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Friday, April 24, 1992
The Battalion
Page 5
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University cuts funds
to women’s soccer team
Players looking for way to reinstate program
By Tanya Sasser
The Battalion
The Texas A&M women's soccer team is kick
ing around some ideas in an effort to bring back
their program after team members were informed
Wednesday that they would no longer be able to
compete at the NCAA level.
Dennis Corrington, director of recreational
sports, said the primary reason for the cancella
tion of the program was lack of funding in two
separate areas.
"The first area that was hurting was the travel
budget," Corrington said. "The team wasn't
traveling in the same class as other sports teams
and that was a negative. The second was that the
coach's salary was not adequate. There was sim
ply no money coming forth."
Debbie Michael, women's varsity soccer
coach, said the team members and coaches are
trying desperately to find a way to reinstate the
program.
v We were working on an extremely small
budget," she said. "It is hard to be competitive
when you don't have any money. We don't want
to be dropped, so the girls are actively trying to
get something done."
Casey Hamre, a team member, said the girls
on the team plan to do all they can to bring back
the program.
"A lot of the parents of the team members are
getting together to see what they can do," she
said. "We're hoping that if we do well, there will
be some kind of change."
Hamre said the women's soccer team will con
tinue to exist through next season because con
tracts with other teams have already been signed.
Lynn Hickey, associate athletic director, said
the athletic department has suffered, as have all
the other departments at A&M, because of the
flagging economy.
"The original idea was to start the team with
the idea of re-evaluating it after three years," she
said. "No one anticipated what would happen to
the economy of Texas. It is difficult, when all
sorts of classes are getting cut, to go to the presi
dent and ask for money for a sport."
See Lack/Page 6
Aggie baseball
stops in Houston
By Chris Whitley
77ze Battalion
Battalion file photo
The Texas A&M women's soccer team will try to exist without
University funding after A&M cut the program due to a lack of revenue.
Texas A&M head baseball coach Mark
Johnson is looking for a road to the
NCAA regionals. He hopes that trip
doesn't stop in Houston this weekend.
The Aggies face a pivotal series in
their mission to get back to the NCAA
tournament against the University of
Houston this weekend. The two meet for
a single game Friday at 2 p.m. and again
for a doubleheader Saturday at noon at
Cougar Field.
A&M defeated Sam Houston State
Wednesday at Olsen Field, 3-0, to keep
their lock on second place in the South
west Conference with a 15-12 record, and
31-16 overall.
The Cougars currently reside at the
bottom of the SWC standings with a 9-18
record, and 21-24 overall.
Houston, however, has improved
since A&M swept the Cougars at Olsen
earlier this season. Johnson said the
Cougars have been a problem for the Ag
gies in the past, and look for the same this
weekend.
"Going down to Houston hasn't been
a pleasant experience for us,"
See Aggies/Page 6
Road to NFL runs
through Aggieland
A&M manufactures stock of pros
Draft
Preview
By Scott Wudel
The Battalion
Texas A&M football coach R. C.
Slocum has plans to watch the NFL
draft this Sunday. Slocum isn't one of
those diehard draft fanatics. Instead,
he watches to see»*!h€& fruits of his la
bor - the Quentin Coryatts, the Kevin
Smiths, and the others who wore the
maroon and white last season and
now make their way into the profes
sional draft.
Slocum has pointed a number of
A&M players in the direction of the
NFL.
In his 20 years as an assistant and
head coach, the list of Aggies in the
NFL has grown longer and longer, al
most too many to mention - Jacob
Green, Curtis Dickey, Ray Childress,
Larry Kelm, Rod Bernstine, Richmond
Webb, John Roper, Aaron Wallace,
and more. And last year's crop that
included Robert Wilson, William
Thomas, Mike Arthur and Darren
Lewis.
Thirty-three former Aggies were
on NFL rosters when the 1991 season
began. The list continues again this
year. Besides Coryatt and Smith, ap
parent first-round locks, quarterback
Bucky Richardson, defensive back
Chris Crooms, along with six others,
have told the NFL they are interested
in extending their football careers.
