The Battalion — February 8, 2024

THURSDAY, FEBUARY 8 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2024 STUDENT MEDIA

Thursday 2/08 Rainy 72/58

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SPORTS A spotlight on the managers behind the scenes in A&M college basketball. B1

OPINION Sick and tired of getting hit on by creepy men at Northgate?

How about a only-girl bar? A5

Students can file for spring elections Filings open for 90 vacant positions until Feb. 16

By Mia Putnam @MiaBatt25

Caitlin Hullett, Class of 2023, as Rosetta won Best in Show at AggieCon in the Rudder Forum on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.

Karis Olson — THE BATTALION

A Midsummer Night’s Con

AggieCon 53 hosts actor panels, cosplay contest, video game tournament

By Nadia Abusaid @NadiaAtTheBatt

Skirts swayed across the carpet and vibrant wigs filled the rooms as guests moved throughout the Memorial Student Center and Rudder Forum at the 53rd AggieCon last weekend.

With voice actor panels, video game tournaments, board game rooms, an artist’s gallery, cosplay contest and trading card game tournaments, the convention had events from Friday, Feb. 2 through Sunday, Feb. 4 for all nerdy and geeky hobbies and interests. Hosted by the student organization Cepheid Variable, AggieCon 53: “A Midsummer Night’s Con” had more than 500 guests this weekend.

Dating back to 1969, AggieCon has evolved dramatically from its roots as a Star Trek convention to include more games, events and panels. This year, the convention added trading card game tournaments, an upgraded cosplay cafe with pastries from Koala Bakery & Cafe, Rudder Forum as the cosplay contest venue and an expanded

dealer’s room, where attendees shop for fan merchandise and trinkets.

Forensics junior Emma Tuttle served as Aggie Con 53’s director and organized the event along with the Texas A&M Cosplay Club.

“What I like about AggieCon is more interaction,” Tuttle said.

“We’re definitely more of the intimate vibe [where] you can meet new people.”

Tuttle said she particularly enjoys

AggieCon is just one of the ways that Cepheid Variable works to connect its members to other people with similar interests in the community, Torres said.

“Cepheid never wants you to feel without community … we want to be able to give people an outlet to meet people that are like them,” Torres said. “It’s something that I find very special about Cepheid.”

Blue Lock anime voice actors

people who want to come and have fun doing things,” Torres said.

Other guests included three professional cosplayers who judged Saturday’s cosplay contest, such as Samantha Study, known professionally as StitchCrimes.

“Some of the stuff that you see in cosplay contests are just mind-blowing, like StitchCrimes — [Samantha Study] — she just won Best in Show at Anime Frontier and she made everything from her wig to her big props, which were like some big scissors. She even cobbled her own shoes,” Torres said.

At AggieCon, contestants were required to create at least 50% of their cosplay to enter the novice category. To enter the journeyman category, contestants must have made at least 75% of their costume and have won at least one award prior.

“The thing about cosplay contests is they’re not store-bought,” Torres said. “You have to make everything by hand for a cosplay contest to compete, or at least 50%, but it’s mostly homemade things.”

After a month of creating her intricate paper mache, plaster and foam mask, learning to sew her dress and crafting a wooden belt, astrophysics junior Olivia Moody won Best in Novice for her cosplay

“We’re definitely more of the intimate vibe [where] you can meet new people.”

Emma Tuttle Director of AggieCon 53 the tournaments at the convention which help connect people with similar interests.

“Just being able to sit down and play card games with other people and meet people that way is kind of one of the bigger draws,” Tuttle said.

Communication sophomore Jade Torres served as assistant director where she assisted with photography, public relations and provided support for other officers at AggieCon.

Alex Hom, Bryson Baugus and Drew Breedlove ran individual panels and a collective panel together at AggieCon. “We invite guests here and most of the time they end up being voice actor guests from animes because we have a lot of big anime recording studios in Texas,” Torres said.

Panels were also held by students and volunteers which Tuttle said allowed for a wide variety of content.

“A lot of panelists are other students or volunteers or professionals,

AGGIECON ON PG. A2

Students can now file for the spring election, which boasts 90 vacancies.

At Texas A&M, the spring election is the largest of the student elections, as multiple major positions are up for grabs. Students can now sign up to run for student body president, Yell Leader, class president, Student Senate and more.

