there, they’ve come close. But they still don’t
have the key to the Executive Washroom yet,
because of the Wildcats of Kentucky, who are
in the process of building their own Ming
dynasty.