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Texas A&M Head Basketball Coach
I Tony Barone announced that he has
hired Kelvin Lee as an assistant basket-
jball coach. Lee replaces Frank Haith,
[who accepted a similar position at
Penn State last week.
Lee had served the last three sea
sons as an assistant coach at Saint
Louis University. Saint Louis went 23-8
last season, advancing to the second
round of the NCAA Tournament.
"I have seen Kelvin in the field
| working and have always been totally
impressed with the way he carried
himself," Barone said. "Kelvin brings
[to our staff a tremendous enthusiasm.
I We are pleased to be able to attract a
caoch such as Kelvin froma quality
program such as Saint Louis."
A&M Basketball walkon
tryouts Saturday
The Texas A&M Men's Basketball
I Team will hold walk-on tryouts Sun
day at 6:00 p.m. on the main floor of
C.Rollie White Coliseum.
Anyone needing more information
should call 845-4531.
| Cook shots eight under,
takes lead in Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — John Cook, trying
to make up for a miserable year at a tour
nament he won in 1992, shot an 8-under-
I par 64 Thursday and shared the second-
round lead of the Las Vegas Invitational
| with Bob Tway.
Cook and Tway were at 13-under,
[ topping a field of pros who had another
field day on the three desert courses
that again proved most accommodating
to low scoring.
They had plenty of company, though,
[with Billy Mayfair, Mark Brooks and Curt
Byrum a stroke back at 12-under and five
I others in at 11 -under with three rounds left
| in the $1.5 million pro-am tournament.
Tway actually has a raw score of 130,
lone stroke ahead of Cook, but both are
13-under because they have played differ-
lent courses. The last two rounds will be
on one course.
□ An ankle injury and the marked im
provement of Dat Nguyen have limited
linebacker Trent Driver's playing time.
By David Winder
The Battalion
Penciled in as a starting inside linebacker at the
end of preseason, sophomore Trent Driver was ex
pected to have a breakthrough year. Four games
into the season, Driver has yet to break into the
starting lineup.
“Coach (Phil) Bennett said he’s only going to play
who produces, he’s not going to play favorites,” Dri
ver said. “I guess I haven’t been producing.”
Bennett, the Aggies defensive coordinator, said
Driver’s playing time has diminished because of the
improvement of Dat Nguyen and a nagging ankle
injury.
“I haven’t been disappointed in Trent’s play,”
Bennett said. “He just let Dat Nguyen get ahead of
him. I’m going to put the best three of four people
on the field.
Trent’s also
not fully
healed from
his injury.
“If you look
at it they
(Driver and
Nguyen) have split the time. I think they comple
ment each other well. Dat is more of a finesse play
er, at 210 pounds he gets bounced around in there.
Trent is a more physical linebacker at 225.”
In high school. Driver was named an all-state
linebacker and the Class 4A Defensive Player of the
Year in 1994. But even with the success in high
school, Driver found adjusting to the college game a
difficult task.
“In high school, it was more laid back, it really
wasn’t that hard,” Driver said. “They’re going to run
such-and-such, you see it coming and you stop it.
Not that hard.
“In college, there’s always a chance for anything
to happen. It’s a different game. If you don’t come to
play you will get crushed.”
Driver said former A&M linebacker Reggie Graham
helped him to get assimilated to college football.
“He always helped me out with drills and after prac
tice,” Driver said. “He was there to explain things to
me. He helped me emotionally, too. Reggie is a player
who plays with a lot of fire. If I could play with half
the fire he does, I think I’d be a good player.”
In a backup role last year. Driver had 13 tackles
and one quarterback sack. He also caused a fumble
"I guess I haven't been
producing."
— Trent Driver
A&M linebacker
Stew Milne, The Battalion
Texas A&M sophomore linebacker Trent Driver harrasses Colorado quarterback Koy Detmer during the Aggies' 29-21
loss at Colorado Sept. 23. Driver has been sidelined by injuries and has had difficulty gaining playing time this season.
in the Oklahoma game which led to a touchdown in
the Aggies’ 36-14 victory.
“I think Trent has great instincts, along with
size, quickness and intelligence,” Bennett said. “He
reminds of a linebacker I coached at Fkirdue, Fred
Strickland (currently with the Green Bay Packers).
They have the same build and their lower bodies are
so powerful.”
Driver arrived at A&M with four other blue-chip
linebackers in Nguyen, Quinton Brown, Warrick
Holdman and Philip Meyers.
“We call ourselves the Fab Five,” Driver said. “I
think we can be as good or better than any other
linebacker class at A&M.”
Sean Slocum has coaching in the blood
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o A&M's outside linebacking
coach has coached with his
father at A&M since 1989.
By Philip Leone
The Battalion
Texas A&M Outside Linebacker Coach
Shawn Slocum grew up on a football field.
He was the annoying little kid who ran
around during practice and chased balls,
pestered players and generally got in
everybody’s way. As R.C. Slocum’s son,
football was all he knew.
Following his father from Texas A&M
to the University of Southern California
and back again, Slocum had every oppor
tunity to take in the game and hang
around big-time college football players.
And according to Sean, his father’s long
hours and duties as a defensive coach
never took away from his responsibilities
at home.
“My father did a great job of not
bringing home the problems and wor
ries associated with coaching,” said
Slocum. “Growing up, I always respect
ed his actions because he was such an
even tempered man. That taught me a
lot about life.”
After his gridiron days at Bryan High
School were over in 1983, Slocum stayed
at home and made the 12th Man Kickoff
Squad under then Aggie Head Coach
Jackie Sherrill. Slocum graduated from
Shawn Slocum (right) discusses strategy with defensive A&M in 1987 with a degree in construc-
line coach Bill Young at A&M football practice. tion management, then moved to Hous-
Evan Zimmerman, The Battalion
ton to pursue that career.
