Texas A&M is set to add another piece of bronze to the front of Kyle Field, and this one belongs to the coach many still view as the standard in Aggieland.
The university announced Thursday evening that it will honor R.C. Slocum with a statue in front of its home stadium on Friday, September 4, ahead of the Aggies’ 2026 opener against Missouri State the next day.
Slocum, whose full name is Richard Copeland Slocum, is already a College Football Hall of Fame inductee, and his place in Texas A&M history is hard to miss. He guided the Maroon and White from 1989 through 2002, but his run in College Station started long before that. He first arrived in 1972 as an offensive assistant, shifted to defensive assistant the next year, and held that role for five seasons before moving up to defensive coordinator for the 1979 and 1980 seasons.
After a one-year stop at USC in 1981 as defensive coordinator, Slocum returned to Texas A&M for another six years in the same job before getting his chance to lead the program in 1989.
Once he did, the wins piled up. Slocum finished with a 123-47-2 record, the most by any head football coach in school history, and his 1998 team won the Big 12 Conference Championship.
His teams also made Kyle Field into the kind of place opposing teams dread, with just 12 home losses during his 14 seasons as head coach.
Along the way, he coached some of the most recognizable names to come through Aggieland, including linebacker Dat Nguyen, punter Shane Lechler, and wide receiver/return specialist Dante Hall.
After his coaching career, Slocum remained tied to the university as special assistant to the president, and he also had brief stints as interim athletic director in 2019 and 2023 before Ross Bjork and Trev Alberts were hired in those roles, respectively.
In January 2025, Slocum retired from all positions at Texas A&M, closing out 50 years of service to the university.
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