Inside the Aggies -- A Sight to See | 1996 Season in Review | Aggie Flashback

A Sight to See By Homer Jacobs

Sitting in the press box at Kyle Field for an Aggie football game has its disadvantages. Oh sure, the box is one of the nicest facilities around, the temperature rests just about at the 72-degree mark in September or November, and the barbecue is free.

But the box is so sound-proof, even the music of the Aggie Band has trouble penetrating the thick glass of this library in the sky.

And as for prime viewing seats for the 100 or so writers on game day? Well, let’s just say you can never imagine how beautiful the Houston skyline can look on a clear, fall afternoon.

But for all of my whining — and dining — in the perch atop the west side of the third deck, at least I can take comfort in knowing it could be worse.

I could be sitting on the second row in the horseshoe.

Yes, the noble men of Kyle do indeed form at the north end of Kyle Field. They are the A&M fans who — because of a shortage of prime seats on the west side — became the sight-line challenged.

But, thanks to a recent vote by the Texas A&M Board of Regents, that will all be changing. The end zone will be the place to be, the scene to be seen.

By a unanimous vote, the Board approved the first stage of the construction process by allotting $755,000 for the architectural design phase. After the designs are completed and approved, construction bids will be sorted out, and the demolition of those lovely seats in the horseshoe likely will begin just hours after the Aggies and Longhorns hook up at Kyle Field on Nov. 28, 1997.

If all goes well, the lower level of the new end zone would be in place by the start of the 1998 season, with the upper level, the club level and suites ready for occupants by the 1999 opener.

The project calls for the elimination of 12,500 bad seats and the construction of 22,500 new and improved seats. With the seats moved 40 feet closer to the field and sight angles significantly improved from the poor sight lines of today, the north end zone should provide quality seating, not just a former cool place to kiss your date during Midnight Yell Practice.

The project is a costly one, tagged at about $30 million, which includes money for two adjacent practice fields, office space, a theater-style meeting room for the football team, study cubicles and a members-only club that will serve suite and club level patrons.

With a glassed-in club level with theater-type seats and press-box air-conditioning, fans may have the urge to wheel a trifecta or wait for the bunny to burn around the Kyle Field track. But the only horses you’ll be able to see are the thoroughbreds from the Big 12.

What the new facility will give Texas A&M football can’t be underestimated. Suddenly, A&M is Florida-West and Tennessee-South in terms of football facilities. Ohio State talks about the Big Horseshoe in Columbus, but at least A&M’s three-sided stadium won’t need ivy to cover the cracks in an aging foundation.

Modeled after Florida’s Ben Hill-Griffin Stadium and its Touchdown Terrace, Kyle Field will now become one of the most intimidating stadiums — if it wasn’t already — in all of college football. No longer will sound be able to escape out of the north end zone and onto Joe Routt Blvd.

Kansas State fans marveled at the noise at Kyle Field this fall. In 2000, Kansas State’s sea of purple returns to College Station, and in 2001, Notre Dame makes its way to the Concrete Monster. Then, let’s talk noise.

And it’s not just lip service that the north end zone will soon be The Place at Kyle. A waiting list of over 60 exists for the 20 suites that will double as efficiency apartments. And members of the 12th Man Foundation have toured Florida Field and acknowledged the improvement in the viewing of a game as opposed to the neck-craning that goes on today in the Kyle Field horseshoe.

As for recruiting, R.C. Slocum probably is carrying an artist’s rendering of the proposed stadium in his back pocket as he tours the state in search of college prospects.

Bigger, unfortunately, is better in the eyes of a blue-chip prospect. So when hotshots tour Florida and Michigan and Tennessee, they see huge stadiums and spacious locker rooms. They see the big time.

Perhaps, most of all, they should see commitment by a university for the very best football program possible. And this stadium expansion drips with commitment.

The 12th Man Foundation, which will help finance the majority of the project through the sale of seat and suite premiums, wants to commit to its donors with quality seats. And the university wants a commitment from the 12th Man Foundation with money.

Both sides win with this deal as no university or state funds will be used for the project. All it will take now is for Aggie fans to ante up.

"I think it is potentially one of the most significant events in the past 20 years for the university, the athletic department and the 12th Man Foundation," says Jerry Cox, the president of the 12th Man Foundation who helped come up with the financing plan for the project. "For the athletic department, it offers a state-of-the-art facility, which will allow the season ticket appetite or demand to increase significantly because now a person can buy a season ticket for a quality seat rather than a poor seat.

