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Sports
The Battalion
Page 3
Hatchell is
right man
for SWC job
ROY L.
CLAY
Sportswriter
ave taken
n for ath-
aases that
elephone
aship ath-
ich are in
l, intellec-
nrollment
r fiscal af-
a chance
im a tele-
je univer-
$500,000,
id it had
for acad-
:tual and
a school
ion from
Texas A&M
is taking one
more step to
wards national
prominence,
and it doesn't
even have to
do the walking.
A&M and the
rest of the
Southwest
Conference
have only to
take the path
created by new
commissioner
Steve Hatchell.
Hatchell has
come into a conference considered to
be on the brink of destruction by
most sports experts and brought the
ailing SWC back on the road to re
covery. The two prominent schools
of the SWC, Texas and Texas A&M,
were apparently on their way to the
greener pastures of the PAC 10 and
the Big East Conferences. However,
since the hiring of Hatchell, the de
nials from both schools seem to ring
more truthfully.
Both A&M and UT would have
been hard put to leave the SWC.
The state legislature made it clear
that the financial repercussions of
their departure would be enormous,
but the lack of national media atten
tion resulting from weak conference
opponents in football and the idea of
the SWC being a basketball laughing
stock made leaving a possible option
for the two conference flagships. En
ter Steve Hatchell.
Coming directly from the front of
fice of the Orange Bowl, Hatchell
wasplaying with the big boys of the
collegiate sports. Many of his associ
ates wondered what he was doing
taking over a conference considered
small fry on the national level.
But Hatchell insists that the SWC
only needs repairs and it has all the
necessary ingredients for national
prominence. His association with
the conference alone seems to have
added a certain amount of legitima
cy to the league.
Last week, Hatchell began a
phase of his repair work. He hired a
Dallas marketing firm to handle the
conference and promote the league
ona national level. He also solicited
sponsorship from Dr Pepper for the
SWC basketball tournament which is
a change from the tired way the
league office has run even its promo
tions in the past.
In an era when television cover
age is vital to sports survival, pro
motion is the key to success. The
commissioner's office announced
that the championship game of the
SWC basketball tournament will be
televised on ESPN. That is one more
step towards the national spotlight.
Hatchell has also been trying to
change the way the conference views
itself. A few months ago, he said
that the schools in this league need
to stop focusing on beating Texas
and Texas A&M, and start focusing
on winning national championships.
That's a revolutionary idea in SWC
football.
Hatchell recognized something
that his associates in the highly visi
ble organizations around the nation
have missed. The commissioner of
See Clay/ Page4
Bates gears up for Raiders' season
Former A&M defensive back visits Cowboys' training camp, gets into NFL mindset
By KEVIN LINDSTROM
The Battalion
AUSTIN — Former Texas A&M foot
ball player Patrick Bates hasn't been
signed with the Los Angeles Raiders
more than a week and he already has
some large shoes to fill.
There are no larger shoes in any NFL
secondary than those of Ronnie Lott,
who left the Raiders at the end of last
season for the New York Jets under the
new NFL free agency rules.
The loss of Lott's incredible hitting
ability has left a big hole in the Raiders'
secondary.
Training
Camp
Bates, a rookie
first round draft
choice for the
Raiders, is in Austin
with the rest of the
Raiders at the Dal
las Cowboys train
ing camp at Saint
Edwards Universi
ty. Bates said he is
anxious to dish out
his own version of
The Hit.
"I'm excited be
ing in camp, in the NFL, scrimmaging
the Cowboys," he said. "And I'm defi
nitely excited about the challenge.
Notebook
"It's time to compete and I want to
bring in some big hits and some excite
ment," he said.
Raiders coach Art Shell said Bates'
size and ability will help him make a
contribution.
"He's built like a linebacker," Shell
said. "That and his skills are going to
make him an outstanding player. He has
a lot to learn, but we'll get that done."
Bates agreed that he still has much to
learn.
"I have a lot of work to do," he said.
"I need to learn this defensive system so I
can make the kind of contribution to this
team that I want to.
"I'd like to bring some excitement
back to the Raiders."
Bates shrugs off the suggestion that he
is anything but Patrick Bates.
"Ronnie is a great player and for peo
ple to compare him to me is a good feel
ing, but there's no pressure on me," Bates
said. "I'm going to come out and play
my game and do the things that I've al
ways done."
The hardest thing to adjust to in train
ing camp is the mental intensity. Bates
said.
"The big difference from college to the
pros is the mental aspect," he said.
"There are so many little things that you
have to do, things you have to read."
A&M tennis player goes national
Weaver picked for Junior Davis Cup
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Texas A&M's two-time All-South-
west Conference tennis player Mark
Weaver has been selected to repre
sent the Southern region in the Ju
nior Davis Cup competition Aug. 12-
15 in Poughkeepsie, New York.
"This is a big honor and a great
opportunity for me," Weaver said.
"This tournament will be a great
confidence builder for me if I can
perform well."
Texas A&M head coach David
Kent said, "Mark is exceedingly
worthy of this honor, and I think he
will represent Texas A&M .. . well in
Poughkeepsie."
Weaver, the SWC's Co-Player of
the Year in 1993, will team with Bob
by Mariencheck of the University of
Georgia.
