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Sports
The Battalion
Page 7 • Thursday, March 1 i, 2004
WATKINS RESIGNS
m Big 12 tourney is Watkins’ last dance
By Jordan Meserole
THE BATTALION
Many people contemplate
ituations in their lives that they
oulddo differently if given the
ipportunity: buy that lottery
icket, stop at that yellow light
irask that person out.
There are many things Texas
head coach Melvin
'atkins, who resigned
Mnesday afternoon, would
ivedone differently during his
mure if given the opportunity.
“1 wish we would have been
•7 instead of 7-20,” Watkins
id. “Or how about winning a
iference game? But you can’t
>obackso that’s how it is.”
TheA&M men’s basketball
(7-20, 0-16 Big 12) is
letting one last opportunity to
Jthe season on a high note
ursday in the Big 12
oumament.
For Watkins, who will con-
lue to coach A&M during the
lament, it will be one last
ipportunity to end his A&M
areeron a high note.
The Aggies are only the sec-
odteam in Big 12 history to
winless in conference
lay, and this is only the sec-
time in almost 60 years
A&M has gone winless in
onference play. But if they
the Big 12 tournament,
lieycan still earn a berth to the
CAA tournament.
“Who knows - maybe we’ll
looutand win the national cham-
nship," Watkins said jokingly.
Towinthe Big 12 trophy and
to the NCAA tourna-
JP Beato III • THE BATTALION
A&M head coach Melvin Watkins paces the sideline during A&M’s 76-
70 loss to Colorado Feb. 28 at Reed Arena. Watkins resigned as head
coach Wednesday in Dallas, a day before A&M plays Missouri in the
first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
ment, though, the Aggies would
have to win four consecutive
games, three of which would
most likely be against national
ly-ranked teams.
Enter the University of
Missouri basketball team.
Missouri (15-12, 9-7) is
A&M’s first-round opponent in
the conference tournament.
Missouri handed the Aggies a
82-77 loss Jan. 10, A&M’s first
conference loss of the season,
the first of 16 consecutive losses.
Watkins said the Aggies will
face a very different Missouri
team than the one they faced in
the beginning of the season.
“Missouri is playing better
- much better - than during
our first meeting,” Watkins
said. “We’re going to have our
hands much fuller trying to
defend them.”
Missouri has won six of its
last eight games and is led by
senior center Arthur Johnson.
See Big 12 on page 9
Jacqueline Saburido was 20 years old
when the car she was riding in was hit by
a drunk driver. Today, at 24, she is still
working to put her life back together.
Learn more at www.TexasDWI.org
DON’T DRINK & DRIVE
□B Save a Life"
Texafe Department of Transportation
Why every Aggie should be a UTEP fan
With the resignation of
Texas A&M men’s basket
ball head coach Melvin
Watkins, it’s time to look at
possible replacements. First
of all, you should stop the
delusions of grandeur in
thinking Louisville head
coach Rick Pitino or former
Arkansas head coach Nolan - TROY M,LLE _ R —
Richardson are going to
come to Aggieland.
That’s not going to happen.
Former Illinois and University of Texas-Pan
American head coach Lon Kruger is another promi
nent person who, after he was released from the
New York Knicks coaching staff, has put his name
in the hat for possible college coaching positions.
Kruger was last seen house shopping in Las
Vegas as the probable next head coach at the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
The rumor mill is also swirling around Texas
Tech head coach Bobby Knight. After his spat
with Tech chancellor David Smith in a grocery
store, many believe Knight may leave Tech.
If Knight does leave Lubbock, it’s to go to Ohio
State University, Knight’s alma mater, not A&M.
So with all the “big names” scattering from
A&M like it’s cancer, who wants the A&M job?
The underlying question, though, shouldn’t be
who will want the A&M job, but rather, what kind
of head coach does A&M need?
A coach who can recruit in A&M’s own back
yard, the state of Texas, is a good place to start.
With Houston and Dallas being the two largest
hotbeds of basketball talent in the country, A&M
should be able to entice some of the best basket
ball players in the nation to stay in Texas.
Watkins, despite being a good recruiter, could
n’t do it. He had a staff from all over the nation,
but no one from Texas.
His recruits came from around the nation with
the pinnacle recruit being Antoine Wright from
San Bernadino, Calif. Watkins didn’t sign a blue
chip recruit until he recruited and signed Acie Law
IV from Dallas Kimball High School in 2003.
“You have to protect your home base,” said
A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne. “1 hope that
whoever we hire will get the best players in
Texas to College Station.”
Byrne’s actions speak louder than his words,
though. Two weeks ago, Byrne was seen in
Dallas at a game between Southern Methodist
University and the University of Texas-El Paso.
His reason for being there: UTEP head
coach Billy Gillispie.
Gillispie is a Texas native who began his
coaching career in Texas coaching high school
teams for eight years. After his final two seasons
in high school coaching at Killeen Ellison,
Gillispie became an assistant coach and the
recruiting coordinator at Baylor University.
If you need a coach with recruiting experience
in Texas, Gillispie fits the bill.
And then there is Gillispie’s coaching resume.
After Baylor, Gillispie was hired as an assistant
head coach at the University of Tulsa by current
Kansas head coach Bill Self. Gillispie followed Self
to the University of Illinois, where he stayed for two
years before taking the head coaching job at UTEP.
In the last four of the five seasons Gillispie
coached with Self, their teams made the
NCAA Tournament.
At UTEP, Gillispie’s first season ended in a
6-24 record. In 2003-04, his second season at
UTEP, Gillispie has led the Miners to a 22-6
record and a first place tie in the Western
Athletic Conference. Barring a major disaster in
the WAC Tournament, Gillispie’s team will be
playing in the NCAA’s.
Gillispie, who recruited a nationally top 25-
ranked recruiting class in his only off-season at
UTEP, is the perfect combination of recruiting
and coaching for Aggieland.
The bottom line is that the relatively unknown
Gillispie is the best hire A&M could make. That’s
why Byrne should hire Gillispie as soon as
UTEP’s run through the NCAA tournament ends
to give him the chance to do what Watkins could
not do: make A&M a winner.
And for all of the Aggie fans that are set on
getting a big-time name as new head coach - go
back to sleep, because you’re dreaming.
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