"For the 12th Man Foundation, I think it’s an enormously important event because it solidifies our position to be able to sell — on a long-term basis — commitments for seats. It really solidifies the position of the Foundation to make long-term commitments to its donors. And that’s why we’re in business."

There are approximately 2,200 season ticket holders who have had to endure the north end zone at Kyle Field. There are countless others without season tickets who probably have hesitated coming to Kyle because of the bad end zone seating.

I have never bought into the excuse "you can see the game better on television." But at Kyle, that is partially true. At least the big scoreboard at Kyle now offers instant replay, and technology has advanced so that Ph.D.s aren’t required to program your VCR.

Yes, there is simply no substitute for atmosphere.

And, by the turn of the century at Texas A&M, there won’t be any substitute for Kyle Field, either.

1996 Season in Review By Homer Jacobs

The 1996 football season started off with the Texas Aggies worrying about altitude.

By midseason, the Aggies were concerned with attitude.

At season’s end and after a 51-15 loss to Texas, attention shifted toward aptitude.

Now, after a 6-6 season and a coaching shakeup of R.C. Slocum’s staff, the catch word for the future of the A&M program is "fortitude."

After all, it was obviously a trying season for the Aggies and their fans. A team with hopes of competing for the Big 12 championship and a bowl game was relegated to watching the holiday games on television.

A team that lost six games over the last four years suddenly lost six in one season.

A team with a four-game win streak over Texas just two years ago was left numb in Austin this fall as the Aggies dropped their second straight game to their bitter rivals.

What happened to the Aggies?

Inexperience. Talent deficiencies. Bad breaks. The Big 12.

All four aspects of the season contributed to A&M’s struggles. All four, however, appear to be correctable in the future.

INEXPERIENCE
What happened...

If the 1996 season showed anything, it was that the jump from high school to college football is like comparing a ditch to the Grand Canyon. And the difference between backing up and starting is similar to the disparity between Aggies and Longhorns.

At quarterback, Branndon Stewart wasn’t supposed to be that inexperienced, having played in 11 of 12 games at Tennessee before transferring after the 1994 season.

But Stewart, despite a solid showing in the Pigskin Classic when he threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns, never showed he was comfortable playing the position in his first real action as a starting quarterback on this level.

He made some big plays for the Aggies in 1996, but likely will be remembered for the plays he didn’t make. And the botched quarterback sneak against Kansas State and the mental mistake of running out of bounds before the first-down marker against Texas unfortunately will stamp Stewart’s first season.

"He had a fair year for a guy who started his first season of college football," coach R.C. Slocum said. "He had some bad things happen to him early. But he played like a guy who hasn’t played much. He has some ability and demonstrated it at times and made some big plays for us."

And in the defensive backfield, youth and inexperience perhaps had more to do with the Aggies’ struggles than any other aspect of the team. It’s not just that the A&M defensive backs gave up big pass plays, most noticeably in the BYU and Texas games. But the lack of confidence by the coaching staff to have players lock up man-to-man in the secondary forced a change in philosophy up front where the linebackers and defensive linemen used to roam free in chasing down the quarterback.

No longer could the Aggies send six or seven defenders at an opposing quarterback. The Wrecking Crew, uncharacteristically, couldn’t force the action anymore. The punishment, instead, came to it.

"We adjusted our package enough to give us a chance to win some games," said former defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who reflected on the season with 12th Man Magazine just hours before his departure from A&M was made public. "It’s not what we wanted to do. I had people on me for not blitzing, but you saw what could happen against good receivers the day after Thanksgiving."

Bennett doesn’t see gloom and doom for the Aggie defense next year, and he didn’t necessarily see it this season. Yes, A&M did not play A&M defense all year long. But after giving up 575 yards of total offense in the season opener, A&M had climbed back into the top 20 nationally in total defense heading into the Texas game.

Bennett said the Aggies also were shackled on defense by sub-par field position and fatigue, results of the Aggies’ inconsistent offense.

"The margin for error, and I’m not knocking anybody, has not been very much," Bennett said. "That’s something that will get better. You saw it at the Baylor game. Once we got a little lead, our kids could do some things. Your mentality changes a little bit. Kids enjoy being a pressure defense, but coaches have to be realistic when you can do it and when you can’t."

What’s in store...

The good thing about inexperience is it becomes experience. The freshman defensive backs like free safety Brandon Jennings and cornerback Jason Webster will be much more comfortable in their roles next year.

