R. C. Slocum
Richard Copeland R.C. Slocum was the head football coach at Texas A&M University from 1989 until 2003.
Biography
R.C. Slocum was raised in Orange, Texas. He attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He has two sons, Shawn, who served as an assistant on Slocum's staff, and John Harvey [1].
Early Career
Slocum began his career as a football coach with a job at a Lake Charles high school in 1968. Two years later, in 1970, Slocum became a graduate assistant at Kansas State University under head coach Vince Gibson. In 1971, he was named Head Freshman Coach.In 1972, he was hired as receiver coach for Emory Bellard at Texas A&M University.After one year on offense, he was moved to coach the defensive ends. In 1976, he became linebacker coach and in 1979 was named defensive coordinator. Slocum spent the 1981 season as the denfensive coordinator at the University of Southern California. His defense led the Pac-10 conference in total defense that season. In 1982, Slocum returned to A&M as defensive coordinator under new head coach Jackie Sherrill. In 1985, he was elevated to Assistant Head Coach.
Texas A&M Head Coach
In December 1988, R.C. Slocum was named Head Coach at A&M. During his 14 years as head coach, R.C. led the Aggies to a record of 123-47-2, making him the winningest coach in Texas A&M history. During his career, Slocum never had a losing season and won four conference championships, including the Big 12 title in 1998. Additionally, he led the Aggies to become the first school in Southwest Conference history to post three consecutive perfect conference seasons. Slocum reached 100 wins faster than any other active coach. He is has the best winnning percentage in SWC history, one spot ahead of the legendary Darrel K. Royal who is number 2. Slocum helped make A&M's Kyle Field become one of the hardest places for opponents to play, losing only 12 games at home in 14 years. In the decade of the 90's, A&M lost only 4 times at Kyle Field. R.C. Slocum was named SWC Coach of the Year three times during his tenure as head coach. His "Wrecking Crew" defense led the SWC in all four statistical categories from 1991 through 1993 and led the nation in total defense in 1991.
Over 50 Texas A&M players were drafted into the NFL during Slocum's career as head coach.
Slocum was well known for being unwilling to "bend" the rules. He inherited an Aggie football program under severe NCAA sanctions for being corrupt and cleaned it up quickly. He was quoted in 2002 as saying: "I wouldn't trade winning another game or two for my reputation as a person," he said in an interview last season. "I've said from day one I'm going to do things the way I think they should be done. There were those who said, `If you don't cheat, you're pretty naive. You can't win that way.' Well, we're going to find out. That's the way we're going to do it. I can walk away and look myself in the mirror and say, `We did it the right way.' " [2]
Slocum was also known for being a "down-home" kind of man. When on a recruiting trip in Orange, Texas in 1996, he accidentally tracked dog waste into the home of the recruit he was visiting. He got down on his hands and knees to scrub the carpet himself so that it wouldn't stain. The recruit chose A&M.
Slocum has been a big comfort to his players, and to the school, in times of tragedy. After the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse before the game against Texas, many students wondered if the game should even be played. On the night Bonfire would have burned, the school hosted a memorial service. 100,000+ mourners carried white candles to the site of the Bonfire collapse, and then marched together to Kyle Field. Slocum then delivered a touching speech that brought comfort to the mourners and instilled pride in the school. The Aggies' win the following day over Texas was a fitting cap to the week. In 2002, freshman player Brandon Fails died unexpectedly near the end of the season. Again, Slocum stepped up to try to comfort his players.
Slocum continually pressed Texas A&M to update the athletic facilities so that the university could compete with the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma in football recruiting. The university finally listened to his pleas and began a large facility expansion project. Unfortunately, this was too late to save R.C.. He was fired in 2002 after a 6-6 season, which included a win over then-number one Oklahoma, a loss in double-overtime, and a loss in overtime. He was succeeded by Dennis Franchione as head coach.
Post-Coaching
After spending 30 of the last 31 years serving Texas A&M, Slocum was not quite ready to leave. He is currently a special advisor to the president of Texas A&M University.
R.C. Slocum has also become a close friend of Former President George H.W. Bush, whose Presidential Library is at Texas A&M. The Bushes often use Slocum's suite to watch Aggie football games, and Slocum and his wife have visited the Bush family at their vacation home in Kennebunkport, Maine.