uesday • February 17, 1998
The Battalion
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Jarone’s legacy will be more than losses
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m, t , "Y A That Tony Barone has until 1994 and will not open its doors until next sea- has graduated 88.9 percent of his players, an nario Barone envisioned at the start of the season. He
...
I
Chris
Ferrell
' ^ports writer
lat Tony Barone has
done for the Texas
A&M Men’s Basketball
Team over the past seven sea
sons can’t be measured in wins
and losses, but unfortunately
in the world of big time college
athletics, that’s all that counts.
Yesterday, Athletic Director
Wally Groff announced that
Barone would be reassigned
within the athletic department
after the season, putting an end
to weeks of speculation about
[oirioach’s future. The Aggies are 6-16 on the season
are winless in conference play. But to measure
me by wins and losses would completely overlook
the has done during his time in College Station.
|eng even years ago, Barone took the worst coaching
n college basketball. He came to a school which
decimated by NCAA probation, had terrible facil-
and had no fan support. He left behind a
ghton program which had advanced to the sec-
J round of the NCAA Tournament and had won
Missouri Valley Conference titles in the past three
ons. The only thing Texas A&M had was the
nise of a new arena, one that was not approved
until 1994 and will not open its doors until next sea
son, when a new coach will be leading the Aggies.
With Barone’s arrival there was re
newed hope that A&M would return
to the same level of success it had en
joyed under Shelby Metcalf, who be
came the winningest coach in South
west Conference history during his 27
seasons at A&M. But that never hap
pened. In fact, the Aggies would only
experience one winning season under
Barone. That was in the 1993-94 season
when the team received an NIT bid.
But what Tony Barone did bring
to the A&M basketball program
was class and unmatched enthusi
asm. As ESPN’s Dick Vitale told
me last fall, “Tony does things
the right way.”
The purpose of college ath
letics, no matter what you
may hear, is not to serve as a
minor league to the professional
ranks, but rather to develop better
people, the same way teachers do it
in the classroom.
During Barone’s time at A&M, he
has graduated 88.9 percent of his players, an
unheard of number in today’s game. He has
done that by going out and getting good peo
ple, not just good basketball players. He
brought in players that cared about Texas
A&M and the program.
Maybe he did not produce lottery picks, but
he produced good citizens.
He put everything he had into Texas
A&M basketball. He celebrated with every
basket and died a thousand deaths with
every loss. He could be spotted playing
defense along with his team, shuffling
back and forth across the sideline shout
ing out instructions to his players.
Watching Barone was often more en
tertaining than watching his teams —
teams which were limited by scholar
ships, and usually by talent, but always
found a way to play tough and keep
most games competitive.
His enthusiasm for the game is
contagious and you could see it in
his players and those around him
when he started talking about
A&M basketball.
Yesterday’s announcement was the last sce
nario Barone envisioned at the start of the season. He
was excited about the team and felt that this was go
ing to be the breakthrough year for the Aggies. But
with a couple of tough losses and a couple of big in
juries, the season quickly fell apart.
There was not much question that a change need
ed to be made for the sake of wins and losses. With
horrible attendance at G. Rollie White Coliseum and a
new 12,500 seat arena set to open, something needed
to be done to shake things up. After all, money talks
and that’s why Barone walks.
His legacy at Texas A&M will be as the guy who
took off his jacket and tie and danced around the
sideline. Barone has been more than that. By weath
ering the storm of the past seven seasons, Barone
turned the worst job in America into one of the best.
The next Men’s Basketball Coach at Texas A&M will
inherit a young, talented team and the arena which
Barone was promised when he first arrived. He may
bring more wins. He may produce better basketball
players. But doing things with the same commitment
to academics and with the same dedication as Tony
Barone will be a tough act to follow.
— Chris Ferrell is a sophomore
journalism major
ten's team limps into final weeks of season Individuals stepping up for the women
then’s
' ■ Jett
1-minus four and counting. There are four
games left for the Aggies to win: at Texas, vs.