Students can file on the Student Government Association Elections Commission website, election.tamu. edu. Students must pay a $10 fee for minor races and $20 for major races, and must meet all eligibility requirements. Filing for the election will officially close on Feb. 16 at 3 p.m.

Election commissioner and political science senior Jared Ramos said filing is the first step of election season.

“Filing means that [students who file] are running your election for the next two weeks,” Ramos said.

“General campaigning starts on [Feb. 19] and ends on March 1…

[Students can] file to share their vision and passion for Texas A&M and what they want to do with their time for the office they are running for.”

Following filing, the timeline for the election process is as follows: • Feb. 5, 10 a.m. — Filing opens • Feb. 16, 3 p.m. — Filing closes • Feb. 18, 5-6 p.m. — Mandatory Candidates Meeting in MSC 2300C • Feb. 19, 12 a.m. — General campaigning starts • Feb. 22, 5:30-8:30 p.m. — SBP/Yell Leaders Debate in the MSC Flag Room • Feb. 28, 5 p.m. — Finance forms due • Feb. 29, 9 a.m. — Voting opens • March 1, 12 p.m. — Voting and general campaigning ends • March 1, 7 p.m. — Violation reports due • March 1, no earlier than 7 p.m. — Unofficial results announced at the 12th Man Statue Additional questions about filing or the election process can be directed to the election commissioner at tamuelection@gmail.com.

‘Fall in love with...campus’ A&M welcomes 8,000 prospective students for Aggieland Saturday

By Ashley Acuna @AshleyMAcuna

Kyle Heise — The Battalion

Texas A&M is opening its doors to thousands of visitors for its largest annual open house event.

On Saturday, Feb. 10 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Aggieland Saturday will offer a wide range of informational presentations, tours and live performances, providing attendees and their families a glimpse of the

culture at A&M. Hosted by A&M Visitor Center, the event will be self-guided and free to the public.

Director of Visitor Experience at A&M, Kelli Hollinger, said this event gives more opportunities to see things not normally offered on a day-to-day basis.

Online registration and the guidebook app will be mandatory for check-in and will also show times for all activities.

“It will make it easy for prospective students and families to sort through the hundreds of events, demonstrations, resource tables and performances,” Hollinger said.

“They can [put] together what will

make a great day for them.”

In a first for 2024, President Mark A. Welsh III will start the kick-off to this event, Hollinger said, along with Student Body President Andrew Applewhite and the Yell Leaders.

“You can think of the tone as a pep rally and the opportunity to engage with A&M’s traditions and values,” Hollinger said.

For the first time at Aggieland Saturday, there will be a student marketplace hosted by the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship, located in its parking lot on West campus. Free parking is available in AGGIELAND ON PG. A2

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The Battalion | 02.08.24

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Karis Olson — THE BATTALION

The cosplay contest award-winners at AggieCon in the Rudder Forum on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024.

AGGIECON CONTINUED as Skull Kid from “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.” Moody had never entered a cosplay contest prior to Aggie Con. “I can’t believe that my first time I won …

I’m just shocked,” Moody said. “I’m really really proud of myself for winning and for this

AGGIELAND CONTINUED Fan Field across the road. The Bush School bus, route No. 5, will offer free transportation for all vendors.

Communications Manager for McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship Lara Robertson said the vendors are open to anyone, whether or not they are participating in Aggieland Saturday.

“One of the unique things is every vendor at [the] student marketplace is an A&M student running a side business,” Robertson said.

entire costume.”

Caitlin Hullett, Class of 2023, was last year’s Best in Novice winner and moved up to the journeyman category this year, winning Best in Show for her cosplay as Rosetta from “The Fairies of Pixie Hollow.”

“Pretty much everything I’m doing is new,” Hullett said. “I’ve never made a struc-

“This year we are excited to have 34 student vendors and it is everything from artisan crafts, sweet treats and products they service.”

Academic departments, The Association of Former Students, Destination Bryan and the Corps of Cadets are some of the many organizations contributing to the event, public service and administration graduate and Howdy Crew captain Lisa Cantu said.

“The Corps of Cadets will be stationed at different ports on campus, and they will be having a ‘Ask me’ sign,” Cantu said. “Leaning on

tured bodice … I’ve never made a boned corset, I’ve never wired a skirt before, I’ve never dyed shoes before, I’ve never made wings or used LEDs, I’ve never used foam or made a prop so everything was completely new. The only thing I knew how to do was use a sewing machine.”