The Texas Longhorns started freshmen and sophomores in the secondary two years ago when A&M routed them, 34-10. The cycle came back to burn A&M this year, but that will change in two years as well.

As for Stewart, he may struggle with a new offensive system in the spring and early next year. But if Stewart can ever regain his confidence, he has the physical tools to be a good quarterback.

Slocum said the lack of time Stewart will have to develop at A&M is unfortunate for the senior-to-be.

"If you had him for two more years, you’d be really excited about the prospects for him," Slocum added. "And I think it’d be time that he needs. It’s unfortunate to have one year. If he’s going to be an NFL-caliber quarterback, he’s got to come on and really make some progress in the spring as a player."

TALENT DEFICIENCIES
What happened...

It’s easy to blame a 6-6 season on lack of talent, but in the case of the Aggies, the excuse is a valid one. The probation-stained recruiting periods of 1993-94 kept several top players, including many defensive backs, from signing with the Aggies.

This year, A&M lost out on junior college cornerback Eric Jennings, who did not enroll in the fall after flunking one course in the summer at Mount San Antonio College in California. Jennings could have helped immediately in the green Aggie secondary.

"Something that really hurt was not getting that junior college corner," Bennett said. "We were really pretty set on moving Shun Horn to be our coverage safety, and that never evolved. And after the BYU game when Andre (Williams) struggled, it became obvious that we would have to make Shun a corner. That sort of set the tone for the season."

Bennett couldn’t stress enough the importance of coverage cornerbacks for A&M’s blitzing style of defense. And when true freshman Delvin Wright went down with a shoulder injury in August and with Williams not responding after his knee injury, the Aggies were suddenly depleted again in the secondary despite signing five defensive backs in February.

"The thing you’ve got to have is cover people," Bennett said. "If you look around, over the years, there’s never been a year that we’ve been this (thin), not only for the starters, but the backups. You’re talking about going to Oklahoma State and playing two freshmen in the secondary.

"I think, no doubt, the probation and the two years that was going on had a drastic effect. And we’ve missed on some kids."

The talent pool didn’t offer depth at wide receiver, either. Albert Connell was all-world, before defenses found out about him at midseason. With Connell being the focus of the defense, A&M receivers like Donte Hawkins and Leroy Hodge would be counted on for help.

However, the receivers never developed into consistent players, which could have led to the release of receivers coach Les Koenning Jr. In any case, Slocum’s new offensive coaches must improve the receiving corps for A&M to put up some impressive offensive numbers.

What’s in store...

A&M is on track for an excellent recruiting year, which will begin filling up the talent pool once again. And for any talent deficiency the Aggies have, they do possess some big-time players on the roster.

The emergence of Dante Hall at running back has A&M fans running out of superlatives to describe this true freshman’s abilities. And, as Slocum told the team in a meeting the Monday after the loss to Texas, if A&M had 22 Dat Nguyens in the lineup, the Aggies would be finding room in the trophy case for some national championship hardware.

BAD BREAKS
What happened...

Anything you can think of, it happened to the Aggies of ’96. When was the last time the Aggies had eight turnovers in a game? The unthinkable happened against Southwestern Louisiana in a game that surely will go down in infamy.

At one point early in the season, the Aggies had almost twice as many turnovers as they had the entire season in 1994. For the year, the Aggies lost 20 fumbles and threw eight interceptions. Two of those pickoffs were returned for scores against USL, while one fumble was taken back for six points as well.

Against Kansas State, with the Aggies driving to force the game into overtime, a normally sure-handed Connell fumbled the ball as he stretched for extra yardage. If Connell holds onto the ball, the Aggies likely win that game before bedlam at Kyle Field.

In addition to the turnovers, A&M had a touchdown called back in the waning moments of the BYU game for a wide receiver lining up too close to the line of scrimmage.

And injuries to positions where A&M could not afford such problems limited the Aggies even more.

Senior cornerback Donovan Greer, already nursing a knee injury that seemed to peck at his confidence, was hobbled by a nagging turf toe injury all season long. The injury was never made public, but Greer had to have injections into his toe almost every Saturday just to be able to get through the game.

"It’s not an excuse, but in defense of the kid, he fought through some things to get out on the field," Bennett added. "He just never got in synch and felt confident like he did as a sophomore or junior."

What’s in store...

Bad breaks are part of the game, but they shouldn’t be a major part of the game like it seemed for the Aggies, especially in the first half of the season. Coaches like to say those things even out over the course of a season, and true to form, the turnover problem became negligible in the month of November.

