Texas A&M Baseball
Gabe, Scott & Coach Mark Johnson talk baseball & Texas series
It's the end of the Texas series as we know it on the baseball diamond and who better to discuss the end of the long-standing rivalry than Aggie baseball historian Scott Clendenin and legendary coach Mark Johnson. The dynamic duo joined me in-studio Friday morning on TexAgs Radio to tell some stories and share our keys to getting the job done this weekend!
Here are notes from our conversation:
* He hopes that the Texas hiatus won’t last too long, and he’s aware that Coach Childress has talked about the possibility of meeting at a neutral site in the coming years. He did that type of thing while at Mississippi State against Ole Miss and didn’t count it toward the conference numbers. When the cooler heads prevail, they will realize that the rivalry needs to be maintained in all sports because it’s a good thing among Texas families.
* You can’t say too much to the players to get them fired up for the game because the game will do it on its own. If you get too amped up, you won’t be able to play and a good coach is able to find that middle point that provides the team energy, but not too much.
* While playing in Austin one time, a few of his players asked him if the Texas coach would mind if they went and looked at the home locker rooms. He replied saying that he wasn’t sure if the Texas coach would mind, but that he sure would. He wanted to send a message to the team that said, ‘we’re here to play, not to gawk at Texas’. There was such respect for the Longhorns in that time and he knew that the biggest battle would be getting his players to believe they could win.
* Texas will always be a factor in recruiting, but not the dominating factor like they were in the 80’s when he got to A&M.
* He didn’t notice until a couple of weeks ago that the split series against Baylor and Texas both fell in the favor of the opponent, which makes it hard on the team and the fans wanting to watch them play. The split series formula was a question mark when it was first started, but it’s a good thing because it gives the fans at each place a way to see the rivalries every year.
* His early teams against Texas didn’t perform too well, but after the two historical swings by John Byington, the proverbial monkey seemed to get off his back and allowed his teams to get over the hump against the Longhorns.
* Playing teams in the SEC will never have the same feel as playing against your neighbors and family members in Texas. Those feelings can’t be duplicated by going and grabbing a team like South Carolina and trying to force a rivalry. A&M has played just about every SEC school and they have really good clubs in that conference, but the sentiment towards Texas and the history there will never be duplicated.
* There were a lot of times where he thought A&M had a very good team, but it just so happened that other teams would also have very good clubs that year as well.
* Now that he is not coaching anymore, he has time to devote to the FCA Golf Tournament he has been a part of for so many years. He took a leave of absence from the tournament for a few years, but kept in contact with the people in charge of it. The tournament gained the seal of approval when they were able to put Ray Dorr’s name on it. Coach Sumlin and his staff are hosting the tournament on the May 20th and 21st and it should be a lot of fun. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was started in 1954 behind the support of guys like Tom Landry. The coaches and athletes seem to always have the green light to say what they want, and FCA was started to take that power and spread the word of God. It’s the largest sports ministry in the world and continues to blossom every day.
* If people want to participate, they can log onto www.fcabv.org to get more information. The tournament will be conducted in three rounds and he hopes to have around 80 teams participating. Sponsorships are open, and they need all the help they can get financially to touch the youth and people of the community.
* His last win at A&M was against the Longhorns at Olsen Field, and if you were going to pick a way to finish, that would be the way. That game wasn’t great on either side, but the team was able to get the win. There were some things from a coaching standpoint that they didn’t do quite as well, but it didn’t matter in the end. He will always remember Cliff Pennington scoring the winning run to create that special memory for him.
* When a team has 14 games left like A&M does, each one becomes increasingly magnified. He thinks that the win against TCU was huge coming off a tough emotional series against Baylor. One thing he always looks at is how people react when something tough comes their way when they are already down on themselves. In athletics, you don’t have the chance to ease back into things and the great teams find ways to do well, even in a bad situation. The Baylor series brought the team down and discouraged them, but the only thing to do now is get back up and get better as a team.