"I've known Bobby for a long
time and I've played against him
many times, so it will be good to be
on the same side for a change,"
Weaver said. "He won the dou
bles two years ago (with Chuck
Coleman of Notre Dame) and
hopefully we can do the same thing
this year."
The tournament will be played
on red clay and Weaver said this
will be a good opportunity for him
to improve his No. 32 and No. 23
rankings.
"Competing in a tournament like
this will . . . give me playing experi
ence against some of the nation's
best players," Weaver said.
"A good showing in this tourna
ment could really set me up for the
collegiate Grand Slam events this
fall," he said.
Weaver finished the 1992-93 sea
son winning the SWC No.l singles
crown with 24-11 singles mark. He
beat eight players ranked among the
nation's top 70 last year.
In doubles. Weaver teamed with
Bernardo Martinez for a 20-6 mark
and five wins against Top 30 oppo
nents.
The last players to represent A&M
in the Junior Davis Cup were Scott
Phillips and Doug Brown in 1991.
Phillips and Brown led the Texas
Section to a second-place finish.
Prairie View A&M
athlete graduation
rate leads SWAC
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOTO FROM TEXAS A&M MEDIA GUIDE
Weaver
Akers-Stahl leads women's soccer at Olympic Festival
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO - All Michelle
Akers-StahTs mother wanted to do
was find a way to channel her
daughter's competitiveness and keep
her from fighting in the street.
Now look. The scrappy blonde
has beaten the world and is taking on
the United States.
"For America, the Olympics is the
thing. That's what people notice be
cause the World Cup is new here," the
superstar of women's soccer said Mon
day at the U.S. Olympic Festival. "The
Olympics is the American dream."
Akers-Stahl, who has won three
gold medals and one silver in past
festivals and captained the U.S.
Women's National Team that won
the World Cup in China in 1991, be
lieves women's soccer will be an
Olympic event in Atlanta.
But if the United States is just
coming around to the sport, the rest
of the world has already noticed.
And although fame is just beginning
to spotlight Akers-Stahl at home, in
other countries kids beg for auto
graphs and parents point her out to
their daughters.
Akers-Stahl, 27, of Oveido, Fla.,
was the leading scorer at the first
Women's World Championship. She
has scored 55 goals in 60 internation
al appearances since she became a
member of the national team at its in
ception in 1985. Playing for the South
at the festival, Akers-Stahl scored
both of her team's goals in their 3-2
loss on Saturday to the West.
"She's one of the best athletes, if
not the best, in the world,'' said
David Simeone, who coaches the
South. "I tell people, there's one
Michael Jordan,, one John Elway and
right now, there's only one Michelle
Akers-Stahl."
Akers-Stahl, 5-foot-10, 150
pounds, has the ability to dominate
any game she's in, Simeone said. Her
presence alone has made the South
the favorite in the festival, despite a
loss in its first game, despite severe
muscle spasms in her back that have
slowed her but will not prevent her
from playing.
"In addition to her athletic ability
and mental toughness, she has great
problem-solving skills," Simeone
said. "To be a great soccer player you
have to have that skill."
Akers-Stahl likens it to a chess
match — making the moves is im
portant, but knowing where to go is
equally essential.
"Great soccer players must be
able to envision what will .happen
two or three steps in advance," Ak
ers-Stahl said. "When a game is over
you should be tired from just the
thinking you had to do."
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Prairie View A&M Uni
versity's athletic department finally has something
to cheer about.
The small NCAA Division I school, which has no
football victories and only one men's basketball tri
umph in two years, has topped seven other South
western Athletic Conference schools in the gradua
tion rate for student athletes.
A recently released national report compared the
rates for student athletes entering NCAA Division I
schools in 1986-87. Prairie View had 53 percent of its
athletics go on to graduation.
That's more than twice the 26-percent graduation
rate for Prairie View students overall.
"My philosophy has always been to stress the
academics," said Prairie View athletic director Bar
bara Jacket. "Our athletes are students first and fore
most. Athletics is secondary to our scholastic mission
of preparing adults to go out into the real world."
The next-highest athletics graduation rate in the
SWAC was 44 percent at Mississippi Valley State.
The worst rate was 7 percent at Alcorn State. At
Texas Southern University in Houston, 24 percent of
the athletes received diplomas.
School spokesman Bryan Barrows said one reason
for Prairie View's success is tlnat students are recruit
ed for their minds and are offered academic rather
than athletic scholarships.
"Obviously, our student athletes come here to get
a good education and academic training," Barrows
said. "At Prairie View, there is less concern about
sports than about preparing our students for their
future after college."
Barrows added that school staff members and
coaches try to work closely with athletes to keep
their focus on academics.
"I've noticed a strong emphasis on mentoring,"
he said. "The staff is involved in much more impor
tant things than athletics."
About 80 percent of women athletes received
diplomas, compared with about 41 percent of the
men.
Prairie View's athletic programs have struggled
since many were suspended in 1990 after deficits
and financial scandals were uncovered.
The Panthers' track teams are competitive, but
other team sports have struggled since being rein
stated in 1991.
Scoreboard
American League
Kansas City 12 Texas
National Leaaue
Kansas City
Texas
Los Angeles
15
San Francisco 1
Detroit
5
New York
2
Chicago
9
San Diego 6
Chicago
4
Cleveland
3
Cincinnati
6
Houston 1
Milwaukee
3
Boston
2
Atlanta
(late)
Colorado
Oakland
(late)
California
-
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