But, make no mistake about it, from the dropped punt against BYU to the botched fake punt against Texas, the Aggies were destined not to have one of those special seasons.

THE BIG 12
What happened...

The Aggies probably had the most conducive Big 12 schedule for the first run through the conference minefield. A&M had games against contenders Colorado, Kansas State and Texas Tech at home, with one tough road game at Texas.

But A&M lost all three of those home conference games, which was as typical as the Aggies going 6-6 in the Slocum era. It just doesn’t happen.

As far as the league being that much tougher than the old Southwest Conference, there definitely was an upgrade in quality opponents. The games were more interesting, and the competition that much more intense. The Big 12 was everything Slocum, the Aggies and their fans had envisioned.

The bonus aspect of the new league came when new fans and new places greeted the Aggies, even embracing the spirit and sportsmanship that make Aggieland like no other place in college football.

What’s in store...

The Aggies have bigger mines to evade next season. A&M now must travel to Colorado, Kansas State and Texas Tech in 1997. The Aggies should win all of their home games, although the Texas matchup will be another big test for the program.

But the Big 12 — with all the obstacles it presents for Texas A&M football — sure beats playing in obscurity in the SWC.

And suddenly a 9-3 year doesn’t look so bad anymore.

"I don’t know how you sum it up, other than to say it’s been disappointing," Slocum said. "Turnovers and the shock to our psyche of getting off to a bad start kind of shocked us. The inexperience of our players having to deal with that kind of held us back and makes me wonder what could have been."

Aggie Flashback By Rusty Burson

Unless your circle of friends includes Jimmy Houston, many of the fish stories you’ve heard have probably been about the big one that got away or the one that keeps getting bigger every time the story is told.

It was thiiiissss big. Really.

It’s hard to beat a good fish story. By the same token, it’s hard to believe any fish story.

So, you may be somewhat skeptical upon first hearing about former Texas A&M basketball coach Shelby Metcalf’s favorite fishing story, the one about the approximately 72-inch, roughly 200-pound catch he once made along the Brazos River.

But before you raise that eyebrow, consider this: Metcalf’s big one didn’t get away, and he’s never stretched the truth regarding its size. Of course, the real kicker is that it wasn’t a fish at all.

Metcalf’s catch was John Reynolds, a letterman for the Aggies in 1964 and ’65. And while it may sound like a tall tale, Reynolds actually chose Texas A&M over other schools because Metcalf had the insight to take the native of tiny Possum Walk, Texas to the river.

"(Reynolds) loved to fish, so I took him to a portion of the Brazos River that was on land Texas A&M owned, and we fished for a two days," said the colorful Metcalf, the winningest coach in Southwest Conference history. "After we were finished, John looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I like your river. I think I’ll go to school here.’ It may have been a little (unorthodox) way of recruiting, but it worked."

Indeed, Reynolds fell for A&M hook, line and sinker.

Recruiting has changed considerably since those days. Back then, there were no limits on the number of visits coaches could make, entire families could be taken to dinner, and the NCAA wasn’t nearly as suffocating.

The athletes have changed, as well. Today’s high school stars are concerned with the number of times they’ll play on ESPN, the size of their home arena and the number of pro scouts who usually attend home games. As Metcalf says:

"You just can’t get real good players with catfish anymore."

Back when you could, the down-home, easy-going Metcalf was a master recruiter. Metcalf never had a perfect situation, recruiting first to an all-male school, playing his home games in the outdated G. Rollie White Coliseum and always playing second fiddle to the football program.

But in 27 seasons as the Aggies’ head coach (1964-90) and five seasons prior to that as an assistant, Metcalf used a mix of creativity and ingenuity to continually attract top talent to Texas A&M.

During his career, Metcalf won 438 games, six Southwest Conference titles, two SWC Postseason Classic crowns and his 1979-80 team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion Louisville in overtime. But for all his court accomplishments, Metcalf may have been at his very best on the recruiting trail.

Whether he was in Possum Walk or inner city New York, Metcalf had a personal touch that appealed to virtually every athlete. Metcalf didn’t always get them to come to A&M, but almost every athlete he recruited seriously considered the possibility of becoming an Aggie. If for no other reason, the players usually liked — and felt comfortable with — Shelby Metcalf.