* The depth of A&M’s starters will be important this weekend and how long they are able to go into games could prove to be a key in the series. The team also needs to get some balls to fall and let the offense get on a roll.
Here are notes from our conversation:
* He hopes that the Texas hiatus won’t last too long, and he’s aware that Coach Childress has talked about the possibility of meeting at a neutral site in the coming years. He did that type of thing while at Mississippi State against Ole Miss and didn’t count it toward the conference numbers. When the cooler heads prevail, they will realize that the rivalry needs to be maintained in all sports because it’s a good thing among Texas families.
* You can’t say too much to the players to get them fired up for the game because the game will do it on its own. If you get too amped up, you won’t be able to play and a good coach is able to find that middle point that provides the team energy, but not too much.
* While playing in Austin one time, a few of his players asked him if the Texas coach would mind if they went and looked at the home locker rooms. He replied saying that he wasn’t sure if the Texas coach would mind, but that he sure would. He wanted to send a message to the team that said, ‘we’re here to play, not to gawk at Texas’. There was such respect for the Longhorns in that time and he knew that the biggest battle would be getting his players to believe they could win.
* Texas will always be a factor in recruiting, but not the dominating factor like they were in the 80’s when he got to A&M.
* He didn’t notice until a couple of weeks ago that the split series against Baylor and Texas both fell in the favor of the opponent, which makes it hard on the team and the fans wanting to watch them play. The split series formula was a question mark when it was first started, but it’s a good thing because it gives the fans at each place a way to see the rivalries every year.
* His early teams against Texas didn’t perform too well, but after the two historical swings by John Byington, the proverbial monkey seemed to get off his back and allowed his teams to get over the hump against the Longhorns.
* Playing teams in the SEC will never have the same feel as playing against your neighbors and family members in Texas. Those feelings can’t be duplicated by going and grabbing a team like South Carolina and trying to force a rivalry. A&M has played just about every SEC school and they have really good clubs in that conference, but the sentiment towards Texas and the history there will never be duplicated.
* There were a lot of times where he thought A&M had a very good team, but it just so happened that other teams would also have very good clubs that year as well.
* Now that he is not coaching anymore, he has time to devote to the FCA Golf Tournament he has been a part of for so many years. He took a leave of absence from the tournament for a few years, but kept in contact with the people in charge of it. The tournament gained the seal of approval when they were able to put Ray Dorr’s name on it. Coach Sumlin and his staff are hosting the tournament on the May 20th and 21st and it should be a lot of fun. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was started in 1954 behind the support of guys like Tom Landry. The coaches and athletes seem to always have the green light to say what they want, and FCA was started to take that power and spread the word of God. It’s the largest sports ministry in the world and continues to blossom every day.
* If people want to participate, they can log onto www.fcabv.org to get more information. The tournament will be conducted in three rounds and he hopes to have around 80 teams participating. Sponsorships are open, and they need all the help they can get financially to touch the youth and people of the community.
* His last win at A&M was against the Longhorns at Olsen Field, and if you were going to pick a way to finish, that would be the way. That game wasn’t great on either side, but the team was able to get the win. There were some things from a coaching standpoint that they didn’t do quite as well, but it didn’t matter in the end. He will always remember Cliff Pennington scoring the winning run to create that special memory for him.
* When a team has 14 games left like A&M does, each one becomes increasingly magnified. He thinks that the win against TCU was huge coming off a tough emotional series against Baylor. One thing he always looks at is how people react when something tough comes their way when they are already down on themselves. In athletics, you don’t have the chance to ease back into things and the great teams find ways to do well, even in a bad situation. The Baylor series brought the team down and discouraged them, but the only thing to do now is get back up and get better as a team.
* The depth of A&M’s starters will be important this weekend and how long they are able to go into games could prove to be a key in the series. The team also needs to get some balls to fall and let the offense get on a roll.
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