However, the nine-to-five grind of
working for a construction developer was
not for Slocum, and he longed to throw
his energies into football once more.
“Football had always been such a posi
tive thing in my life, and I just couldn’t
live without it — couldn’t stand not being
around it,” Slocum said. “So I called my
dad from Houston one night and told him
I wanted to coach. He laughed and said
'You don’t want to do that’, but my mind
was pretty much made up at that point.”
In 1989, Slocum quit his construc
tion job in Houston, moved back to Ag-
gieland, and took a serious cut in pay
to work as a graduate assistant under
his father, whao had just been named
A&M’s new head coach.
After serving a season in that role,
Slocum decided to join Paul Hackett’s
staff at the University of Pittsburgh
in the same capacity, but found his
way back to College Station when the
Aggie tight end coaching position
opened in 1991.
Slocum made the switch to his current
position in 1989. He is also in charge of
the kicking game specialists. Up-and-
coming junior outside linebacker Jimmie
Irby feels that his young position coach
has things under control.
“Coach Slocum is cool, you know; he
makes sure we take care our business out
on and off the field,” Irby said. “He’s not
too serious because it’s not like we’re a
bunch of high school kids just messing
around needing to be told what to do all
the time.”
Pointing fingers no
way to solve problems
A fter last week’s game at
Tech, Leeland McElroy
said that the Aggie team
was not playing at “one accord.”
I wondered if he meant team
unity. It would be really easy
for a team who started out as
the No.3 team in the nation and
has fallen to the No.22 team in
the nation after losing two
games in a row to face a little
tension among themselves and
start pointing the finger.
While the rest of the world
seems to be blaming quarter
back Corey Pullig, the A&M
team is standing behind him.
During The R.C. Slocum Show
this week, Slocum defended his
quarterback saying he would
continue to start Pullig because
Pullig is still the best quarter
back that A&M has.
At the press conference this
week, the players defended Pul
lig as well. His roommate
Hunter Goodwin said that to
blame just one guy is ridiculous.
“For anyone to say it’s one
guy’s fault is ridiculous,” Good
win said. “Corey’s had tons of
pressure put on his back, and
he’s almost been expected to
carry this offense through the
past two weeks.You can’t ask
that of anybody. I think that it’s
about time that maybe some of
the other guys step up and take
the pressure on themselves.”
As the quarterback, and one
of the seniors, Pullig is in the
position as the team leader. The
players obviously respect him,
the coaches continue to put
their trust in him, but what
about Pullig?
Like Goodwin said, Pullig
has carried the weight of the
losses on his shoulders. He’s
taken the blame, along with the
criticism, and, for the most part,
he’s done a good job. If the play
ers can defend him, and the
coaches have enough trust in
him to continue him as starting
quarterback, why shouldn’t we?
The team has the talent,
their confidence is just a little
See NANCE, Page 8
THE BATTALION’S
1995 STAFF PICKS
The Match-ups
Nick
Georgandis
Kristina
Buffin
David
Winder
Tom
Day
Lisa
Nance
Philip
Leone
Robin
Greathouse
Rob
Clark
Sterling
Hayman
Stew
Milne
Kyle
Littlefield
Michael
Landauer
Gretchen
Perrenot
Stacy
Stanton
Jody
Holley
Commentary
SMU at *22 Texas a&M
SMU
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M
A&M: Disgruntled Nick attempts 0-12 week
Baylor at Houston
Houston
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor: UH could be worst in Division l-A....
TCU at Rice
Rice
TCU
TCU
Rice
TCU
TCU
TCU
TCU
Rice
TCU
TCU
Rice
TCU
Rice
Rice
TCU: Frogs vs. Owls in Trials of Life
#25 Texas Tech at Ark. St.
Ark. State
Texas Tech Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Ark. State
Texas Tech
Texas Tech Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Texas Tech
Tech: Oh, the tortillas will be flying!
^ 3 Oklahoma vs. ® Texas
Texas
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Texas
OU: Sooners make James Brown feel bad....
#3 Florida at * 7 Auburn
Auburn
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Auburn
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida: Spurrier finally breaks Bowden jinx..
#fe Tenn. at # 12 Alabama
Alabama
Tennessee
Alabama
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee
Alabama
Tennessee
Tennessee: Alabama's home not so sweet....
Ohio St. at Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ohio State Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
Ohio State
OSU: Wisconsin's got a killer schedule
*21 Washington at * 1 ^ Stanford
Stanford
Washington Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington
Washington: Fluskies want to be leader of PAC
Oilers vs. The Off Week
Oilers (Larry)
Off Week
Off Week
Oilers (Curly)
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Oilers (Moe)
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week
Off Week: Houston just not playing "Oiler Ball"
Cowboys at Chargers
Chargers
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Cowboys
Chargers
Cowboys
Cowboys: Chargers offense has no voltage..
Raiders at Broncos
Raiders
Raiders
Raiders
Raiders
Raiders
Broncos
Broncos
Raiders
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos
Broncos: Flway's magic kicks in again
Last Week
4-8
9-3
9-3
9-3
9-3
9-3
7-5
10-2
7-5
9-3
8-4
7-5
7-5
7-5
8-4
Last week's guest picker, Toby Boenig went
Cumulative
40-27-2
49-18-2
48-18-2
52-15-2
49-18-2
49-18-2
45-27-2
47-18-2
45-27-2
48-17-2
49-18-2
50-1 7-2
45-22-2
39-28-2
44-23-2
6-6, the worst record ever by a guest picker.