. Texas Tech, at Kansas State and vs. Baylor. Bay-
may be the best bet for a victory. The last time the
lies lost to Baylor at home was 95-92 in 1994 in
ible-overtime. Unfortunately, it looks as if every-
igis on hold after the big news on Monday:
rone Reassigned
‘bach Tony Barone will be reassigned as Athletic
ector Wally Groff’s special assistant at the end of
season. The Aggies hope to hire a new head coach
une 1. The Sporting News has speculated that
VI could “wave big money at New Mexico’s Dave
sor Mississippi’s Rob Evans.”
alysis Of A Losing Streak
The Aggies lose to upper-tier Big 12 teams (Kansas,
ahoma State and Oklahoma) by an average of
irly 21 points per game. The Aggies lose to second-
teams (a six-way tie for fourth place between
Tech, Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado, Baylor
Nebraska) by an average of around 13 points a
e.The Aggies lose to bottom-tier teams (Texas
Iowa State) by an average of five points a game.
;es sense, doesn’t it?
igs And Arrows, Part II
IJunior guard Chris Clayton was out for the season
i a fractured right foot suffered in the loss to Texas
Tech. Clayton was averaging 6.8 points a game and
was shooting 33 percent from three-point range.
“Chris had worked very hard and was starting to
get more and more playing time,” Barone said. “It’s a
very unfortunate injury. Our main focus now is to
make sure his injury is treated properly so he can play
next year.”
Clayton is the fourth Aggie to sustain a season
ending injury. Others include Dario Quesada (bulging
disk), Calvin Davis (herniated disk) andTJ. Brown
(torn anterior cruciate ligament).
Clayton’s injury left the team with only eight players.
Schmidt Has Career Day
Freshman guard Michael Schmidt (no relation) had
a huge game off the bench against Missouri with a ca
reer-high 24 points. Schmidt, who entered the game
shooting about 20 percent from three-point range, was
4-5 from the same area against Missouri. Schmidt has
an interesting story. A native of Toronto, he was the
only high-schooler named to the 1997 Canadian Un-
der-22 National Team and was rated by several recruit
ing publications as the No. 1 player in Canada. He
chose Texas A&M before visiting the University over
Minnesota, DePaul, Syracuse and Southern California.
Barone Speaks After The Missouri Loss
On having eight players: “It really disrupts prac
tice. We don’t have any (Missouri center) Monte
Hardges walking around campuses. You need guys
to scrimmage against.”
On losing streak: “I’m fully aware of our record.
These guys aren’t quitting, they are playing their
hearts out. You’ll try anything to keep your sanity. As
you lose, the critics are there, but most don’t know
anything about basketball or our team.”
On playing at the Hearnes Center (Missouri): “It’s
like playing the Packers at Lambeau. They’re 11-1 here.”
—Jejf Schmidt is a junior
journalism major
i
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T he Texas A&M Women’s Basketball Team went
0-2 this past week. The Aggies lost to the OSU
Cowgirls 95-57 and the Texas Tech Red Raiders
90-65. This week, the Aggies take on the University of
Texas Wednesday at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Colise
um, and Texas Tech Saturday at 2 p.m. in Lubbock.
Sharpe Doubles Her Pleasure
Sophomore forward Prissy Sharpe has scored in
double figures in 18 of the Aggies’ 22 games this sea
son. Sharpe leads the Big 12 in double-doubles with
14. For her career, Sharpe has scored in double fig
ures in 29 out of 49 games with 19 double-doubles.
Alexander Takes Over
Sophomore forward Kera Alexander started
against Texas Tech on Saturday. Alexander had
been A&M’s leading scorer coming off the bench,
averaging 12.6 points per game. Alexander ranks
ninth in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 15.2 points
per game in conference. Alexander scored a career-
high 32 points in a loss to Baylor earlier this year,
which was the highest scoring performance by an
Aggie in Big 12 history. Even more impressive then
her scoring, Alexander is currently maintaining a
4.0 GPR in Computer Science.
Tark The Shark
With 5 assists against Texas Tech, junior point
guard KimTarkington has tallied 104 on the season.
Tark’s 104 assists are the most by an Aggie player
since Lisa Branch had 231 assists in the 1996 sea
son. If the season were to end today, Tarkington
would rank 14th all-time in the Aggie record books
for assists in a season.
An intense competitor on the court, Tark also is
known for her soft spot toward children off the court.
In a game earlier this season, Tarkington ran a few
rows up into the crowd during player introductions
to give a mini-basketball to a child who was ill with
leukemia. While in junior college, Tarkington held her
own basketball camp for children in Fort Smith, Ark.
