COLLEGE FOOTBALL / BOWL REPORT : COTTON : Slocum Recalls His USC Days

Texas A&M; Coach R.C. Slocum spent the 1981 season as defensive coordinator and linebacker coach at USC, and he and John Robinson, the Trojans’ coach at the time, remain close.

Speaking recently of Slocum, Robinson said: “He’s done his job probably as well as anybody in college football, but he’s not a guy who toots his own horn. He’s an outstanding defensive coach, and yet he doesn’t try to sell himself as being any kind of a genius.

“He has fun, too. He’s a good guy. If R.C. phoned and said, ‘Hey, I’m down at the corner, let’s go have a drink,’ I’d say, ‘Oh, yeah, I can’t wait to see you.’ ”

As for L.A. living--don’t get Slocum started.

“The problem I had is we lived in Diamond Bar,” he said, “and sometimes I just couldn’t get home.

“I’d always lived in a college town and been able to get home with the family at least some of the time. But (at USC) I’d go in Sunday morning, and I wouldn’t get home until Tuesday night at the earliest. I’d leave again at 6 Wednesday morning, get home at 11, 12 that night. Thursday night, I’d go to a (high school) game. Friday, I’d stay with the team. Saturday’s the game. After the game, you’d see your family, go have dinner and start all over again. It was a grind.

“And the biggest problem, I was about to starve to death. . . . (USC) could hire guys for very little because they’d want to work there. I mean, I was making out there about what I was making at A&M;, and the cost of living (in Los Angeles) was twice as high.

“I had a house at A&M;, a real nice house. I paid $90,000 for it. Brand new. I went out (to Los Angeles) and paid $136,000 for a 20-year-old dump.”

If there was any consolation for Slocum, he was able to sell his “dump” for about $15,000 more than he paid for it.

Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz on the prospect of junior fullback Jerome Bettis making himself available for the 1993 NFL draft: “I don’t know what Jerome Bettis is going to do. I just tell him my birthday is Jan. 6 (the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft) and I want a present from him.”

Contestants in a national high school cheerleading competition have been sharing a Dallas hotel with the Notre Dame football team this week, causing something of a distraction for the Irish as they prepare for their Cotton Bowl matchup with Texas A&M.;

“It’s just been real chaotic (at the hotel). Just let me leave it like that,” Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz said.

Said cornerback Tom Carter of the cheerleading horde: “They hang around the elevators, and when you walk out, they start squealing and asking for autographs.”

Carter said the cheerleaders have mainly been looking for quarterback Rick Mirer, but he added: “A lot of them look for Coach Holtz, too. I guess they want to go right to the top.”

Said Holtz: “Girls under 12 and over 70 have always had a strong feeling for me.”