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Texas A&M Coaching History
By Ethan Stone
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Texas A&M has seen 31 head coaches and 4 interim coaches since its first year in action, 1894.
Mike Elko is the latest to accept the position, and the former Duke coach had a solid first season at 8-5. But it’ll take work to get Texas A&M to a truly dominant level in the SEC, which means there’s a long road ahead for the Aggies.
To take a look at the standard that Elko is held to, let’s take a look at Texas A&M football’s head coaching history, from F. Dudley Perkins to R.C. Slocum to Bear Bryant.
Texas A&M Coaching History
As you can see above, Texas A&M has had some notable figures come and go across the years. In fact, 6 Hall of Famers have coached in College Station: Dana Bible, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Madison “Matty” Bell, Gene Stallings, Homer H. Norton and R.C. Slocum.
A few of these coaches – particularly Stallings, Bell and Bryant – were known for their accomplishments outside Texas A&M. And though Bible won 2 national titles at Texas A&M, he spent the majority of his career at Texas as coach and administrator.
Of course, Bryant is considered by some as the greatest college head coach of all time for his years at Alabama, which came just after his stint at A&M. As listed above, Bryant spent 4 seasons in College Station from 1954-1957.
The winningest coach in Aggies history to oversee at least 5 seasons is Charley Moran, who coached from 1909-1914. He won 37 of his 48 contests at head coach. And while that is impressive, it doesn’t quite hold up to the best run in Texas A&M history, led by Dana Bible.
Dana X. Bible
Dana Bible coached Texas A&M in 1917 and again from 1919-1928, when he won a pair of national titles with the Aggies – once in 1919 and once again in 1927. Bible was also the head coach of the Aggies basketball team from 1920-1927 and the baseball team in 1920 and 1921.
That lone 1917 season was his best, and genuinely one of the most dominant seasons in college football history. The Aggies did not surrender a single point all season, outscoring opponents 270-0. But because 6 teams finished that season undefeated and John Heisman’s Georgia Tech death star also existed, the Aggies’ hardware was limited to SWC title trophy.
Rather than complain, Texas A&M doubled down. In 1919 Bible’s Aggies did it again, this time outscoring opponents 275-0. Once again the Aggies were not immediately named the national champions (shared between 5 teams) and only began to recognize the title in 2012. It was a similar situation with the Aggies’ 1927 title.
Bible went on to coach and serve as AD for Texas, where he was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, in 1951. He also saw a few dominant years at Nebraska, where he dominated the Big Six in the 30s. Bible passed away in 1980 at age 88.
R.C. Slocum
R.C. Slocum is the most “Aggie” head coach on the list. That is, he’s made the biggest impact on Texas A&M more than anywhere else across his career. He entered the program in 1972 as an offensive assistant and spent the next 30 years in College Station, except for a lone year as 1981 USC’s defensive coordinator.
R.C. Slocum and the Aggies are best known for their run in the early 1990s. The Aggies posted back-to-back-to-back undefeated years in conference play from 1991-1993 and was named SWC coach of the year all 3 seasons. However, he lost all 3 bowl games across that stretch.
That became a bit of a trend for Slocum, despite his impressive resume. He finished 3-8 in bowl games as a head coach, but 123-47-2 overall.
Slocum resigned in 2002 and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012
Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.
