alion
Page 11 • Wednesday, September 23, 1998
Dlayot
Sports
hedules set years In advance
BY ROBERT HOLDER
The Battalion
gious hymns c
"It’s all i:
They haveihe
theater has a
have the right
lace Simon,
DALLAS (Af
m now, folk
ing their f
summer ofL
med to baker
i hard enaiT:-
security guetr
be able tel!
home, turn
trip and pla
“When those schools dropped their agree
ments with us, we had to fill the slots as soon
as possible, and there were not very many op
tions left for us. We had to fill them with who
ever was willing to play us.”
Groff also said many of the games the Aggies
are playing now were scheduled 10 to 12 years ago.
Slocum was not the head coach 12 years ago
and had no control over the 1998 schedule.
“We’re playing Southern Mississippi in a
home-and-home,” Groff said. “We scheduled
them years in advance to fill an open date. We
wanted a two-for-one with them, but they
would only agree to a one-and-one.”
For the fans who want to see the Aggies play
a more competitive schedule, Groff said he has
scheduled some bigger non-conference games
for the future.
The Aggies have a home-and-home with
Notre Dame in 2000 and 2001 and with Florida
State in 2005 and 2006. They will play Wash
ington and Virginia Tech in 2002 and will play
Michigan State, Wyoming and Clemson in 2004.
Slocum said one reason for the scheduling
difficulties was when the Big 12 Conference was
on .i furor fo
I’l.lV SjV,. rt,
refused to tfo.
Jay, saying y
''Corpus Ch
ile said no
leased beyon;
brochureser; aens every fall: Before the Aggies take
goers earlier for their first practice, A&M football
"From mode: critics start discussing the same thing;
lexas, toanoe Ft the Aggies playing tougher compe-
low a your,, their! pre-season schedule and why
'osiiua on exas A&M Football coach R.C. Slocum
and get to k: tougher teams?
'.vhochoose: agh Louisiana Tech, Southern Missis-
Theaterg rth Texas and Southwest Louisiana are
>ff the con:: 'rhouses, the Aggies have played tough
the :et ion. A&M played Nebraska, UCLA and
tate in three of their last five games,
of the Aggies’ non-conference oppo-
1 last several years have not been mar-
tch ups, but the fault for the Aggies’
■ is not with Slocum.
■ Slocum does have input with whom
Alter be::: es P^Y. Texas A&M Athletics Director
v itchthepL: off is in charge of scheduling and it is
)f Greenwich, I n °t his fault either that the Ag
gies have played a softer
schedule in past years.
“When I came here (A&M)
in ’93, we had some open
dates on our schedules for fu
ture years that had to be
filled,” Groff said. “We had
some teams drop out of their
verbal agreements to play us
an d we had seven slots to fill
for games in the ’90s.
L (✓aW/i example, we had agreed to play Ne-
ind Colorado in a home-and-home se-
t 995,;but those contracts were voided
"1 firV / hen we entered the Big 12. We played
'l/tl/IX l o at their place in 1995, and they were
■d to come here in 1996. Because of Big
^ ../duling, they came here anyway, but
1/'fflflP our!signed contract.”
' said with seven open dates to fill, he
have much of a choice on who the Ag-
ild play.
: said A&M was supposed to play LSU
ars in a row and play Auburn in a home-
ne series in 1997 and 1998, but both
backed out of their agreements for var-
sons.
didn't have much of a choice,” Groff
We had agreements with LSU and
, but they changed their minds at the last
, We also had an agreement to play Air
/Dry Jo Wa! i a two-for-one series, but their new head
they wen lid not want to play us under those terms,
y, pool, ?
■e to Color
vhere there
or cooler we
'buck E. Cti?
cer said,
ir this ware
best and cor
s history. #
/ over jusi W
ays it’s talk
st how ho!' 1
Fty-one tiM
i weeks in ■
reached ore'
Sundown W
overnight ttf.
no lower
I 38 times.
llas-Fort W
it May-Aif
II tempera" , / ^
legrees, esc-/
;e in 1
east 131 petSf
i Texas, in
rants near
oout 100 die-
'xcluding
as the secot
on record"
Only to the--
was drier,
drought of i'
ostliest since’
tch of the l c
losses estinG
than $2.1
> Utilities El^
were up afl-
over last f
n reached^
3 million ^ -
si dents July-'
)ns morettf!
■t Aug. 23, l l ' : '
shrubs f
brown by Ik
all about making an impact.
where the!) be considered for an interview, drop your
rmaT 111 ^': the Career Center by Friday, October 2, 5
•eal glad k "
ke Duel, oil y ou you're more than a piece of paper,
a’s Logan i 7 err
a long,hoi u re bursting with ideas and insights that can change the
ike Texa! )r | c j 0 f business. And at Andersen Consulting,
an - a»
ren intohik want them.