Hullett said she was a harsh critic of her

the different collaborations with the Corps of Cadets helps us have more manpower throughout campus and help visitors get a positive experience even when they are arriving on campus.”

On the other hand, Cantu said the Howdy Crew, a greeting committee, partakes in different roles — answering phone calls, responding to emails, marketing, giving customer service and guiding tours.

“As far as the campus tours, the Howdy Crew makes the backbone of the experience, [since] they get to know each visitor as they are doing

costume and refused to believe she could win, contrary to family and friends saying she could.

“If I hadn’t known pictures were coming, I would’ve cried,” Hullett said. “It was insane.

I wasn’t expecting to place at all.”

their tour,” Cantu said.

Tours will start every 10 minutes and conclude at 2 p.m. Due to the event’s size, Cantu said Howdy Crew members are required to work Aggieland Saturday and split into morning or afternoon blocks.

“We currently have about 100 tour guides on our Howdy Crew and they will give as many as possible tours in an individual block,” Cantu said.

The organizers of Aggieland Saturday evaluate each previous event to improve for the next to maximize the benefits, Hollinger said.

“Preparation for Aggieland Saturday is a year in the making,” Hollinger said. “We want it to be a success for academic colleges, campus resources, campus partners and Destination Bryan, and we have many stakeholders that contribute.”.

Cantu said her laser focus on ensuring the event is successful comes from her desire to ensure visitors fully experience A&M. “What I am most excited about is having prospective students see the magic of Aggieland and have them fall in love with different aspects of campus,” Cantu said.

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FEATURE

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Hyperbole: Every book lover’s dream

Ashely Bautista — THE BATTALION

(Left to right) Owners of Hyperbole Bookstore, Kathy and Kalena Miller, pose in the Adult Fiction section of their bookstore on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024.

Mother-daughter duo open College Station indie bookstore

By Diya Regi-Thomas @diyaregithomas Kathy and Kalena Miller, a mother-daughter duo of bookworms, brought to fruition every reader’s dream when they opened the doors of Hyperbole Bookstore, the only independent bookstore in College Station.

For Kathy, a former communication professor at Texas A&M, and her daughter Kalena, who grew up in College Station, what felt like an attainable lifelong goal finally became a reality. This transformation was fueled by their shared love for reading and their combined experience in writing, ranging from textbooks and non-fiction to young adult fiction.

she said.

“Even before we opened the bookstore, I talked to my mom 10 times a day, so this isn’t anything new,” Kalena said. “But it’s great to have a business partner that you can call at 3 a.m. It’s so much fun. It’s what I always dreamed of. We’ve always been really close.”

Connecting with the community, creating a comfortable space for readers with a wide range of interests and having conversations with individuals about what they love about books is what feeds you as a book lover, Kathy said.

“We knew that the market really only had big box stores,” Kathy said. “So we really wanted to be a curated collection where people could come in and know that if they asked, ‘What should I read? This is the last thing I loved, what would you suggest?’ We would be able to give them suggestions. We wanted a place where people would feel comfortable and realize that all of these books were selected by us, and not by an algorithm.”

“We were living in Minnesota at the time and started looking around and realized that Minnesota is kind of oversaturated with bookstores, and we remembered from when we lived here that College Station didn’t have one,” Kathy said. “Suddenly, we decided we were gonna do it. We moved both of our households down from Minnesota.”

As a young adult and middle-grade author herself, Kalena said it helped to have one foot in the door of the book world when they opened their store.

“I got more into writing in college, and afterwards, I realized my favorite part of every job or every class is always writing,” Kalena said.

“At first, I took that as a sign that I should be a grant writer or something, but I eventually found my way back to creative writing. Publishers and books and all of that were familiar, so I think that’s what took some of the scariness away.”

While owning a business with your mom might not be everyone’s dream, it definitely was for Kalena,

With the goal of creating a space for all types of readers, Hyperbole Bookstore features more books by female authors, people of color, queer authors and even authors who graduated from A&M, Kathy said.

“We’re really open, and I think women, especially young women, come in,” Kathy said. “I think they feel really comfortable just wandering around and chatting about books and shouting across the store.