"When you’re recruiting a good athlete from a good family, it’s a wonderful adventure whether you get him or not," said Metcalf, who still lives in the Bryan/College Station area. "All I ever wanted when I was recruiting someone was for them to get an education from Texas A&M and to a develop a lifelong friendship with them.

"The thing I look back on with the most satisfaction is all the friendships I developed with those players and their families. And some of those friendships developed even though I didn’t get the player to come to A&M. I still get calls all the time from guys that played for me and even guys we played against (that Metcalf had recruited). I have a lot of great friends and plenty of great memories."

Plenty of great stories, too. Metcalf used to be known as "King of the Tournaments" because of the number of in-season tourneys he would schedule for the Aggies. But now, with his numerous stories and story-telling ability, Metcalf could easily be called "King of the Campfire Conversations."

Sit back, warm your hands, roast a few marshmallows and listen to Metcalf take you through some of the most entertaining recruiting stories you’ll ever hear.

Like the time Metcalf won a recruiting war by winning a ping-pong game. In the early 1970s, Metcalf was hot on the trail of Ohio native Randy Knowles, who was torn between the Aggies and one other school. Metcalf jumped on a plane to go visit Knowles and extended a challenge.

"I flew into Cleveland to see Randy, and he just couldn’t decide between us and one other school," Metcalf said. "Well, Randy fashioned himself as quite a ping-pong player, and he had been bragging about what a good player he was. I finally said to him, ‘Randy, if I beat you in ping-pong will you come to Texas A&M?’

"He was shocked. He looked at me like I was crazy. He figured he would kill me at ping-pong. But he agreed to play me, and I whupped him pretty good."

Knowles signed with the Aggies, started three seasons and averaged right at 17 points per game his junior and senior seasons.

Another rather unusual success story was Metcalf’s recruiting of Randy Matson in the mid 1960s. The coach would frequently drive hours upon hours just so he could chase down Matson’s shot put.

"I knew (former Texas Tech coach) Gene Gibson really wanted Matson, too, so I would drive eight or nine hours to Pampa just to tell Matson, ‘Hey Randy, I was just in the neighborhood...’ Hell, Gene only had an hour’s drive from Lubbock.

"Randy was a hell of an athlete, and it was track season so he was throwing the shot put. I got in great shape when I was recruiting him, because the only way I could spend any good time with him was to retrieve his shot put throws during track practice. I’d do that for an hour or two, wait for Randy to shower and then take him out for an ice cream. You could do that back in those days. After all that, I would drive back to College Station. It made for a long day."

But it worked. Matson signed with the Aggies, and he nearly averaged double figures in points and rebounds his first season in 1965-66.

Metcalf recruited Darryl McDonald, better known as "D-Mack the Playground King" in the late ’80s out Harlem. Despite Harlem’s rough reputation, Metcalf’s biggest obstacle in recruiting D-Mack was convincing him that College Station was a safe enough place.

"He was scared to death of those gun racks in the back of all those pick-up trucks," Metcalf said with a laugh. "I finally convinced him that if he was OK in Harlem, he’d be just fine here."

There are many other stories and instances where Metcalf used his personal touch and plenty of creativity to land his man. Too many, in fact, to tell on these two pages.

So, it’s probably a good idea to finish where we started, with the fish tale of John Reynolds. The Possum Walk native never became a star basketball player, but he did play a major role in the future of Texas A&M athletics.

As a player, Reynolds was known as the "enforcer."

"Back then, it was common to have an enforcer," Metcalf said. "I remember one game (in the early ’60s) against Texas Tech where one of their boys literally punched Bill Robinette and knocked him out of the game. I sent John in there, and it only took him 10 seconds to get into a scuffle and get both him and the Texas Tech player thrown out of the game. John’s daddy was so proud he escorted his son right off the court. That was one of John’s proudest moments, too."

One of them, but perhaps Reynolds’ proudest A&M athletic moment came many years later. Possum Walk is very close to Groveton, and Reynolds eventually became the superintendent of the Groveton Independent School District. It was there where Reynolds helped influence a talented young running back named Rodney Thomas to go to Texas A&M.

Said Metcalf: "Turned out to be a pretty productive fishing trip when you throw Rodney Thomas into the mix, don’t you think?"

Indeed, that was one great trip, and it was part of a tremendous journey for Metcalf during his 32 years at Texas A&M.

Send your flashback comments or suggestions to Rusty Burson’s e-mail address at: rusty@12thManFoundation.com.

Send questions or comments about the magazine to the editor, Homer Jacobs
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