Jackie came off successive 11-1 seasons at Pitt and regressed his first three years here.
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Even without that, we're a offsides penalty vs OU and Goodson running OB vs Neb away from an undefeated regular season.
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I am an Old Ag and qualify to answer this. Great question and relevant to everything currently at issue.
Please filter out the juvenile responses. Those are only funny sometimes. We do have to laugh at the terrible, terrible Teams A&M has fielded. As that is more norm than not.
Two points to make.
1. The Aggie fan base, the belief system, the history of the school are absolutely unique. The Spirit developed certainly deserves a better representative than current and past A&M football Teams. You can sense the ENERGY/drive/determination in the Stadium to will the Team to victory or even a stop on Third Down but it doesn't get reflected into the Team's Performance. So Aggie expectations are for the Team to represent their love of the Spirit of AGGIELAND.
2. Football Players in the State of Texas are too diluted. There are more football schools in Texas than anywhere else. tu used to get more and thus their overall winning record. But not anymore. There are Texas Players on most Big Time Programs across the U.S. If I could assemble a Team of 22 current Texas Players regardless of what Team they are currently playing for I would win the National Championship with "ME" being the coach. (Meaning the players would be enough to win it.)
Sumlin will be just like Fran and Sherman. (Please exclude Manziel's 2 years. He was the greatest ever.) You are now seeing Sumlin and A&M au natural now. Sherrill was the best coach ever at A&M. He "hand" selected his team like Murray, etc. That is what IT TAKES. Alabama gets 99% of EVERYONE they hand select. Plus they have a JUCO FEED system for any backup they need. It is a Professional System. You can't coach Mastro to tackle. He just can't do it.
quote:This is an example of Aggies blaming someone else for our issues. The DMN is just a newspaper. The NCAA cannot be ignored. I swear some people here just can't look in the mirror and see what everyone else sees.quote:
Sherrill ran himself off..
False. We caved in to the DMN and NCAA. Jackie was the best coach we ever had and we should have told the NCAA to go F itself because we are keeping our coach.
And I think jturner81 has a very valid synopsis.
quote:Well said.
Until the move to the SEC, I believe the outside view was that A&M was a mid-tier football program...
As a school, no doubt a powerful and huge University, but in football, there was never the full scale commitment by the administration for athletics -
By moving to the SEC, a renown football conference and southern tradition league, its a statement by the University. Not only are we stepping up the athletic programs, but also embracing new traditions. We've always been tradition rich, but shallow pockets when it comes to pageantry of our brand, school, story, athletics, etc.
In Alabama, 87% of the population watches their college football team play on Saturday. In Texas, 17% of the population watches 1 of many play on Saturday... it simply is not as celebrated or valued. Because of the saturation of high school games, many programs on Saturday, and Cowboys/etc on Sunday, college football inside the state of Texas is not a religion like other places....
Travel around Texas neighborhoods and look for A&M flags in folks yards... then travel around Louisiana and you will see a fundamental shift...
Because of the adoption of college football in some communities, the focus on the Saturday games at Clemson, Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, etc are just more rich in experience, care, commitment, and of course time spent by the community for the program.
A&M has never been loved by the surrounding communities, by the media, by the fans, etc like other programs have been. Aggies love A&M.... but the program has not been adopted with southern love/hospitality like other teams.
That outpouring of commitment, care, love, and support by the whole state flows into the Alabama program... and thus, makes it special. Same for Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, etc...
We are MUCH bigger than Alabama, better academics, many more students, many more wealthy alumni, huge endowment in comparison, etc.... we should, on paper, dominate them... buy why not? The commitment has not been there.... not yet anyway.
By stepping in the SEC, our eyes are opened to a religion that is athletic team support... of the likes we have simply never had or experienced. The 'culture' is slowly being adopted and I'm seeing a shift in support, but we aren't there yet.
Eventually A&M will be a special place athletically... a final destination for a Head Football Coach, not a stepping stone to something better.... Until that day, I'm here, supporting and standing at the 12th Man... and will help build that vision.
quote:The NCAA and the media would have been after us for eternity until they found something. There was no way our football program could have been successful under that kind of pressure.
we should have told the NCAA to go F itself because we are keeping our coach
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Too bad Aggie Spirit can't be represented by the Track Team.
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A&M almost turned a corner because of Manziel. Winning attracts the best. But this year is going to cancel that. A&M could not keep Manziel for 2 more years. That says something and proves something.
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I agree we really were on the verge of national greatness with Jackie, and that MIGHT be exactly why he was "run off." He posed a threat to the natural order of things, i.e., tu. ... thing is, was Jackie doing the same things tu was doing? Was tu ever caught? Has tu EVER been caught? Why not? My theory: they developed and own(ed) useful people like journalists, politicians, etc. All we had (have?) are naive engineers and blowhard ex-military. It's all black and white to them - no shades of gray. They are incapable of understanding/playing "the game." In the end, this, like everything else, is about money and power. Things are changing; tu isn't the power it once was.