There was a young woman in here the other day who was talking to me about a book by Milan Kundera and said, ‘I read this years ago and I really wanted to understand it more, so then I read it in French.’ So I think we really need to pay attention to all readers.”

Hyperbole Bookstore aims to connect with their regulars, such as a 3-year-old who has his mom bring him later in the week if he misses the Saturday morning storytime, and newcomers alike, by hosting community-oriented events, Kathy said.

“We do story-time on Saturday, we’ll get a dozen kids in here, with

their parents, reading stories and doing crafts,” Kathy said. “We do book club. We have a dozen or more folks come down for whatever we picked for the month. We’re doing a new event called Hyperbole After-Hours where we pair a theme with an adult beverage. The first one is in February, and we’re doing Vampires and Vodka, which will be fun. We wanted it to be a place that people would want to come to.”

Being a smaller bookstore with only Kathy and Kalena working at the store, they can work one-onone with people and meet their needs, Kalena said.

“Owning our own place allows us to be like ‘Sure, bring your dog, bring your kids, I’ll watch them for a minute,’” Kalena said. “A slightly more casual, family-oriented and inviting approach with a focus on accessibility, diversity and all the things we want to see represented in the community.”

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News:The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University in Student Media, a unit of the Division of Student Affairs. Newsroom phone: 979-845-3315; E-mail: editor@thebatt.com; website: www.thebatt.com.

Advertising: Publication of advertising does not imply sponsorship or endorsement byThe Battalion . For campus, local, and national display advertising call 979-845-2697. For classified advertising, call 979-845-2697. Office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Email: battads@thebatt.com.

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OPINION

The Battalion | 02.08.24

Girl’s night out ... but only girls

A5

Selena Cosino — THE BATTALION

Opinion writer proposes a women-only Northgate bar to avoid creepy male patrons Maddie McMurrough @MadsMcMurrough Over Christmas break I went to Sin City.

That’s right, Las Vegas!

With this being my first trip to Vegas as a 21-year-old adult, I found myself at the slot machines and somehow an Ice Bar. But when I got tired of losing my hard-earned money and drinking in a subzero freezer, I retired to my hotel room and turned on my TV for some well-deserved relaxation.

I ended up watching an episode of Undercover Boss about the restaurant TGI Fridays.

I was enlightened. Back in TGI Fridays’ early days, the restaurant was dubbed a haven for women during the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. It was a place women could go and feel safe enough to enjoy themselves.

That got me thinking.

The last two times I graced a bar with my presence, a pushy guy bombarded me and my group and made us, well, want to run screaming for the bouncer. Now, I know a bunch

of people are going to yell at me in the comments saying I should be flattered by the attention, but I want to note that I would be more flattered if the approach wasn’t aggressive and patronizing.

This may come as a surprise to a lot of people but when most women go out, we’re not looking for someone to go home with. Gasp.

What? I know it’s quite shocking. I, and I’m sure most girls, don’t want to deal with frail egos on a night out. God forbid we tell the aggressive guy that we’re not interested or already taken, a slew of expletives and insults fly out of their mouth — my favorite being, “I didn’t want you anyways, I just felt bad for you.”

So, here’s my official proposal for a women-only bar on Northgate.

Boys, this article really isn’t a diss on you, so don’t clap back at me like you do when I object to getting Freaky Tiki with you on nights out. I am flattered when I get hit on, and many women do enjoy being approached, but please learn to read body language or how to take rejection gracefully. Otherwise, we’ll have to resort to O’Bannon-ing you from our bar.

We respect that it takes guts to approach a girl — you’re no Dixie Chicken. But, here are some things to look out for: if you’re getting one word answers, uncomfortable silence or details that don’t add up. For example, I once told a forceful suitor that 35-year-old Rickie Fowler was my dad and I was a Midwestern D1 basketball player. He proceeded to ask me for an autograph. That’s called lying out of necessity so this guy can’t find you later when the alcohol wears off. We don’t want to lie to you, but sometimes it’s the only passive escape.

So, don’t take any of those signs as playing hard to get. It means she’s just not that into you. Take the loss and bow out like the champion we know you are instead of insulting us because you couldn’t catch the vibe. Just a tip.

