25 best college football coaches never to win a national title
- Head Coaching Record: 123-47-2 at Texas A&M, 1989-2002
- Closest He Came to Winning a National Championship: 1992; 12-1, lost the Cotton Bowl, No. 7 final ranking. Also went 10-0-1 in 1994, but was ineligible for a bowl game.
- Notable: Three Southwest Conference Championships (1991, 1992, 1993), 1998 Big 12 Champions, College Football Hall of Fame (2012)
R.C. Slocum is one of the most well-known names in Texas A&M football history, having served as an assistant coach for the Aggies from 1972-1980 and 982-1988 before taking over as the program’s head coach in 1989. Slocum posted a 123-47-2 record across 14 seasons as the head coach in College Station thanks in large part to his “Wrecking Crew” defense.
Slocum and the Aggies captured three Southwest Conference titles and he oversaw a four-year period from 1991-1994 in which A&M didn’t lose a single game against a conference opponent. Included in that stretch was the 1992 squad that finished the season 12-1 following a 28-3 loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl and earned a No. 7 final ranking in the AP Top 25.
In 1998, Texas A&M won the first Big 12 championship in the program’s history, and knocked off No. 2 Kansas State 36-33 in overtime in the Big 12 Championship Game in St. Louis. The Aggies finished 11-3 that season, which was the fifth double-digit winning campaign in Slocum’s first ten seasons as head coach.
Texas A&M never had a losing record under Slocum, though when the Aggies finished 6-6 in 2002, the school asked him to resign and take an administrative role in the university.
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