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The first, ominous sounds came from deep within the massive stack of logs in the darkest hours of the Texas night. Witnesses described hearing the stack of thousands of logs moan and creak before the crack of the center pole as it snapped, then collapsed.

More than a million pounds of timber tumbled. In an instant, 12 people were killed, dozens more were injured and a university campus rooted in traditions carried across generations of students was permanently scarred.

Texas A&M University is set to mark 25 years since the log stack collapsed in the early hours of Nov. 18, 1999. It was being built in preparation for the annual bonfire ahead of the Texas A&M-Texas rivalry football game in College Station.

The school will hold a Bonfire Remembrance ceremony at the site of the tragedy on Monday at 2:42 a.m., about the time the stack collapsed.

“Year after year, Texas A&M students have worked to ensure that we never forget those members of the Aggie Family who were taken from us 25 years ago,” school president Mark Welsh III said.

The “Fightin’ Texas Aggie Bonfire” ranked among the most revered traditions in college football and symbolized the school’s “burning desire” to beat the University of Texas Longhorns in football. The first bonfire in 1907 was a scrap heap that was set ablaze. By 1909, it was a campus event, and the bonfire stack kept growing as railroad lines were used to ship in carloads of scrap lumber, railroad ties and other flammable materials, according to the school.

It reached a record height of 105 feet in 1969 before administrators, concerned about a fire hazard, imposed a 55-foot limit. Over the years, the stack evolved from a teepee-style mound into the vertical timber formation, a shape similar to a tiered wedding cake, that collapsed in 1999.

The annual bonfire attracted crowds of up to 70,000 and burned every year through 1998. The only exception was in 1963, after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The stack of more than 5,000, 18-foot logs toppled a week before it was scheduled to burn. The 12 who were killed included five freshmen, four sophomores, a junior, a senior and a recent graduate. Several were members of the Corps of Cadets, Texas A&M’s student-led, military-style organization that played a large role in its construction.

Rescuers, including members of the Texas A&M football team, raced to remove the logs that had trapped and crushed some of the victims. At rival Texas, Longhorns players organized a blood drive to assist the survivors.

An investigative report cited multiple causes for the collapse, from flawed construction techniques to a lack of supervision by the university over the students building the bonfire stack. The lowest level of the pile did not have proper support wiring, and excessive stress on the bottom level was compounded by wedging logs into gaps.

In 2003, the school dedicated a memorial on the spot where the stack fell. It includes a “Spirit Ring” with 12 portals representing those who were killed. Each portal contains an engraved portrait and signature of a victim and points toward their hometown. By stepping into the open archway, the visitor symbolically fills the void left by the deceased.

The annual Aggie bonfire was discontinued as an official school event after the deadly collapse.

The school considered reviving the tradition this year to coincide with the renewal of the Texas-Texas A&M football rivalry on Nov. 30. The rivalry split in 2012 when Texas A&M left the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference, but has resumed this year as Texas joined the SEC.

A special committee recommended resuming the bonfire, but only if the log stack was designed and built by professional engineers and contractors. Some members of the public said it should not come back if it was not organized and built by students, according to tradition.

Welsh ultimately decided the bonfire would not return to campus.

“Bonfire, both a wonderful and tragic part of Aggie history, should remain in our treasured past,” the president said in June when he announced his decision.

Students have continued to organize and build unofficial off-campus bonfires over the years and plan to burn this year’s edition on Nov. 29, the night before the Texas A&M-Texas football game.

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Auburn’s Freeze diagnosed with prostate cancer

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Auburn's Freeze diagnosed with prostate cancer

Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and is expected to make a full recovery after doctors detected the disease in its early stages, the school announced Friday.

Freeze, 55, will continue coaching the Tigers while receiving treatment, Auburn officials said in a statement.

“Recently, Coach Freeze was diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer,” the statement said. “Thankfully, it was detected early and his doctors have advised that it is very treatable and curable. He will continue his normal coaching duties and responsibilities, and with forthcoming proper treatment, is expected to make a full recovery.