' Il °lieat [ ' ^ s a ' eac ^' n 9 global management and technology
cted to consulting organization, we bring our insights and
^lias to world-class clients to help them achieve
o drives n' l ’ ;
•y day, ha' ®1998 Andersen Consulting. All rights reserved. An equal opportunity employer.
s air cotidi
on’t try
id, ‘‘nol 1111
anges."
Greg McReynolds/Tiii-: Battalion
Sophomore linebacker Cornelius Anthony (left) and senior safety Rich Coady converge on a Southern
Mississippi player in A&M’s 24-6 victory Saturday. The contest was scheduled 12 years ago.
formed, which caused difficulties in keeping
contracts with other schools.
“When the Big 12 Conference came togeth
er, it facilitated making a schedule,” Slocum
said. “Our home-and-home contracts with Col
orado and Nebraska were voided to facilitate the
merging of the two leagues. That put us in a
tough situation and on short notice to try to get
teams to play.”
Slocum also said Texas A&M is not the
only school that schedules weaker oppo
nents. He said other top programs do the
same thing every year, but do not get as much
criticism for it.
“If you look around, there are a whole bunch
of teams in the country that end up playing one
or two teams like that every year,” Slocum said.
“Florida opened up with The Citadel and played
Northeast Louisiana the next week. Penn State
played Bowling Green.
“The only thing that I have requested in our
scheduling is that we’ll play anybody, anywhere
as long as they agree to a home-and-home. I’ll
take my team to South Bend, but I want them to
come here, too. The good programs all do that.”
Tiki ineligible for UNT
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Texas A&M running back D An
dre Hardeman will remain sus
pended for Saturday’s game against
the University of North Texas while
school and NCAA officials try to
determine his eligibility.
Athletics Di
rector Wally Groff
declined to say
Tuesday what
Hardeman’s case
involved. He said
university offi
cials were look
ing into the case
and Hardeman
would be side
lined until the issue is resolved.
Coach R. C. Slocum suspended
Hardeman before Saturday’s 24-6
victory over Southern Mississippi.
Hardeman scored three touch
downs in the Aggies’ 28-7 victory
over Louisiana Tech.
The Bryan-College Station Ea
gle reported Thesday that Harde
man may have been given an in
correct grade in a course, raising
questions about his eligibility.
Consequently, A&M may have to
forfeit its win over Tech.
“I guess there’s always that
HARDEMAN
possibility just like anything else,”
Groff said.
Slocum refused to comment on
Hardeman’s situation due to the
Buckley Amendment, an NCAA
rule prohibiting university offi
cials from commenting on stu
dent-athletes’ grades.
“I really don’t have a lot of dis
cussion about what happened,
whose fault it was,” Slocum said.
“It would serve no purpose for me
to discuss my opinions about the
issue. There are a very few things
that I don’t talk about, or won’t
talk about. But I do get some sit
uations that I can’t talk about.”
Hardeman, a senior, was
A&M’s leading rusher through
the first two games with 105
yards and scored four touch
downs this season.
Hardeman holds the school
record with a 95-yard touchdown
run against Baylor in 1996. He is
also seventh on A&M’s career
touchdown list.
Ja’Mar Toombs, who made his
first career start against Southern
Miss, will be Hardeman’s replace
ment. Due to an injury to junior
fullback Jason Bragg, former
walk-on Will Simpson will be
Toombs’ backup.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Madden proceeds
to qualifying final
Texas A&M sophomore Shuon
Madden advanced to the final
round of qualifying Tuesday in the
1998 T. Rowe Price National Clay
Court Championships in Baltimore.
Madden defeated Danny Erez of
the University Nevada-Las Vegas 6-
7, 6-1,6-1 in the qualifying round of
64 Tuesday.
Madden, who earned All-Big 12
honors in singles and doubles as a
freshman, will face No. 72 Marco
Baron of Mississippi State in the
round of 32 Wednesday morning.
Nguyen named to
Good Works team
Texas A&M senior linebacker Dat
Nguyen was named to the 1998
American Football Coaches Associa
tion Good Works Team Tuesday.
The Good Works Team honors
athletes who show exceptional ded
ication to community service and to
the improvement of the communi
ties in which they live.
“The Good Works Team at
tempts to recognize those student-
athletes who go above and beyond
in service to others,” Grant Teaff,
AFCA Executive Director said.
We're looking for thinkers. Not just their diplomas.
resume, transcript and personal data sheet
00 p.m.
profound change. After all, it takes powerful ideas to align
strategy with people, processes and technology.
We'll provide first-rate training and guidance, and
expose you to a variety of projects and industries. All
of which builds a solid foundation for your future.
Take this opportunity to talk to us about yourself, and
most importantly, your ideas.
Visit our Web site at www.ac.com
A
Andersen
Consulting