So, what would this bar look like? First, the music that plays would be the kind of music girls get ready to. For example: Sza, ABBA, Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift. Tasteful karaoke is encouraged, and song requests are accepted. So feel free to sing at the top of your lungs.

The bathrooms are top of the line, super

clean, with full length mirrors perfect for fit pics and random girls complimenting your outfit. The dance floor would be open and have enough space for your entire group to dance without being grinded on by some random guy.

Not only would we have good bathrooms and even better company, we’d have employees whose entire job is arranging safe travel home for the ladies who need an extra drink or two. One discussion with them and you’ll be in your Backyard in no time. No need to worry about roofies or fumbling with the Uber app at 2 a.m.

This would be The Spot for single, faithfully taken, or “in a situationship” girlies to feel safe and still have fun at the bars. If we can’t get our very own TGI Fridays haven in College Station, we’ll have to make one ourselves.

Investors, get out your checkbooks, because this is a Money bar.

Maddie McMurrough is an agricultural communications and journalism junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.

What would your grandma think?

Opinion columnist says employers are looking at your socail media, so act accordingly.

Charis Adkins @Charis_Batt Listen up Ags, because I’m only going to say this once: potential employers are going to look at your social media. And no, they’re not in the wrong for that.

I’ve heard far too many students moaning and groaning about this, or even being surprised that they got passed over for a job when their social media accounts are as unprofessional as a hot tub streamer’s.

The fact is, if your profile is public, anyone can view it — and I do mean anyone.

This includes your parents, anyone who found your name from your LinkedIn, your potential employer, and — most importantly — your potential employer’s customers.

If you’re not afraid of Joe Schmoe from Fort Worth scrolling through your pics, why would you expect your employer to abstain from looking at them? Besides, having a public account basically invites them into the intimate parts of your life.

According to a Jobvite study, the major-

ity of hiring managers look at your account to learn more about your qualifications or to ensure you’ll be a good fit for the company’s culture. Others just want to see if you’re a creative person.

Social media has given hiring managers the upper hand in today’s job market. Anyone can crack open a thesaurus and regurgitate positive nouns under the “Skills” section of their resume. We’ve all been there — creativity, adaptability, timeliness. Rather than depending on the resume and interview alone, social media allows hiring managers to follow up on these claims and see what you spend your time doing.

Maybe your account is full of books you’ve read, crafts or projects you’ve done, or creative pictures of your dog you took when you thought he wasn’t looking. In that case, congratulations! You’ve probably passed this portion of the hiring process.

On the other hand, if your account is full of scantily-clad mirror selfies, red solo cups every weekend and just general hooliganism, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be getting one of those “We regret to inform you … ” emails very soon.

The advent of social media gives us a very different hiring experience than that of our parents. They never had to worry about their boss finding out what they did over the weekend, or that something they said back in college would resurface to haunt them as an adult.

This is a problem unique to us and our careers, and we need to recognize that and mitigate the damage it can cause.

Rule No. 1: don’t act a fool online.

Let’s start with the obvious. If your profile picture is you in a bikini, lingerie or similarly promiscuous lack of clothing for men (looking at you, post-workout towel mirror selfies), maybe rethink that. Even if your account is private, that photo is readily available to anyone searching you up. Is that really the first impression you want to make?

Next, consider privatizing your account.

Unless you’re running something that doesn’t have your face on it at all, like say a pet profile or weekly movie review, there’s no reason for you to be presenting your persona and thoughts to anyone and everyone.

Worse, you can’t just depend on yourself.

Even if you’ve got your public social media

Kyle Heise — THE BATTALION

tamped down, double-check whether or not your friends do. If they’ve tagged you in a photo, anyone can see your name, regardless of your account’s privatization status. In high school, I heard about a kid losing a scholarship because someone else’s photo surfaced of him drinking underage. Don’t let it happen to you.

Last but not least, remember that nothing is ever deleted. That offensive Tweet from 2016 that you thought was funny at the time may come back to haunt you.

Think twice before hitting “post,” and make sure everything on your account should be there in the first place. A good rule of thumb? Sanitize your account by looking at each picture and thinking about how your grandmother would react if you showed it to her.

This may be the first time a hiring manager looks at your accounts, but it certainly won’t be the last. Don’t regret it.

Charis Adkins is an English junior and opinion columnist for The Battalion.

