American football player and coach (born 1944)

Richard Copeland Slo* (born November 7, 1944), is a former American football player and coach. He served as the interim athletic director at Texas A&M University from January through June 2019, and previously served as the head football coach there from 1989 to 2002. He has won more games as coach (123) than anyone else in Texas A&M Aggies football history. Slo* was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2012.

Contents

• 1 Personal
• 2 Coaching career
  • 2.1 Early career
  • 2.2 USC
  • 2.3 Texas A&M
    • 2.3.1 Head coach
• 3 Head coaching record
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Personal

Raised in Orange, Texas, Slo* graduated from Stark High School in Orange in 1963 and attended McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Slo* 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 older, Shawn Slo*, was an *istant coach at Texas A&M under his father and has been the special teams coordinator for the Arizona State Sun Devils since 2015.

Coaching career

Early career

Slo* began his career as a football coach at Lake Charles High School in 1968. Two years later, in 1970, Slo* became a graduate *istant at Kansas State University under head coach Vince Gibson, also coaching the offensive linemen on the freshman team. In 1971, he was named head freshman coach.

USC

Slo* spent the 1981 season as the defensive coordinator at the University of Southern California (USC) under John Robinson. Slo*'s defense led the Pacific-10 Conference in total defense that season. The team lost to Penn State in the 1982 Fiesta Bowl, finishing with a 9–3 record.

Texas A&M

In 1972, Slo* was hired as receivers 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 linebackers 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 Slo* as his defensive coordinator in 1979. After serving USC as defensive coordinator in 1981, Slo* returned to A&M in 1982 as defensive coordinator under Jackie Sherrill. In 1985, Slo* was elevated to *istant head coach. Slo* subs*uted 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

Slo* as head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies

In December 1988, Sherrill was forced to resign, and Slo* was named his successor. During his 14 years as head coach, Slo* led the Aggies to a record of 123–47–2, making him the winningest coach in Texas A&M history. During his career, Slo* never had a losing season and won four conference championships, including the Big 12 *le in 1998 and two Big 12 South Championships in 1997 and 1998. Additionally, he led the Aggies to become the first school in Southwest Conference history to post three consecutive perfect conference seasons and actually went four consecutive seasons without a conference loss. Slo* 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.

Under his tenure, Slo* helped make A&M's Kyle Field one of the hardest places to play in the nation, only losing 12 home games in 14 years, going parts of seven seasons without a home loss. After a home loss to Arkansas on November 24, 1989 (which broke a streak of 19 consecutive SWC home victories), they would not lose again in College Station until December 2, 1995 when his Aggies lost to Texas 16-6, although they did tie Baylor (20-20) on October 20, 1990. With Miami's 58-game, nine-season home winning streak ending in 1994, A&M owned the longest active home winning streak in the nation for much of 1994 and 1995. In the 1990s, A&M lost only four times at Kyle Field. Slo* 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 Slo*'s career as head coach.

Slo* inherited an Aggie football program that had just finished 7-5 and had been slapped with severe NCAA sanctions for violations under Sherrill. He didn't take long to clean up the program. 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, Slo* was forced to resign in 2002 following only the second non-winning season of his career, and his only losing record in conference play. He immediately *umed a position as special adviser to Texas A&M president Robert Gates.

In May 2012, Slo* was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

On April 19, 2019, Slo* was named interim athletic director for Texas A&M after the sudden departure of Scott Woodward to LSU.

Head coaching record

See also

• Legends Poll

References

External links

• Texas A&M profile (archived June 6, 2002)
• R. C. Slo* at the College Football Hall of Fame