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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1998)
Sports Friday • April The Business of Winning Coach Melvin Watkins left all he had known in North Carolina for the challenge of building a basketball traditions Jeff Webb Sports editor T he most noticeable feature about the office of new Texas A&M Basketball Coach Melvin Watkins is nothing at all. The walls stand bare, and aside from random stacks of papers that sit around the room, the surroundings are pretty boring. Watkins is not familiar with the con ventions of moving into a new office be cause until one month ago, he had spent a quarter-century at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Looking past the six-inch-high stacks of phone messages that await his reply, Watkins sits back in his chair, arms folded, and dreams about how long it will take for the Aggies, his Aggies, to win the National Championship. “IVe looked at some film, and I know they (Aggies) had some injuries last year, but we won’t spend time on last year,” he said. “We need to look forward and bring some fresher air in here. ‘‘We want to have a winning basketball team, but more importantly, we want to win at life. I want to win the National Champi onship. Is that realistic? I don’t know, but I ask my players to think big.” A winning attitude is something Watkins earned a reputation for as a player and a coach at UNCC. As a starting guard, Watkins led the 49ers to a 28-5 record in 1977 on their way to a Final Four berth where they would be knocked off by eventual champion Mar quette. As a coach, Watkins began his stint in Charlotte in 1996 by losing three of his first five games. The team rebounded to win 10 of their next 11 games and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Watkins was a player. Leaving the only place he had “Melvin’s voice started breaking. Tears started running down my face. yy Judy Rose UNCC Athletic Director ever lived was difficult, but was a decision he felt was right at the time. “Some of it was talking to Wally (Groff, athletic director), and after talking to him, I started doing a little recruiting of myself,” he said. “After I investigated it and found out more about it, it looked like a heck of an opportunity.” Current UNCC basketball coach Bobby Lutz served as an assistant under Watkins during his brief two-year tenure. Lutz and Watkins also worked together as assistants under former coach Jeff Mullins. Many peo ple in Charlotte were taken aback by Watkins’ departure. “I was surprised, but not shocked,” Lutz said. “When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you should never be shocked at what happens. What he was able to do in such a short time at UNCC is incredible.” Watkins also is the first African-Ameri can basketball coach in A&M history. De spite the fact that many try to make light of the situation, Watkins refuses to see it as a racial matter. “What is the color of a basketball? Or ange,” he said. Lutz said that Watkins’ character over shadows any racial questions proposed to the coach. “I consider him one of the best profes sionals in the business and the best per son,” Lutz said. “It’s rare to find such a class-person who is also a great coach and an open-minded individual. He is proud of his race, and he’s also the man who is best for the job.” Watkins has a reputation for developing close, family-like relationships with his players. When reserve UNCC guard Charles Hayward was diagnosed with leukemia during last season, Watkins called for the season to be dedicated to him and stood by him as if he was a family member. UNCC Athletic Director Judy Rose found out about the incident from Watkins and said he was profoundly affected by the incident. Please see Watkins on Page 8. & 'i i a ssi New Texas A&M Coach Melvin Watkins makes sure players will adheretoth that makes them winners on the court and in the game of life. ch I'oim'tlj TN-I is ihr 1 idiM'alj XTS (I ■Jkv'vMl Ition thal fese mrif BOl I bir thrl iStliik'nl Lsonifj iTht iii- jncert at I ping 1 ventu hI lending 1 lltnuist Kent, jubs IT>I Htc tin Hies. |cause,| b’si [ ivur, anl in.pd fNo tlisJ Texas A&M travels to Waco to cage Bears Big 12 schedule eti this weekend fori na hernnij 1 for f to! By Travis Harsch Staff writer The Texas A&M Baseball Team will be playing for first place in the Big 12 this weekend as they travel to Lawrence, Kan., to take on the Kansas Jayhawks. The current first place team, Baylor, won two games against Kansas State in midweek action, so a sweep by A&M would put the Aggies into the conference lead. Coach Mark Johnson said the Aggies will not be concerned with that when they take the field this weekend. “We’re not going in there with the idea to sweep; we’re going in to play the best games that Baseball Update Record: 34-15, 16-8 Big 12 Next Game: at Kansas Time: 7 p.m. Scheduled Starters: Ryan Rape (7-4,3.30 ERA) vs. Les Walrond(3-4, 8.00) Idon ii| null we can,” Johnson said. “If we sweep, if we win two out of three, we’ll take that and go from there.” Johnson said the Jayhawks have had some dif ficulties this season. “They were hitting .311 going into their series with Texas, their fielding hasn’t been very good, they’ve struggled defensively and they’ve strug gled a little bit on the mound,” Johnson said. “They’re a pretty good offensive team. That seems to be their strong suit and they’ve got a couple of pitchers with good ERAs.” Johnson also said warmer temperatures in the north will help Kansas. ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion Texas A&M’s Craig Kuzmic tackles the challenge of beating Baylor for the Big 12 title this weekend. “I think northern teams start picking it up a little more towards the end of the season. They start get ting warmer weather and get more practice time, so we really anticipate a tough series,” Jolmson said. That would be a turnaround from last year’s games in College Station when A&M swept the Jayhawks. Ryan Rupe got a 10-5 win in the first game of the series, the last game he pitched be fore a blood clot was discovered near his clavicle. The Aggies came back from an 8-0 deficit to win the second game, 10-9, and shut out Kansas in game three, 8-0 to take the series. The sweep in creased A&M’s all-time lead in the series to 16-5. Kansas will be trying to rebound from a sweep by Texas in a midweek series which saw the Jayhawks lose two extra-inning games. A&M is coming off an extra-inning loss of its own, a 10-inning affair which the Aggies dropped to Houston, 9-7. That game followed a weekend in which A&M took two of three from the Long horns to go to the 12th spot in both the Baseball America and the Collegiate Baseball polls. By Robert Hollier Staff writer The Texas A&M Softball Team (32- 22-1, 6-8) will conclude its confer ence schedule this weekend when they host No. 19TexasTech on Satur day and Baylor on Sunday. Both se ries are doubleheaders and will start at noon at tire Aggie Softball Field. The Aggies are currently in sixth place in the Big 12 and need to make a strong showing this week end to possibly move up in the standings for a better seeding at the conference tournament. “Last weekend, we got great pitching and tremendous defensive play,” Coach Jo Evans said. “We put it all together last weekend and I was really pleased with our team’s play. “If we want to win this weekend, we have to carry the intensity over from last weekend.” Last weekend, the Aggies split two doubleheaders from No. 5 Ok lahoma and No. 10 Oklahoma State behind some timely hitting, solid defense and tremendous pitching. “Our outfielders were aggressive. Our overall defense didn’t make any costly mistakes and our pitching was excellent,” Evans said. Freshman Amy Vining, who pitched two games last weekend, agreed, adding the Aggies’ defense saved the day on many occasions. “Our defense was amazing,” Vin ing said. “Our outfield didn’t let a ball get passed themisB weekend. We’ve been ::® ,md everygm P- Vining also expressed tel lam this weekend will befoilf and where they wi 12 tournament. “This week end is very im portant leading up to the confer ence tourna ment,” she said. “I feel like we should be able to sweep Baylor, and Tech could hold some prob lems for us. They’ve gotii girls who can really hit die “Baylor has somegooii who can hit the ball. Am® 1 fro is a good pitcher for she has a good risingfastfe 1 good knuckler.” Evans said if the team® to play with the sameinte® showed in Oklahoma, ste doubts about this weekete “We feel like we canv® of these games,” Evans said have to keep the intensity 1 ! confidence is strong rights we need to stay aggresste plate and in the field." After the Aggies conclud conference play, theywill Oklahoma City May 1-310$ in the Big 12 Tournament. MSC COMMITTEE FOR THE AWARENESS OF MEXICAN AMERICAN CULTURE CAiiftei 1E3 jNVircS YOU TO COME diETCTEEs FAJITA COOKOUT Friday, April 24, 1998 4-8PM (Serving Time) Olsen Grove Pavilion (On George Bush Drive over railroad tracks) $6 TAMO St^dentB/^Sculty/Sfcaff $7 General Community $4 Children Under 12 ^Tickets Available On-Site* GK FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT TONY VERDUZCO ©THESTUDENT PROGRAMS OFFICE @845-1515. ck. special needs. We reqcu nt to e r%ab le txs to notification three (3) working days prior > assist yovi to the best of cur abilities. Join us for the 3rd Annual Games Fun Music Give Aways Free Refreshments This celebration is for families and students, young and old - Everyone who lives on PLANET EARTH! ‘Saturday, April 25, 1998‘ 10:00am - 3:00pm Texas A&M Bonfire Site Rain Date May 2, 1998 This event will feature community wide education on: ^ Water conservation ^ Water quality Energy conservation ^ Recycling Waste reduction Composting Sponsored by the Cities of Bryan and College Station Energy, Solid Waste, and Water Services Departments, the Brazos Valley Solid Waste Management Agency, and Texas A&M University Physical Plant ATTENTION CLASS OF ‘9! Come meet your new Class Agents: Laurie Nickel Alex Cabanas Brandon Meche They will be available at The Faculty Club during Ring Dance on April 25 beginning at 10:00p.m 0 I - t: