The Battalion
PORTS
Friday, August 3,1990
5
Sports Editor Clay Rasmussen 845-2688
togs’ leaving
on’t scuttle
SWC battleship
Holy Cow, they’re gone!
The University of Arkansas bid
farewell to the Southwest
Conference in favor of joining the
Southeastern Conference this
week — and I don’t understand
why everyone is upset.
The Razorbacks jumped at the
chance to play in a
“superconference” and the lure of
an extra $1.5 million annually. I
don’t see anything wrong that.
If a respected and established
university like Notre Dame can
back out of a television contract
involving the bulk of the NCAA’s
Division I, then why are the Hogs
being blamed for breaking up
such a ‘hallowed’ institution as
the SWC?
I don’t blame the Razorbacks
for jumping from a sinking ship.
The conference lost much of its
prestige during the 80s when it
was rocked by NCAA sanctions
that hit every team except Rice
and Arkansas.
Look no further than the
coveted Cotton Bowl Classic and
the effects of the conference’s
errant ways can be seen.
Television ratings for the game
over the last few years have
consistently been the lowest of
any other game on New Year’s
Day.
Arkansas received $760,000
last year in television, bowl and
post-season revenues. The
average SEC school received
more than twice that amount.
I give the new SWC four more
years at the most and then we’ll
see A&M and the Longhorns
abandon ship, possibly to join the
Hogs in the western sector of the
SEC.
Basically, it boils down to two
things — economics and
recruiting.
There’s more money to be
made in beating up on Mississippi
and Vanderbilt than there is in
doing the same to TCU and
SMU.
Texas is already losing many
of its top high school recruits to
out-of-state schools and now,
with Arkansas gone to a
conference that made 107
appearances on College Football
Association telecasts last year
compared the the SWC’s 63, the
number of recruits leaving the
state could escalate.
Arkansas took a bold step
toward taking its university, not
just the athletic program, to a new
level of excellence.
I know traditions die hard at
A&M, but hopefully within the
next three or four years the Aggie
War Hymn will be heard all
across the SEC.
Questions left bobbing in Razorbacks’ wake
FSU, Miami
await future
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) —Of
ficials at Florida State and Miami say
Arkansas’ move Wednesday into the
Southeastern Conference will not in
fluence their decision on whether to
join the league.
“It has no impact on us at all,” said
Bob Coin, athletic director at Florida
State. “All that’s going to do is add
another university to a great confer
ence. We’re still going to go through
the process of evaluating a myriad of
things.”
Neither Florida State nor Miami is
in a rush. Miami only recently re
turned the SEC’s institutional sur
vey, and Coin said the Seminoles’
only deadline for a decision is the
Oct. 15 date set by its basketball con
ference, the Metro.
Neither school has received an of
ficial offer from the SEC.
Larry Wahl, Miami associate di
rector for communications, said Ar
kansas’ decision doesn’t affect the
Hurricanes but is significant.
“There’s been a lot of talk about
expanding conferences, but they ac
tually moved,” Wahl said. “It may be
the thing that really starts some
thing.”
Arkansas’ switch ended its 76-year
alliance with the Southwest Confer
ence. The Razorbacks will leave the
SWC on June 30, 1991 and become
the SEC’s 11th school the following
day.
Coin and Wahl said the SEC
hasn’t indicated how many teams it
will accept.
“I think the SEC is thinking about
12, 14, maybe 16 teams,” Wahl said.
“It could be the SEC will expand in
stages — maybe take two now and
two down the road.”
Battalion file photo
Arkansas leaves the Southwest Conference for a hopefully
bright future within the powerful Southeastern Conference.
Arkansas’ AD excited
about heading for coast
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) —
Frank Broyles was pumped.
He popped into the University of
Arkansas sports information office
late Wednesday afternoon, only an
hour or so after the UA Board of
Trustees had rubber-stamped accep
tance of an invitation for the Razor-
backs to join the Southeastern Con
ference. Broyles and Chancellor
Dan Ferritor had sold the move in a
matter of weeks, and displayed their
enthusiasm for board members.
In the sports information office,
Broyles spotted a television sports-
caster and made him promise to de
liver a tape of the presentation to the
board. Broyles said he wanted to
make several copies, “including one
for posterity.”
Before leaving the office on his
way to answer call-in questions for
television, someone pointed out a
fax from the sports information of
fice at the University of Kentucky.
It said simply, WELCOME!
Below was the SEC log with the 10
schools and a handwritten note to
the side: “New logo sheets are on
their way.”
At the bottom was another mes
sage: “We’re happy — Now the best
conference is even better!”
Broyles got a copy to use on TV.
Shortly after he left. Sports Infor
mation Director Rick Schaeffer got
off the phone with a colleague. Peo
ple at Birmingham Arena, site of the
1992 SEC basketball tournament,
had received more than a dozen calls
from Arkansas fans wanting to know
about tickets.
The UA board meeting
was held in the Leflar Law Building.