SPORTS

THURSDAY, FEBUARY 8 | SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 | © 2024 STUDENT MEDIA

‘The hardest working people in showbiz’ Ishika Samant — THE BATTALION

Manager Calvin Williams in the huddle during Texas A&M’s game against Florida on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at Reed Arena.

An untold story of the men behind the scenes in college basketball

By Ian Curtis @TexIanCurtis They come from all walks of life. Some, like Penn student manager Jake Federman, want a career in sports analytics, but know they couldn’t cut it as a player. Others, like Illinois State manager Nathan Purcell, played college basketball at a lower level but couldn’t resist the chance to see a Division I program up close.

But they all have one thing in common: they are crazy enough about basketball to take on the tough, tedious, sometimes downright miserable jobs nobody wants in order to have a place in the sport.

So they become student managers.

“I wanted to become a student manager so I could stay involved with basketball,” Xavier manager Paxton Wong said. “I played throughout high school but decided that becoming a manager was the best way to stay involved in the sport long-term.”

But that doesn’t mean Wong, or any other manager, has to kiss their playing days goodbye. Late at night on the day before games, when the cathedrals of the sport are empty and barren, those chosen few take to their court as part of their own semi-organized league: Manager Games.

“These games aren’t a joke,” Purcell said. “They get competitive, they get you going, and it’s not just playing pickup for 40 minutes.”

Games are typically planned the day before, and take place after shootaround at the home team’s empty arena.

It’s encouraged that teams are made up of managers, but most programs don’t travel with five managers when they play road games.

So graduate assistants, operations

staffers and anyone else who isn’t a player is free to fill out the roster.

That leads to situations like former No. 1 overall NBA draft pick Greg Oden, as a graduate assistant at Ohio State, filling in for the Buckeye managers and making opponents grateful that there’s no cameras at manager games. And while Oden is an extreme example, it doesn’t take much to make a manager squad look like the 1996 Chicago Bulls, as San Jose State manager Jack Townsend discovered as the Trojans faced Santa Clara.

“It’s our first game of the year, we’re ready to go, we’re hyped up, we think we’re going to kill these

off of a plane.

“When we went to the Virgin Islands, me and another manager had to stay behind because our flight had reached the weight capacity,” Townsend said. “There had to be some people that had to stay behind, and [we] had to give our spots up to the scholarship players. We ended up having to stay another night after a really long trip, but it ended up being kind of fun.”

And when a manager doesn’t know what to do or how to do it?

They better figure it out.

“A lot of stuff that’s thrown at you, you have to say yes to and sometimes you may not have an

expected to be clean. The court is always expected to be wiped. The ball should be pumped to the proper inflation … He’s done it, so he knows what the standard is.”

Along with Williams and May, plenty of today’s managers take on the role in hopes of building a similar coaching career.

“It’s the way that most young people get into coaching,” Townsend said. “... Most people will usually be a student manager for their time in college, and then after they graduate, that will actually be the way that they can get into coaching.”

And what’s a better way to network with other managers — the

“You may not know how to do it, but you have to figure out a way. Because the last thing we’re going to do is tell a coach ‘no’” Mason Fuller Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Student Manager guys,” Townsend said. “Santa Clara won the tip, and this guy puts up a shot from three feet behind the NBA line, swishes the 3, and starts jogging back on defense … He looked like an NBA player out there.”

And while attendance may be in the single digits, and players won’t get their highlights played on SportsCenter, it’s one last chance for the most underappreciated folks in basketball to hoop for a chance at a championship — decided at the Final Four.

The hardest working people in sports It’s easier to list what responsibilities a manager doesn’t have than the ones they do have. A brief oversimplification of the job duties includes rebounding (before, during, after and outside of practice), giving players water, doing laundry, film analysis, running errands, ordering food and doing whatever the program requires them to do — which, for Townsend, includes getting kicked

answer,” Texas A&M manager Mason Fuller said. “You may not know how to do it, but you have to figure out a way. Because the last thing we’re going to do is tell a coach ‘no.’”

Plenty of coaches — including A&M’s own Buzz Williams and Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May — got their start as student managers, which can make being a manager under them an interesting experience.

“Coach May definitely looks out for us,” Florida Atlantic manager Jack Doherty said. “... He’s very easy-going and easy to talk to. Obviously that’s his personality, but all the assistant coaches have adjusted to that and they’ve been very nice to us.”