All In The Family
The Aggies picked up a recruit during the early
signing period. The Aggies signed LaToya Rose, a 5-
foot, 6-inch point guard from Magnolia, Ark., to a let
ter of intent. Rose is the cousin of current Aggie point
guard Kim Tarkington and is rated as one of the top
point guards in Arkansas. As a junior in high school
Rose averaged 29.5 points per game.
- Michael Taglienti is a senior
sports management major
)rps takes on fraternities in charity game sponsored by Order of Omega
By Robert Hollier
Staff writer
The eighth annual Corps-Fra-
nity charity basketball game will
I played tonight at 7:30 in G. Rol-
| White Coliseum to benefit the
:el Creek Boy’s and Girl’s Ranch.
The game officially kicks off the
der of Omega’s annual Greek
:ek, which also benefits the same
arity.The Interfraternity Council
11 donate $1,000 to Steel Creek
ring a halftime presentation.
While this game will not be a
udge match for the teams, it is a
me both sides are playing to win.
Troy Coleman, Corps coach
d team captain, said this game
just a friendly competition be-
een them.
“It’s nothing personal,” Cole
man said. “We want to win of
course, but we still just see this
game as a friendly competitive
game. It should be a lot of fun.”
This will be the fourth time
Coleman has participated in this
event and he and the rest of the
team are ready to play.
“We’ve been looking forward to
this game all year,” he said. “We put
our team together real early, set up
our practice schedules and now
we’re ready to play.”
Robert Ladimir, member of Pi
Kappa Alpha and team co-captain
agreed, saying the players are just
out there to have a good time.
“Win or lose, there will be no
hard feelings,” Ladimir said. “We
get to play on a nice court in front
of a big crowd and it’s all for chari
ty. That’s the best thing about it.”
Ladimir also said another great
thing about this event is that it
creates a rivalry between the fra
ternities and the Corps, which
adds more excitement and energy
to the game.
Starters for the Corps team in
clude seniors Troy Coleman (Com
pany E-1) and Brandon Henderson
(Company L-l), juniors Clay Stan
field (Company C-2) and Joe Garza
(Squadron 17) and freshman
Robert Neal (Company E-2).
Starters for the fraternity team
are Patrick Collier (Beta Theta Pi),
Pranay Patel (Sigma Chi), Rob
Turner (Pi Kappa Alpha), Tom Gre
gor (Phi Delta Theta) and Brian
Sims (Delta Chi).
Baseball team faces DBU in doubleheader
from staff and wire reports
After a weekend which included
three wins, a tournament champi
onship and a broken record, the
20th-ranked Texas A&M Baseball
Team returns home this afternoon
for a doubleheader with Dallas
Baptist University.
Dallas Baptist is 1-1 on the year,
with a 6-5 loss to Concordia and a 4-
3 win over St. Edwards on Friday.
A&M knocked off Arkansas State,
Oral Roberts and UT-Arlington by a
combined score of 34-9 to capture the
UTA/Arlington Morning News Invita
tional and improve their season record
to 7-0. Junior center fielder Jason Tyn
er stole second in the ninth inning of
Sunday’s game against UTA to set the
career record for stolen bases with 84.
The former record was held by Chuck
Knoblauch, who had 83 swipes in his
three seasons at A&M. He now plays
second base for the NewYork Yankees.
Tyner has continued his torrid start
of the season, hitting .438 with five
steals in five attempts. Sophomore
rjlliLg
JAKE SCHRICKUNG/The Battalion
Senior Scott Sandusky dives back into first base against UT-Pan American.
Sean Heaney is also off to a solid start,
with nine RBI and an average of .444.
Junior Shane King is the likely
starter in the first game, which will
get underway at 1 p.m. at Olsen
Field. King last saw work in the
opening day no-hitter, pitching two
innings in relief with two strikeouts.
Sophomore Chance Caple will go
in the second game for the Aggies,
following his win against Tarleton
State, in which he gave up three runs
on five hits and struck out three.
Caple will be gunning for his sec
ond victory to join senior Ryan
Rupe, sophomore Casey Possum
and junior Matt Webb as Texas
A&M’s two-game winners.
Pre Law Society
Welcomes
St. Mary’s Law School
and
Texas Wesleyan Law School
Wednesday, February 18th
8:30 p.m.
504 Rudder
Everyone is Welcome!!!
For more information call
Office of Professional School Advising
847-8938
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