Monday, September 12, 1988/The Battalion/Page 13
Sports
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Sherrill was guilty, all right,
but I can sympathize a little
Let me first state the
obvious: I am hardly the
biggest Jackie Sherrill
supporter on campus.
Reading the editorial on
page 2 and seeing my name
on the editorial board
should be enough to realize
that.
The man knows all too
well how to be absolutely
infuriating, and he has quite
a track record of despising
and/or ignoring The Hdl L
Battalion. He has angered
me in the past, and no doubt Hammons
he will continue to do so in
the future. I’m sure he could say the same about me,
and given the chance I’m sure he would.
I do think a committee should be formed by the
Board of Regents to look into the possibility of
University sanctions or a dismissal of the esteemed
athletic director and head football coach — or at the
very least an official reprimand from the school. I
don’t think any of the above will happen. This does
distress me somewhat. If you want to use these
admissions as proof of my hatred for the man, it is
certainly your prerogative to be wrong.
But the fact of the matter is that I don’t hate the
man. Indeed, I have a high degree of respect for the
way he has resurrected the A&M football program
from Southwest Conference mediocrity. I admire his
vision concerning the future of A&M athletics. If for
no other reason, Aggies everywhere should feel
indebted to the man.
And watching Sherrill sweat under the heat of
television lights and the all-seeing eyes of millions, I
felt a strange sympathy for him.
Not for his wrong-doings, of course. He has
violated NCAA codes of ethics and conduct — by
neglect if not by actual commission. And by violating
these rules, he should be punished.
But I found myself mentally assenting to many of
Sherrill’s explanations as the ordeal was extended
into Friday afternoon.
Yes, he was guilty, but yes, some of the rules are
asinine.
Sherrill admitted to not reporting an illegal
contact with an unnamed high school recruit who
was supposedly considering attending A&M. What
the illegal contact consisted of, Sherrill said, was
accidentally bumping into him while visiting the
recruit’s high school.
No plug for the school. Just an accidental
bumping that, Sherrill said, made him look arrogant
and insensitive instead of further endearing him and
A&M to the young man.
Agreed, that is Sherrill’s statement of the facts.
And agreed, some concrete rules need to be drawn
up and followed concerning the concourse between
starry-eyed kids and win-crazed coaches.
But I think it’s understandable, if not forgivable,
that Sherrill could consider something like that
incident unworthy of report.
Another violation concerned the serving of
“refreshments” by an assistant coach to a prospect.
As Sherrill said, “That refreshment was a Coke.” As
in singular.
What self-respecting host among you wouldn’t
feel like a heel if a recruit, or anyone else for that
matter, came into his home asking for something to
drink and then telling the recruit, “Sure, but it’ll cost
you 50 cents.”
And, of course, there were the usual allegations
about illicit contact between zealous fans and hot
prospects.
If you haven’t Figured it out yet, this matter about
alumni is just about out of hand. The story is one
with which any fan — of Southwest Conference
football, particularly — is all too aware.
Some big wheel who was unable to extend his
support to good of State U in a participatory way
decides he’ll make up for it by attracting Joe Jock
from City High to do it for him.
We saw it at Southern Methodist. We saw it at
Clemson. We saw it at Florida. And no doubt we will
see it again.
Sherrill publicly assumed blame for not patrolling
the ranks of the Association of Former Students
more carefully, but he knows that we know he can’t
do it. People will do what they want to do, and
without trying to be too cynical about the matter,
that’s just about the way it is.
University President William Mobley has taken
about the only step he or anyone else can by mailing
out requests — make that beseechments — to anyone
who might fit in the above category to stifle that
school spirit just a tad. At least enough to comply
with NCAA standards.
That may or may not work. And of course, good
of State U will be the one that suffers the most if it
doesn’t.
Whether or not this is a reasonable request to
make of Sherrill and Mobley is almost a waste of
energy to ask. The point is, the request is being
made. And if Mobley is serious about putting the
emphasis on playing the game on moral grounds,
the request will have to be answered in some
measure.
In the meantime, however, there’s nothing wrong
with researching the matter further to Find some
way to provide some flexibility to the system while
maintaining its integrity.
Sherrill is going to look for a solution. You can
count on that. If you have any suggestions, I’m sure
he’d be more than anxious to listen.
Lady Ags battle for 3rd
against Top 20 teams
Photo by Dean Saito
Texas A&M outside attacker Amy Cumings attempts a block against
Colorado State’s Angie Miller during Friday’s game in the Texas
A&M Invitational. CSU won the match in five sets.
By Jerry Bolz
Sports Writer
It cost the Texas A&M Lady Ag
gie volleyball team two losses in
three matches, but now they’re re
ady to take on the best.
The team took third place in the
four-team Texas A&M Invitational
tournament this weekend at G.
Rollie White Coliseum.
The Lady Aggies beat Ohio State
15-7, 15-11, 7-15, 15-10 but lost to
Colorado State 15-8, 12-15, 15-8, 5-
15, 15-13 and Arizona State 15-3,
11-15,6-15, 15-10, 8-15.
Despite the losses, juftior setter
Yvonne Van Brandt was encouraged
with A&M’s performance.
“There are a lot of great things in
store for us if we can just explode at
the end of a match like we do at the
beginning,” she said. “We can com
pete with the Top 20. I think we’re
there.”
The Lady Aggies jumped ahead
in the first game of all three
matches. Deeper into the matches
with CSU and ASU, however, errors
lost the team points and games.
Coach A1 Givens said the team
needed to work on these errors.
“We took ourselves out of some
rallies by serving into the net,” he
said.
Against Arizona State, the unde
feated tournament winner, A&M
came out fired-up and opened with
a 15-3 victory. The game was the
First of only two ASU losses (both
were to A&M) and was the greatest
margin of victory in any match of
the tournament.
However, the Sun Devils’ outside
hitter Christy Nore, the tourna
ment’s most valuable player, took
control on the court and led ASU
back. Givens said she was the differ
ence in the match.
“We just weren’t able to stop her,”
he said. “She carried the team.”
A&M played ASU last year and
also lost in a Five-game match. But,
like Van Brandt, Givens saw in the
Lady Aggies’ performance a lot of
promise for this season.
“Playing this caliber of competi
tion, the only thing we’ll do is get
better,” he said.
The Lady Aggies faced some
heavy-hitting attackers in CSU’s Jill
Johnson and Nore, but Givens said
his defense was as prepared as possi
ble.
“There’s no defense that can
cover 900 square feet of court, so
you go with the percentages,” he
said. “They (ASU) just did a better
job tonight.”
Van Brandt led the defense with
55 digs in the tournament and also
had a team high 145 assists. On of
fense, senior Sheri Steensma had 52
kills and senior Vivian Viera had 41.
Van Brandt and Steensma were
All-Tournament team selections for
the Lady Aggies.
A&M now has a 4-3 record for the ■*
season. Their next match is Wednes-
day against Lamar at G. Rollie White <
Coliseum.
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