AUSTIN, Texas — The president of the tiny NAIA school in Tyler called his athletic director/dean of students into his office last May and offered him an opportunity of a lifetime. Strings were attached.
Dwight Fennell asked Ricky Carson to become Texas College's new head football coach. Carson had longed for just such a job in a coaching career that began in 1983 and re-routed him eight times. He accepted on the spot.
Then he checked out the 2009 schedule.
"When I looked at the schedule and saw our first five," Carson said Wednesday, "I thought, 'This is not our league.' "
He was right. His Steers are in a league of their own. A league no one else wants to join.
One month into the job, Carson's team at Texas College — a four-year school that belongs to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics — stands 0-4, having been massacred by three Division I-AA and one Division II opponent. It gets worse. His team of 55 strong has been outscored 287-12.
The most amazing thing may be the 12. They've never led in a game. They've fallen by scores you wouldn't wish on the guy who cut you off in traffic: 75-6, 92-0, 52-6, 68-0.
The bright side? The Steers are off this week.
They lost 92-0 to Stephen F. Austin two weeks ago in a game in which the Lumberjacks pulled starters early in the second quarter. Lumberjacks coach J.C. Harper didn't suit up his All-America defensive end, Tim Knicky. His quarterback completed 12 of 12 passes. A deep snapper caught a touchdown pass. A third-team running back topped 100 yards.
"It was a strange game," Harper said.
So strange that Harper made his starters dress out in street clothes for the second half so none would sneak onto the field. The game got so lopsided that he asked the officials to use a running clock in the fourth quarter, and Carson agreed. The Lumberjacks had the ball for 47 seconds in the last quarter.
Little wonder Carson's predecessor got fired.
Even more of a wonder is why Carson ever agreed to take the job, but that speaks to the positive spirit of coaches everywhere. One man's blowout is another man's belief in perseverance. For now, TC just needs some TLC.
It's a daunting challenge facing the 50-year-old Carson. He doesn't have nine assistants as Mack Brown and Bob Stoops do, just four.
His offensive coordinator, Phillip Pratt, doubles as the softball coach. Defensive coordinator Sebastian Stargell assists Pratt on the diamond. LaDestro Douglas coaches running backs in the fall and sprinters and discus throwers in the spring. When Stephen Tomlinson isn't schooling TC's linebackers, he's tutoring general students.
Surely Carson doesn't coach another sport? No, he teaches a health, phys ed, recreation and dance class. Same as Urban Meyer, right?
"I hope not," Carson said of the Gators coach. "But they don't make me. I choose to. I love to teach."
At least Carson can take solace in the fact he takes home a million or two, right? And has a multiyear contract?
Nope. And nope. Carson works year to year.
"My wife's an accountant. She makes all the money," he said. "But I'm happy."
These undermanned teams need the money, which is why teams from Texas College to this week's Texas opponent, UTEP, overschedule. Carson estimates his school netted about $100,000 for playing those higher-level teams.
Give tiny Texas College and its enrollment of 964 — SFA, by contrast, has nearly 13,000 — credit. The team's hanging in there.
Carson's got only 55 players, a couple of whom play both ways. Quarterback X'Zavier Bloodsaw also punts. The middle linebacker's also the fullback. SFA's got 104 players on its roster, if just 63 on scholarship.
Hope springs eternal, or at least for a while, which is why the Todd Dodges and Art Briles of college football keep stiff upper lips. Steve Sarkisian saw hope in Washington. And Carson promises better days ahead for the program, which disbanded in 1961 until it was restored in 2003.
"Total rebuilding," Carson said. "But these teams didn't run up the score. We just can't stop anybody. But we're all right. The kids still got their heads up."
It doesn't get a whole lot better, however, because Texas College still has to face its Central States Football League schedule, including eighth-ranked powerhouse Langston (Okla.) University on the road. It'll turn around.
"Oh, we're definitely going to win," Carson said. "I just don't know when."
Kirk Bohls writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: kbohls(at)statesman.com.