Joining the Southeastern Conference has led to some traditions being altered at Texas A&M, but there's one proposed change that has some Aggies dancing, er hopping mad: adding the all-female dance team to the sidelines at Kyle Field.
The Aggie Dance Team has been around since 1990 and officially became part of the athletic department in 1995.
The group of 20 or so female students performs at all home men's and women's basketball games, but the sidelines at Kyle Field have always been the domain of the all-male Yell Leaders. The only female allowed to inspire fans is Reveille, A&M's four-legged mascot.
Well, even that tradition could change, too, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.
Texas A&M officials are weighing whether to allow the dance team on the football sidelines. Not only that, a female student is campaigning to become a Yell Leader.
Breaking gender-based traditions is serious business at Texas A&M, where female students were first admitted in 1964. Women were allowed to join the A&M Corps of Cadets in 1973.
Military academies such as Army and Navy have had women in their spirit groups for years. However, Samantha Ketcham would be A&M's first-ever female Yell Leader if she wins the student election.
Her website, samketchamforyell.com, features a photo of her under a banner reading, "New Conference, New Coach, New Leadership."
Texas A&M has a new head football coach, Kevin Sumlin, although his hiring had little to do with leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.
However, joining the SEC has meant bringing a halt to the rivalry with the University of Texas. It could also mean removing student seating from behind the opponent's bench at Kyle Field because of an SEC policy.
Having another tradition altered, such as adding a female spirit group to the sidelines, is apparently too much for some Aggies.
"A dance team at Kyle would make A&M like everybody else," Jon Johnson, a 2001 graduate of A&M's veterinary school, told the Chronicle. "It would not make A&M different in any sense."
Johnson vowed to hold up a newspaper and ignore the dance team if it performs at Kyle Field. That's the same form of protest some fans employed when the dance team first started performing at A&M basketball games.
Johnson should know something about that. His wife, Terri, was a member of the dance team at the time.
"Even if there were some ninnies who held up newspapers back then, it was just so much fun to support the basketball teams," Terri Johnson told the newspaper. "It would be nice if that same kind of passion we brought to basketball games could be brought to football games."
Texas A&M officials know all about passion when it comes to tinkering with Aggies traditions, which is why adding the dance team to football games is considered a delicate topic.
"Any time we look at an issue of this nature, our response is always going to be, 'How does it affect the game-day atmosphere at Kyle Field, and would it infringe upon our traditions or our uniqueness?'" Jason Cook, A&M's VP for marketing and communications, said to the Chronicle. "We take decisions of this nature very seriously."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
