How long is the curse of dumping R.C. Slocum going to haunt Texas A&M; football? You never know and R.C. himself really gave a strong endorsement to current head coach Mike Sherman, a former Slocum offensive line coach in Aggieland. Sherman may be on the verge of losing an offensive coordinator shortly after he replaced his defensive coordinator. Published reports indicated former St. Louis Rams player Nolan Cromwell will interview for an assistant coaching spot with the Rams on Monday. Cromwell has spent the last two years as A&M; offensive coordinator. This is the same A&M; coaching staff that announced the naming of Tim DeRuyter as defensive chief just a couple of weeks ago. DeRuyter replaced Joe Kines who retired in December....
One of the two biggest recruiting shockers of the winter came when Dallas Skyline linebacker Corey Nelson switched from A&M; to Oklahoma at the 11th hour. The other occurred at Aldine Nimitz where speedy athlete Josh Huff delivered a very mysterious last-hour switch from TCU to Oregon. TCU had received Huff's verbal pledge a month ago and waited on Wednesday for paperwork which never showed up....
What's it going to take for the Golden Triangle to return to its long-time place as a college football recruiting hotbed? It's going to be a tough, long, hard road and here's why. A school's recruiting budget is stretched more to drop by here or in west Texas or in the small east Texas gaps when those colleges and universities can snatch up so many more kids per square mile in the metropolitan areas. Give you an example — 10 miles southwest of Dallas, the Cedar Hill Longhorns signed a school record 19 players on Wednesday. There's got to be some guys in our Golden Triangle who are just as worthy, but they are victims of geography, tighter recruiting budgets and scholarship limitations.... Will anyone in our area benefit from it? Yes, Big Ray Woodard will at Lamar. He's going to have an inside track on a player that the Longhorns or Aggies may miss altogether.... There's got to be more nibbles around Mid-County for PN-G's fine trio of Caleb Harmon, Spencer DeRon and Dallas Davis. Plus, our area has an unsigned kicking standout, Nederlander Taylor Trahan.....
Sticking with the subject of Mid-County, the soccer never gets any better than those district wars between the purple-white and black-gold. Mid-County Soccer Madness arrives in the first round of District 38-4A on Tuesday evening. I'm still lobbying to try to have both the girls and boys varsity games at PN-G on Tuesday, but stay tuned. If the soccer doubleheader would be held at PN-G, all the track and field teams would be beneficiaries of the soccer change, too. That's because the area high school track and field season is scheduled to open this Friday with Nederland hosting its Bulldog Relays in Bulldog Stadium..... But this lengthy winter has not caused it to feel like track season yet by any means..... Port Arthur native A'Lexus Brannon -- a Beaumont Ozen senior -- certainly will be one of this spring's premier track and field centerpieces. While all the boys signed to play football Wednesday, A'Lexus told the Texas Longhorns that she planned to continue her athletic career with the Burnt Orange and White....
Two of the state's best-ever baseball players will be inducted on Monday into Waco's Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Congratulations are in order for slugger Lance Berkman and former pitcher Burt Hooton. Induction ceremonies will be held during a dinner at Baylor University's Ferrell Center at 7 p.m.... Wild story but it's true. NFL players say they use Madden video games to learn maneuvers that give them a real-life edge. Next thing I know your ol Bubba will probably walk in at PN-G and find Joe Dale Cary playing Kyle Segura in some knucklehead video game.... When it comes to new line coaches in these parts, Joe Dale's work with the 2009 Indians offensive line and Port Arthur Memorial mentor Nelson Barnes' efforts with the Titans defensive line were second to none.... Jim Gilligan and I need to collaborate on a book entitled Bad Luck of the Irish. Poor Jim ought to have a warm weather advantage over places to his north (just about everyone). So his stinking Irish luck has been stuck with weeks of rain since New Year's....
Armed with District 21-5A's smallest enrollment, the Port Arthur school district makes it tough enough for a football coach to win. But I am disappointed in Kenny Harrison's progression too. Kenny is not getting the job done well enough to suit me so far. Kenny wanted me to be his toughest critic. I've been that. Port Arthur was certainly capable of making dramatic changes during this school year. Brandon Faircloth and Port Neches-Groves have been able to accomplish changes with far less foot-speed. The reason is simple and Brandon knows it -- bringing in the best assistant coaches makes it happen.... And if any readers disagree with anything so far in this paragraph, just answer this --should Port Arthur have lost in football to Channelview?.... Kenny has to delegate more. He has to head off and defeat problems before they turn into major obstacles. He's got to have administrative support rather than have people who want to turn him into the town's next sports scapegoat....
Tom Halliburton is the News sports columnist