"If you talk to other NFL teams,
they would say that there are certain
programs in college football that turn
out large numbers of players,"
Slocum said. "Because we've had pro
linebackers, it's easier to go recruit
other linebackers who aspire to the
pros.
"We've had a lot of pro running
backs and offensive linemen. You
kind of get that thing going where it
snowballs."
So go the terms, "football facto
ry,". . . "NFL farm team," and so on.
Terms synonymous with schools like
Miami, Notre Dame, and Michigan in
the past, and now used to describe the
A&M football program.
"I think it's our styles of offense
and defense," Slocum said as a reason
for the number of Aggies in the NFL.
"We've spent a lot of time over the
years visiting with the pros, and the
things that we do are similar to what's
done at the professional level.
"That, coupled with the fact that
we've been able to recruit good play
ers. We've started with a good prod
uct. We bring in some talented guys
and coach them in a scheme where
they do well."
But the index of past and present
NFL Aggies goes beyond high-round
draft choices. A&M may have that in
tangible that other schools envy. The
intangible that can give the nod to
players like Mark Wheeler, Ramsey
Bradberry and Kary Vincent.
"When you take the Wrecking
Crew, for example, the way we play
defense, there are guys that get caught
up in that, and they get some atten
tion," Slocum said. "Normally, if
they're stuck off at some other school,
they wouldn't even get looked at."
See NFL/Page 6
Hero for Hire
Richardson bucks NFL odds
By Steve O'Brien
The Battalion
Battalion file photo
Bucky Richardson hopes the NFL will have the
same respect for his abilities as A&M opponents did.
Former Texas A&M quarterback
Bucky Richardson has been called a lot
of things. Some good, some bad.
He's been called the best competitor
in Southwest Conference history, the
next great all-purpose player in the Na
tional Football League and one of the
best option quarterbacks ever.
He's also been called a quarterback
who has trouble reading defenses and
throwing the ball deep.
During the NFL draft on Sunday,
Richardson doesn't care what he's
called. He just wants the phone to ring.
"It's just an honor to be considered
to play in the NFL," Richardson said.
"There are a lot of players all over the
country that aren't going to get draft
ed."
Richardson was an option quarter
back for the Aggies from 1987-91, rush
ing for more yards (2,095) over his ca
reer than any other quarterback in
SWC history. Richardson also had the
best winning percentage for a quarter
back in A&M history (24-6-1).
But the past will mean little to
Richardson this Sunday as he waits to
be drafted.
"It's a pretty big deal for me," he
said. "But I think it's something you
have to go into open-minded and not
expecting anything. You can't count
on it, because you don't have any con
trol over it."
If any player in this year's draft has
the athletic ability to make the NFL as
an all-around player, it's Richardson.
At 6-foot-2, 221 pounds, he is big
enough to play a number of different
positions and has the speed to go with
it.
The chances of Richardson making
an NFL team strictly as a quarterback
may not be as great as he likes, but his
athletic ability makes him a tempting
pick for a number of teams.
"I think you talk about winners and
losers, and he's a winner," A&M offen
sive coordinator Bob Toledo said.
"Some way, he's going to find a way to
get things done.
"He wants to play quarterback, but
on the other hand, he just wants to
play. I think that is what excites a lot of
pro teams."
Early in the spring, it was thought
Richardson would be picked as high as
the third or fourth round, but he may
drop into the later rounds if no teams
choose to take the risk.
Either way, Richardson is confident
about being able to make it in the NFL.
"I think I can play several posi
tions," Richardson said. "I can be a
utility player. I can provide leader
ship."
Richardson, who played defensive
back in high school, interests many
professional teams, because he could
be a special teams player or a defensive
back and also serve a reserve quarter
back.
The current rule in the NFL con
cerning third-string quarterbacks adds
to the appeal of players like Richard
son.
The rule states that if, the Dallas
Cowboys for example, use their third-
string quarterback during a game, then
starter Troy Aikman and backup Steve
Beuerlein must stay on the bench for
the remainder of the game. A third-
string quarterback is allowed as the
47th player above the 46-player limit in
See Bucky/Page 6
Track teams
take next step
in Penn Relays
The Battalion News Services
The Texas A&M men's and women's
track teams will take part in the world's
oldest and largest track and field meet this
weekend when they travel to Philadelphia
to compete in the Penn Relay Carnival.