But it can also make the standards even higher. “[Williams] was a manager, so he understands everything that is expected,” Fuller said. “Everything can’t be wrinkled. Backboards are

future coaches of the sport, as former Auburn manager Thomas Northcutt puts it — than Manager Games?

‘One Shining Moment’ of their own While managers have been scrimmaging opposing managers for decades, the practice began to be codified in 2015 when the Big Ten Basketball Managers League was founded by Michigan State managers Ian May and Andrew Novak.

As the league became national the following year, they were joined by Northcutt, who along with Ian May and Novak runs @ManagerGames_ on X. The account serves as a hub for the world of manager games, with the three admins acting as part-time administrators, historians and occasional arbiters for managers across the country. But the goal is always to put the spotlight on the student managers themselves.

“I get the chance to highlight

managers who have worked their tail off every single day for these teams,” Northcutt said. “They deserve their moment in the sun.”

They post computer rankings determining the top teams in the country, culminating in their own 64-team Manager Games tournament.

The first few rounds are an online vote, before the teams that make the Elite Eight are invited to compete for the championship at the NCAA Final Four. The voting can be as competitive as the matchups decided on the court.

“In the postseason, you see everyone get so excited for these managers,” Northcutt said. “Every year we have people all the way up to Dave Portnoy, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, these massive celebrities and influencers coming in and supporting their managers. Just being the catalyst for all these big names to show love to these people … that’s what means the most to me.”

Not all of the support managers receive is quite so public. Players and coaches across the country follow their manager squads, and some go a step further.

A&M guard Wade Taylor IV is a staple at Aggie manager games, Fuller says. Federman recalls a Quaker player drawing up a play for his managers during a timeout. Notre Dame hung a banner in its practice facility after the Fighting Irish won the 2022 Manager Games national championship. And former Missouri coach Kim Anderson, after being fired as head coach of the Tigers, still made the trip to the Final Four to support the Missouri managers in their tournament.

“Managers are the hardest working people in showbiz,” Northcutt said. “You can ask anybody in sports who the hardest working people are, and it’s managers. Managers are the future wave of coaches, the next wave of college basketball and sports as a whole. It’s a great way for us to highlight these kids.”

A&M softball hosts season opener

12-12 ledger in SEC play, winning five of ry. Senior infielder Rylen Wiggins earned son with an 8-41 record.

Aggies premier 2024 campaign aeight conference series and the most regular All-SEC First-Team honors. Sophomore The Beacons have nine incoming freshmen season and conference series victories since the INF Amari Harper was named to the NFCA set to compete in the 2024-25 season. against Valparaiso Beacons 2018 season. Ford was the only Power 5 head All-South Region Third Team. Junior INF New to the Beacons this season, fresh-

By Camille Coffey @CoffeyCamille In Year 2 of the Trisha Ford era, Texas A&M softball will face Valparaiso University at Davis Diamond at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9 after an NCAA regional loss to Texas last season.

Ford made an immediate impact on the team in her first year, finishing 35-21 with

coach to lead their team to the NCAA Tournament in the first year at their school in 2023.

Under Ford, the Aggies’ pitching staff improved its overall team ERA from the prior season, going from 3.70 to 2.70 with a K-toBB ratio of 2.44, up from 1.50.

The 2023 season was one full of individual achievements from the Aggie lineup. Senior catcher Julia Cottrill was named to the NFCA All-American Third Team, the 42nd All-American recognition in program histo-

Koko Wooley earned All-SEC Second Team and NFCA All-South Region Second-Team recognition.

This season, Cottrill and graduate outfielder Jazmine Hill have been named to the Softball America Top 100 Player List. Cottrill was ranked the No. 6 catcher in the nation and No. 1 in the SEC. Hill was ranked No.19 in the outfielder rankings.

A&M’s opening-weekend opponent, the Valparaiso Beacons, ended their 2022-23 sea-

man pitcher Mia Carroll-Greeves was named Cuyahoga County Pitcher of the Year and Great Lakes Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Carroll-Greeves holds single-season program records for shutouts, ERA, strikeouts and no-hitters.

The Aggies’ matchup with the Beacons is the first in program history. With A&M fully settled with its new leadership and Vaplo’s updated roster, the spectators can expect an exciting, unpredictable season opener.