“Coach Freeze is incredibly appreciative of our medical professionals and has asked that we use his experience as a reminder of the importance of prioritizing and scheduling annual health screenings.”

The Tigers are scheduled to start spring practice March 25.

Freeze’s teams went 11-14 (5-11 SEC) in his first two seasons, including a 5-7 campaign in 2024. With the additions of transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma), wide receivers Eric Singleton Jr. (Georgia Tech) and Horatio Fields (Wake Forest), offensive tackle Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech), and others, the Tigers are expected to be much improved this coming season.

At Liberty, Freeze coached from a hospital bed set up in the coaches’ box during the Flames’ 24-0 loss to Syracuse in his debut on Aug. 31, 2019. Freeze was recovering from surgery for a herniated disk in his back and a staph infection.

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Iowa State gives AD Pollard 5-year extension

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Iowa State gives AD Pollard 5-year extension

AMES, Iowa — Jamie Pollard, the Iowa State athletic director since 2005, has received a five-year contract extension through 2030, the university announced Friday.

The Cyclones have had unprecedented success in the major sports in 2024-25. The football team had its first 11-win season and the ninth-ranked men’s basketball team has been in the top 10 all season and achieved its highest ranking since 1956-57 when it reached No. 3 in December.

Terms of Pollard’s contract will be announced later, the school said.

“I am humbled to have had the opportunity to lead our athletics program for the past 20 years,” said Pollard, who thanked the administration for its support. “We have an amazing culture in our athletics program, led by our talented and dedicated coaches and staff. Although our industry is undergoing transformational change, I am confident our department will successfully embrace these challenges with the same energy and urgency that has proven to be successful in the past.”

Pollard, the nation’s third-longest serving Power 4 athletic director, has overseen $340 million in new construction and facility renovations. Since 2011-12, and excluding the 2020-21 pandemic year, ISU is the only school in the nation to have average attendances over 50,000 in football, 12,000 in men’s basketball and 9,000 in women’s basketball.

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Bowling Green’s Loeffler takes QB job with Eagles

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Bowling Green's Loeffler takes QB job with Eagles

Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler is leaving the school after six seasons to become quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Loeffler, 50, went 27-41 at Bowling Green but led the Falcons to bowl appearances in each of the past three seasons, posting a 16-10 record in MAC play during the span.

He will replace Doug Nussmeier, who left the Eagles with Kellen Moore to become the New Orleans Saints‘ offensive coordinator. Loeffler will work under new Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who had been the team’s passing game coordinator and associate head coach.

“Scot has been dedicated to not only BGSU Football, but to all our student-athletes and BGSU Athletics, as well as our Falcon Marching Band and spirit programs,” university president Rodney Rogers said in a statement. “He cares deeply about player development and student success, and we wish him all the best as he continues his coaching career in the NFL with the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles.”

Loeffler returns to the NFL for the first time since 2008, when he coached quarterbacks for the Detroit Lions. A former Michigan quarterback, Loeffler coached QBs at his alma mater from 2002 to 2007 and also with Central Michigan and Florida. He first became an offensive coordinator with Temple in 2011 and made coordinator stops with Auburn, Virginia Tech and Boston College before landing his first head-coaching opportunity at Bowling Green.

The coaching change means Bowling Green players now have a 30-day window to enter the NCAA transfer portal. The Falcons had already lost three All-MAC performers to the portal in December in running back Terion Stewart (Virginia Tech), offensive tackle Alex Wollschlaeger (Kentucky) and linebacker Joseph Sipp Jr. (Kansas). Bowling Green also is losing record-setting tight end Harold Fannin Jr. to the NFL draft.

Athletic director Derek van der Merwe will lead the search for Loeffler’s replacement. In a statement, Van der Merwe praised Loeffler for building “a very successful program in a challenging climate in collegiate sports.

“I am looking forward to this process of finding the next great leader for our program who embraces what it means to be a Falcon,” Van der Merwe added.

ESPN’s Max Olson contributed to this report.

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