The three-day event, which is spon
sored by the University of Pennsylvania,
hosts more than 13,000 athletes from all 50
states and 30 countries representing six
continents.
More than 45 world records have
been set at the Penn Relays and 19 world
records from the event are still intact. The
competition has hosted such athletes as
Carl Lewis, Joan Benoit-Samuelson, Bob
Beamon, Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Jesse
Owens, Raghib Ismail, Knute Rockne,
Wilt Chamberlain and comedian Bill Cos
by.
Last year the Aggies made their mark
An armchair view of Draft Day extravaganza
CHRIS
WHITLEY
Assistant
Sports Editor
S ports fans will unite Sunday as foot
ball comes back to life.
The NFL draft starts, which will
bring the gridiron junkies out of hiberna
tion for one day to watch Hall of Famers
of tomorrow have their fate decided.
But for the average fan, what will the
NFL draft be like? No matter how the
players change, or the commissioners
change or the sport changes, the event is
always the same.
People flock to their television sets,
with beer and nachos in hand, and flip
over from "This Old House" to ESPN.
There the "Total Sports Network" shows
umpteen straight hours of men sitting in
a hotel ballroom talking on the phone.
The crowd, who gathers from all
over, cheers boisterously, as if the Mar
riott Hotel was actually RFK Stadium in
November. It's the only meeting room
you'll ever see where men in blue suits
discuss million-dollar deals next to a guy
in a hog nose and a baseball cap buying a
pretzel.
Meanwhile, the television announcers
speculate on who will take who and
when. The network brings in experts
like Mel Kiper, Jr. to give their "insight"
into how the draft proceedings will go.
But in the end, no one really knows how
everything will fall.
Always a surprise in store
When the draft begins, the teams and
the crowd study their available data,
whether the data are in-depth scouting
reports or newspaper clippings.
Occasionally, NFL Commissioner
Paul Tagliabue, who runs the show, will
get up to the podium and read from a
card in a thick New York accent, "The
San Deeago Chawgers select Louie
Spanowski of Notuh Dame," as the
crowd murmurs suspiciously.
Then, anchor Chris Berman shouts at
the top of his lungs that this is the draft's
biggest surprise since the last pick.
Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrat
ed then says that Spanowski is an ani
mal. He is a workhorse. He can read an
offense like no one he has ever seen be
fore. He will make a great player for the
struggling Chawgers.
Switch on over to Nowhere, New Jer
sey, where Louie, his mom, his dad, his
girlfriend, his aunts, his uncles, his
cousins, his new agent, and anyone else
that has met him in the last twelve years
sits in his living room cheering that he
will be leaving the house.
Louie says how grateful he is to get
the opportunity to go to San Diego and
play for such a great coach like Don
Coryell, even though Coryell hasn't
coached there for years. Louie says that
playing professional football will be the
realization of his childhood dream, and
now he won't have to go to work with
his brother at the lumber yard.
His agent says how nice San Diego is,
but it isn't that nice and that their front
office better be expected "to shell out the
dough that a high-kaliber player like
what's-his-name here deserves."
His mom rejoices because she knows
Louie will be happy. That plus she can
go to the local grocery store and brag to
her friends, "My son's making $1.3 mil
lion a year. What about yours?"
First round eternity
Then, the scene switches to San Diego
where the Chargers coach comes on the
screen and boasts proud about his new
pick, "Well, we think that he was one of
the best players available and, with a lot
of training, he could develop into a pro
player worth using."
Suddenly, word breaks that the own
er of the Chargers collapsed and is in sta
ble condition after learning the going rate
for a high first-round draft pick.
This scenario goes on every fifteen
minutes as picks are being made and
goes on long after ESPN ends its cover
age. In fact, the entire draft will not end
until the late hours of Monday.
But for fans starving for football after
months of nothing but the World
League, the draft keeps interest in the fall
game for a couple of days in April.
See Penn/Page 6