Election Manifesto Option

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History doesn't favor lame-duck coaches for UT, A&M

By Suzanne Halliburton

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, November 22, 2007
No doubt, Texas-Texas A&M is one of the most significant rivalries in college football. For one Friday every late November, the game even trumps loyalty to families and friends based on whether someone's preferred hand sign hooks or gigs.
But tradition also suggests that the game's outcome rarely helps a potential lame duck coach fighting to keep his job.

That doesn't bode so well for A&M's Dennis Franchione, who may be coaching his final game as the leader of the Aggie football program.
In the past half-century, there have been a total of 12 coaching changes from both schools. Jackie Sherrill, who was forced out at A&M in 1988 because of NCAA issues, is the only coach from either team who won his final game against the archrival.
The main reason the game doesn't save an embattled coach is that the rivalry — college football's third-longest — features so few upsets. The results have kept the season's status quo, and the lack of drama makes it easier for the athletic directors to write up a pink slip.
The series dates back to 1894, with Texas owning a 73-35-5 record over the Aggies. A&M knocked off the favored Longhorns last year, 12-7. Before 2006, Texas had won six straight games over the Aggies and eight of the past 10.
Another reason the outcome doesn't figure into a coach's future is because by late November, the termination decision already has been made.
"Had I won that (last) game," said former Texas coach David McWilliams, "I don't think it would have mattered."
McWilliams already had set a meeting with UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds before his team traveled to College Station for the 1991 season finale. Although he'd been given a five-year contract extension in 1990, McWilliams was planning to resign even before the Longhorns' 31-14 loss.
A&M's R.C. Slocum, who participated in 30 Texas games, coached his last one in 2002. He said this week he had no idea that the 2002 Longhorn game would be his final one as a coach.
Five days before the Aggies traveled to Austin, A&M freshman Brandon Fails collapsed in his dorm room and died hours later at a local hospital. Slocum was the one who told Fails' parents their son had passed away. He said he spent the rest of the week preparing for Texas and planning a funeral.
The Aggies lost by 30 to Texas. By that Sunday, Slocum was recruiting in Dallas, visiting the homes of several of his 18 commitments when he received the news he'd been fired.
He doesn't believe a win would have made a difference.
"Probably not," Slocum said. "The things I've heard since then, they already had made the deal (with Franchione)."
The turnaround was even quicker the last time Texas hired a coach in 1997. John Mackovic — Mack Brown's predecessor— coached his final game for the Longhorns, a 27-16 loss to A&M. His termination came less than 24 hours after the team buses arrived in Austin from College Station. Brown was hired and introduced to fans within six days.
There are differing plotlines for Friday's game. Brown, who received a new contract and a $250,000 raise in August, is hoping his team wins its 10th game of the season. A victory could put Texas into the Big 12 title game and make the Longhorns an attractive at-large candidate for a BCS berth.
Meanwhile, the Aggies' theme is whether they can make a bowl game and whether Franchione would be there to coach them.
For much of the past month, Franchione has denied that he's already agreed to a buyout of his contract. So it's unknown whether Friday's game will be his last as an Aggie.
He could be like former Texas coach Fred Akers, who in 1986 ended his post-game press conference following a 16-3 defeat to A&M by telling a group of local reporters that he'd see them next season.
Two days later, Dodds called a news conference. It took him about three minutes to announce that Akers was gone.

The Old Songs

Candles burning, glasses are chilled and soon she'll be by
Hope and pray she'll say that she's willing to give us another try
And if all those plans I made don't melt the lady's heart,
I'll put on the old 45's

And maybe the old songs'll bring back the old times
Maybe the old lines will sound new
Maybe she'll lay her head on my shoulder
Maybe old feelings will come through
Maybe we'll start to cry and wonder why we ever walked away
Maybe the old songs'll bring back the old times
And make her wanna stay

It's been too long since I've seen her face light up when I come home
It's been too many hours I've wasted staring at the phone
Sweet old songs I'm counting on you to bring her back to me
I'm tired of listening alone

And maybe the old songs'll bring back the old times
Maybe the old lines will sound new
Maybe she'll lay her head on my shoulder
Maybe old feelings will come through
Maybe we'll start to cry and wonder why we ever walked away
Maybe the old songs'll bring back the old times
And make her wanna stay

