Maxx Wolfson

Hunting season is in full swing, and it claimed its ninth victim yesterday.

But hunting in the world of college football isn't about good old Yosemite Sam going after Bugs Bunny. This is university athletics directors going after their head football coaches.

While here in Tucson, head football coach John Mackovic came under fire for the way he treated his players, many coaches have lost their jobs already this season for much less ÷ well, except for maybe Bobby Williams at Michigan State.

The latest coach to get the ax is R.C. Slocum, the now-former head coach at Texas A&M, who was fired yesterday after 14 seasons as the head coach and having spent nearly 30 years in Aggieland.

Slocum was casualty No. 9 in the cruel world that is college football coaching. Who will be 10? What does it take to keep your job these days in college football? If a team doesn't make a bowl game, does that mean a coach should be fired?

Slocum has been one of the most well-respected coaches in the country for the last decade, but even that could not help him keep his job after a 6-6 season, despite upsetting Oklahoma, the No. 1 team in the nation, earlier this year.

Slocum (123-47-2) was in the fourth year of a seven-year contract, but contracts these days only amount to how much money the school will have to pay off their coach in the long run once he gets fired ÷ see Dick Tomey.

But having an average season in College Station left Slocum jobless, and the guy still hasn't had a losing season with the Aggies.

"I'm disappointed. He's a great guy and a great football coach and I hate to see that happen to him,'" senior linebacker Brian Gamble told The Associated Press. "The guy has been a father figure for me for four, almost five years."

Former Utah head coach Ron McBride was fired for similar reasons just two weeks ago, and his players felt the same way.

The rumors are also circling that UCLA head coach Bob Toledo is in the hot seat.

This is the same coach that had a team ranked in the Top 25 less than two weeks ago, before the team was crushed by USC. The Bruin loss looked bad, but after what the Trojans did to Notre Dame on Saturday, it seems almost OK.

The Bruin players fully support their coach, as many of them told me last week, and don't want him out. But another trip to a small bowl game could see Toledo hitting the unemployment line in January.

In today's world of college football, it seems that ticket sales and big TV contracts come before anything else. This can become an even bigger reality if Notre Dame gets the final BCS bid over Iowa.

I'm not trying to say that it's always wrong to fire a coach who has been with a program for many years and had success, but the way it's being done this season and over the last couple years is disheartening.

I even wrote about how I felt Mackovic should be fired after what happened when he lost control of his players last month.

However, the difference here is that Slocum, McBride and even Toledo didn't lose their players, and to me, that is when a coaching change needs to be made.

Not when some athletic director or university is not putting people in their stadium's seats.