Quick Facts
Biography
Richard Copeland Slocum (born November 7, 1944), better known as R. C. Slocum, is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Texas A&M University from 1989 to 2002. He has won more games as coach (123) than anyone else in Texas A&M Aggies football history. Slocum was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2012.
Personal
Raised in Orange, Texas, Slocum graduated from Stark High School in Orange in 1963 and attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Slocum earned a B.S. in physical education in 1967 and M.S. in educational administration in 1968, both from McNeese State. He has two sons; the oldest, Shawn Slocum, has been an assistant coach at Texas A&M under R. C. Slocum and has been the special teams coach for the Arizona State Sun Devils since 2015.
Coaching career
Early career
Slocum began his career as a football coach 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.
USC
Slocum spent the 1981 season as the defensive coordinator at the University of Southern California (USC). The team was led by head coach John Robinson. Slocum's defense led the Pacific-10 Conference in total defense that season. The team lost to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl, finishing with a 9–3 record.
Texas A&M
In 1972, Slocum was hired as a receiver coach under Emory Bellard at Texas A&M University. After one year of coaching the receivers, he was moved to defense to coach the defensive ends, and in 1976, he became linebacker coach. Coach Bellard left A&M in 1978, moving on to Mississippi State and taking defensive coordinator Melvin Robertson with him. Former A&M offensive coordinator and new head coach Tom Wilson chose Slocum as his defensive coordinator in 1979. After serving USC as defensive coordinator in 1981, Slocum returned to A&M in 1982 and became defensive coordinator under head coach Jackie Sherrill. In 1985, Slocum was elevated to assistant head coach. Slocum substituted for Sherrill and served as acting head coach for A&M's 18–0 victory over TCU during the 1988 season which was Sherrill's last.
Head coach
In December 1988, R.C. Slocum was named head coach at Texas A&M. During his 14 years as head coach, Slocum 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 and two Big 12 South Championships, 97,98. Additionally, he led the Aggies to become the first school in the Southwest Conference history to post three consecutive perfect conference seasons and actually went four consecutive seasons without a conference loss. Slocum reached 100 wins faster than any other active coach. He has the best winning percentage in SWC history, one spot ahead of the legendary coach Darrell 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. For over a year, A&M held the longest home-winning streak in the nation, losing in 1989 and not again until late in 1995. In the 1990s, A&M lost only four times at Kyle Field. Slocum was named SWC Coach of the Year three times during his tenure as head coach. His "Wrecking Crew" defense led the SWC in 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 inherited an Aggie football program that had just finished 7-5 and under severe NCAA sanctions, 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. 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.'
After fourteen years as head coach of the Aggies, Slocum was asked to resign in 2002 following only the second non-winning season of his career. He immediately assumed a position as special adviser to Texas A&M president Robert Gates.
In May 2012, Slocum was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1989–1995) | |||||||||
| 1989 | Texas A&M | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd | L John Hancock | 20 | |||
| 1990 | Texas A&M | 9–3–1 | 5–2–1 | T–2nd | W Holiday | 13 | 15 | ||
| 1991 | Texas A&M | 10–2 | 8–0 | 1st | L Cotton | 13 | 12 | ||
| 1992 | Texas A&M | 12–1 | 7–0 | 1st | L Cotton† | 6 | 7 | ||
| 1993 | Texas A&M | 10–2 | 7–0 | 1st | L Cotton† | 8 | 9 | ||
| 1994 | Texas A&M | 10–0–1 | 6–0–1 | * | * | 8 | |||
| 1995 | Texas A&M | 9–3 | 5–2 | T–2nd | W Alamo | 15 | 15 | ||
| Texas A&M Aggies (Big 12 Conference) (1996–2002) | |||||||||
| 1996 | Texas A&M | 6–6 | 4–4 | 3rd (South) | |||||
| 1997 | Texas A&M | 9–4 | 6–2 | 1st (South) | L Cotton | 21 | 20 | ||
| 1998 | Texas A&M | 11–3 | 7–1 | 1st (South) | L Sugar† | 13 | 11 | ||
| 1999 | Texas A&M | 8–4 | 5–3 | T–2nd (South) | L Alamo | 20 | 23 | ||
| 2000 | Texas A&M | 7–5 | 5–3 | 3rd (South) | L Independence | ||||
| 2001 | Texas A&M | 8–4 | 4–4 | T–3rd (South) | W Galleryfurniture.com | ||||
| 2002 | Texas A&M | 6–6 | 3–5 | 5th (South) | |||||
| Texas A&M: | 123–47–2 | 78–28–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 123–47–2 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| †Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. * A&M was ineligible. | |||||||||
Coaching tree
Assistant coaches under R. C. Slocum who became NCAA or NFL head coaches:
- Dennis Allen: Oakland Raiders (2012–2014)
- Dino Babers: Eastern Illinois (2012–2013), Bowling Green (2014–2015), Syracuse (2016–present)
- Phil Bennett: SMU (2002–2007)
- Bob Davie: Notre Dame (1997–2001), New Mexico (2012–present)
- Steve Kragthorpe: Tulsa (2003–2006), Louisville (2007–2009)
- Mike Sherman: Green Bay Packers (2000–2005), Texas A&M (2008–2011)
- Tommy Tuberville: Ole Miss (1995–1998), Auburn (1999–2008), Texas Tech (2010–2012), Cincinnati (2013–2016)