Barry Manilow

Padang Chetty

I was watching TV during the Eid holidays when TV3 brought up this stories. Padang Chetty to make way for some kind of development. There goes another piece of green spots. One less meaningful place for the future generation. What is there in Padang Chetty anyway? One might asked? Whats so significant of that particular place that we want to deny mighty local authorities the Development?
Yeah, I knew the place. Padang Chetty back in my primary school days was like 'road to Wembley' stories for those who got to play there to represent their schools. Most of the inter-schools final games will be played there; be it hockey, soccer and netball. Yes, I got to represent my school and played at Padang Chetty against the mighty La Salle (Primary) in a hockey finals. I could remember vividly the cramped car rides in my teacher's jalopy ( i think it was a boxed peugeot). My task (and only task in that final) was to make sure the prolific and feared La Salle top scorer, Steven, wont score!
My school wasn't that well known before in field hockey, until the arrival of a PE teacher Mr. Chandran a year before. He handpicked players from the standard 4 and 5 pool and groomed them the latter half of the previous year to prepare for our 6th year. We were given a hockey stick and a ball ( I still have the stick in my store!) to bring back home every day since being selected. Each evening at 5, we will dutifully leave the last period (much to the chagrin of Mrs JR Rajadurai) and start 5 round warm-up around the school fields. We were instilled with the self-belief to win for the school. Mr. Chandran would teach us all the basic; trappings, passing, hitting, dribbling etc. Then next phase; team positioning, roles of each members, team spirits, before finally being grilled on the tactics and tricks (including feigning dramatic injuries!) but most of all, he let us having fun playing hockey. I could still remember his words during those halftime breaks - "Do you want to play at Padang Chetty in the finals?"
Well, we lost 0-1 in that final unfortunately but Steven didn't get to score!

Upin & Ipin

Les' Copaque Production Sdn. Bhd.
Hats off to these guys. Five minutes worth of quality family time spent in front of the idiot box during iftar times on weekends. A distance second in my list of good Malaysian animation products is Anak-Anak Sidek. Honestly, eventhough I like Lat's Kampung Boy hardcopy, the same attachment is hardly replicated when watching its animation effort equivalent.

Occupied

Currently, I am being entrusted to make this building completed before third quarter of next year. It's not any normal square box type structure which doesn't requires much imagination. Well, this makes me currently occupied for a while. I am trying new approach in executing this job, bringing in my years of collective experiences. Surprisingly, I met some old old friends along the way. One in partical was as long as my pre-college days where the our whole life was still open wide for us to explore back then. It was the time of Thundercats.

Wisecracking

My daily routine has started to set in. I am having a regular exercise every morning and evening by taking a 400m walk to and fro. Not forgetting going down flight of stairs from the elevated monorail platform (well, going up is via escalator!). Added to this setup a daily dosage of being packed into a small moving coach and being meshed further along the 5 station stops.

I missed being in command of several staff, executives and engineers. Instead, I am practically back where I was started almost 17 years ago, but with a difference. I am more experienced and well rounded this time around. Admittedly a bit rusty in original ideas but made it up via the ability to see potential pitfalls that normally comes with raw and unbridled designs.

Beam Me Up Scotty!

I have been transported into a different time zone. It's a rather new environment even though I am doing things which have been nearly forgotten for quite a while. It is rusty for now and it shows. Making the best of the situation.

Admittedly, I am longing for the constant pressure cooker environment that requires me to always be on guard, on toes and 'updated'.

Till the next report, I have a 'monorail' to catch.

Promotion

As I walked into the boardroom, 7 pairs of eyes followed my every footsteps. Dang! I was partially nervous that I even kicked the side gypsum wall as I was about to pull the chair by the end of the long table.

The chairman mumbled something about finally having found the right person to be given greater responsibilities (read 'sucker'). My short reply was that I have been performing almost the same level of responsibilities since the start (it was supposed to be a sarcastic remark but I guess they were so engrossed in finding surrogates that they didn't pretty much noticed it)

Further explanations of what an ideal organization chart should be and how to manage bigger staff didn't fuelled me at all. My mind just wandered to my colleagues and subordinates whom in reality has became unmotivated, depressed, clueless and disillusioned with the journey taken and the direction heading.

I was awaken by the sudden silence in the boardroom. 3 pairs of eyes looking directly at me, 2 pairs looking at the lints on the squeaking clean table, and another 2 pairs looking lost at each other. A long pause ( I am sorry, I have to rewind quickly to figure out what was the question) as the 2 pairs of eyes from the original 3 started to find more lints on their area of the table. The only safe phrase I could come up with (no matter what the question might have been) "I will have to sit down with new boss and figure out the details and strategies" (?)

You are excused and hope you will be more motivated now with the new responsibilities.

I guess they won't ever get it at all.

Management Boot Camps

I just got back from a Team building Session organized by my present company. It was a 4 days affair where approximately 40 personnel from several construction sites were sequestered and given a systematic dressing down of team building concept and implementation. It was conducted by Malaysian outfit of trainers and facilitators from CEDC.

Suffice to say the general objective was met and everyone seemed to have learned something about what it takes to be a team player. As for me, I re-learned and unlearned few things. Most and foremost - that senior managers are human too. Where else you can get a chance to really participate and beat up your senior managers fairly in a company sanctioned event, and don't have to worry about the repercussion later?

I came out impressed with the personnel we are having right now (accept for one or two blokes) despite the initial cultural differences (Iraqis, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Philippines, Malaysians, Brits and Irish) making me nostalgic if and when the time eventually comes for me to make a career move. The time has long gone since being shouted at in the phone and labelled as not a team player and too emotional by trying to question along the chain of management abyss on procedural matters. Paying the price of cold storage simply because I asked too much.

Oh by the way, our group won the overall first place in the team category. Even though we found out eventually that the other teams all get the same contents of snacks and chocolates, I would never trade places with the tacit acknowledgement of winning.