Up front, The board members sat
behind name tags at a table. They
faced a row of people that included
Ferritor, SEC Commissioner Roy
Kramer, Broyles and UA women’s
athletic director Bev Rouse. Behind
that first row sat several coaches, in
cluding football coach Jack Crowe.
Some legislators were across the
aisle, on the second row, in a re
served section. A couple of rows
were chock full of media members.
At the back of the room was a bank
of TV cameras. Interested observers
lined the walls; metal folding chairs
were supplied for some.
Board Chairman Jim Blair of
Fayetteville began by saying he had
called the meeting for the “76-year
annual review of the athletic depart
ment” at the University of Arkansas.
Broyles, carrying a couple of blue
SEC caps and a box of golf balls,
slipped in during the opening re
marks. After Broyles and Ferritor
finished, Kramer began his spiel
about the SEC and the Razorback
tradition.
Before Kramer finished, the
dancing Razorback was visible
through a small window in a door
behind the board.
At 1:46 p.m., Kramer finished
reading the official invitation and
shook nands with Ferritor. Thirty-
one minutes later, it was official.
Blair gave each member of
the board an opportunity to speak.
Dr. M.A. Jackson of Little Rock
said he had the impression that
Broyles thought the football pro
gram would have to improve to com
pete with the SEC teams.
Broyles said he couldn’t remem
ber any time during the past 33
years when the Razorbacks weren’t
competitive with the SEC.
A&M archery team right on
target for continued success
By DOUGLAS PILS
Of The Battalion Staff
Texas A&M’s archery team doesn’t possess the larg
est budget on campus nor do they get great fan support
but that hasn’t kept the team from becoming one of the
best in the nation.
Last May at the Collegiate Outdoor Nationals the
men’s team placed second and the women finished
third.
Assistant coach Kathy Craig said four of the 12 mem
bers on the South team at last month’s Olympic Festival
were Aggies or former Aggies. The most prominent
member was Eric Brumlow, who won the bronze medal
at the festival.
Brumlow paced the team last year by winning the
Collegiate Indoor Nationals and by finishing second in
the Collegiate Outdoor Nationals. His performance
earned him first place overall in the All-American
standings for the 1989-90 season.
Joining Brumlow with All-American honors were
two members from the women’s team. Liz Beck and
Sherrill Jarrell became the first women from A&M to
make All-American in quite some time, Craig said.
Craig said the recent success enjoyed by the team can
be directly attributed to head coach Frank Thomas,
who is in Japan this summer setting up the physical ed
ucation program at the A&M campus in Koriyama.
“We’re fortunate to have Frank for a coach,” Craig
said. “He puts a lot of time into it and puts a lot of effort
into keeping up with the latest techniques and newest
equipment.”
Thomas’ coaching and great shooters like Brumlow
and former team member Rick Stonebreaker, who was
also on the Festival team, made significant contribu
tions to the team outside of their own success, Craig
said.
“Just having high caliber performers on the team
pushes the other team members to better their own per
formance,” she said.
The success of the archery team comes mainly from
individual effort and expense. Arizona State and James
Madison University are the only schools to offer schol
arships to archers while A&M archers must compete
with their own bows.
Craig said they try everything possible to help the
team members compete and go to school.
“We look at every financial aid possibility we can,”
she said. “Pell grants, loans and the National Archery
Association gives out eight scholarships a year.”
The NAA is the governing body for collegiate ar
chery and Aggies received four of the eight $500 schol
arships the association gave out this year.
NBA teams
shun Perkins
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Maver
icks forward Sam Perkins may have
to stay home to collect the pot of
gold he hopes to find at the end of
the rainbow called “free agency.”
So far, the line of NBA teams ex
pected to dangle multimillion-dollar
contracts designed to lure Perkins
away from the Mavericks just isn’t
forming.
And the Houston Rockets, who
had earlier said they would pursue
Perkins, won’t be among the suitors,
a source close to the situation told
the Dallas Times Herald in Wednes
day’s editions.
“There’s no way (the Rockets are)
going to get Sam Perkins,” the
source told the newspaper. “That
was just a ploy” on Rockets coach
Don Chaney’s part.
On Tuesday, Denver Nuggets
General Manager Bernie Bickerstaff
said the team would not make an of
fer to Perkins. And Los Angeles’
Jerry West said the Lakers would not
have room to fit Perkins under the
salary cap.
Letters
SPORTS EDITOR:
The time has come for the
Southwest Conference to react to
the actions being taken by the
University of Arkansas.
The Razorbacks have decided
to leave the conference for more
money. They seem to believe the
competition and the big bucks are
better in the Southeasterrn Con
ference.
I find this disturbing — buck
ing tradition for big bucks.
It’s important to realize that
going to the SEC for better com
petition is not a bad idea. How
ever, leaving the SWC for
greener pastures really stinks.
Not only are the Pigs jumping
ship — they’re stabbing their
family in the back.
For this reason, I believe the
SWC should give the Hogs a
hearty goodbye.
I believe that A&M is, and
should be, a proud member of
the SWC. At the same time, we
should force the SWC to make a
move that would create positive
growth for the future.
John R. Martin, ’90
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