Dallas ? Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins said Wednesday he was resigning after this season, ending a six-year tenure that bottomed out with an 0-16 conference record this season.

The announcement came on the eve of the Big 12 Conference tournament. He said he wanted it out now instead of after the Aggies finish the season to avoid speculation distracting the team.

The Aggies (7-20) play Missouri in the first round tonight. Watkins said whenever A&M was eliminated, he would be done, too.

“Hopefully that last game will be winning the national championship,” he said.

Watkins was hired in 1998 after leading North Carolina-Charlotte, his alma mater, to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons as head coach. Things seemed to be coming around last season when the Aggies went 14-14, ending a run of eight straight losing seasons.

A&M started this season 7-4 but hasn’t won since beating Long Island Jan. 6.

None of its wins were against a team from a major conference and two losses were to Oakland (Mich.) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Aggies lost their final two conference games by 26 and 29 points.

“I really thought after what we did last season we could have a big year. But it didn’t happen that way,” Watkins said. He added he began realizing it wouldn’t happen at the first fall practice.

Although his contract was extended by three years in January, he’s known for weeks that he wasn’t likely to return. He waved to the crowd and clapped as he left the court following the home finale.

Watkins’ record at A&M is 60-111, 21-75 in Big 12 play. His teams never won more than six conference games and never finished higher than tied for seventh. They’ve never won a game in the conference tournament.

Texas A&M last made the NCAA Tournament in 1987. The Aggies have made the NIT only once since, in 1994, which also was their last winning season.

“It’s been great, but you have to win games,” Watkins said. “We feel the program is in better shape than when I got here, but it’s time to step aside and let someone else get it turned around.”

Athletic director Bill Byrne said he would make the next hire. Byrne was in Dallas last month to watch UTEP play SMU, presumably scouting Miners coach Billy Gillispie.

Gillispie led UTEP to a share of the WAC title in just his second season. The Miners went 22-6 and he was named the WAC coach of the year. It was an impressive turnaround from last season, when he was hired a week before the opener and went 6-24. Gillispie’s previous job was as an assistant at Illinois under Bill Self, now the coach at Kansas.

Another potential candidate is former Texas Tech coach James Dickey, now an assistant at No. 7 Oklahoma State, the Big 12 regular-season champion.

“You’d like to do these things as quickly as possible,” Byrne said. “Many we’d be interested in will have teams that will likely be in postseason play. Their performance will dictate the timetable.”

Watkins helped UNCC reach the Final Four as a player, then spent 18 years there as an assistant coach. He went 42-20 in two seasons as a head coach.

The Aggies brought him in hoping to build a program that could fill the 12,500 seats at Reed Arena, which opened in his first season. The school also was looking to keep up with geographic rivals in the Big 12, primarily Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Instead, A&M remained on par with Baylor. This year’s Aggies joined the 1999 Bears as the only squads to go 0-16 in the Big 12. A&M hadn’t gone winless in league play since 1944.

Among Watkins’ failures was not recruiting many Texans. Only four players on this season’s roster went to Texas high schools — one of them his son.

The Aggies’ 7-4 start was a byproduct of a soft schedule. The victories were against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alabama A&M, Prairie View A&M, Texas-San Antonio, Grambling and Long Island.

Next up is Missouri, which was ranked No. 3 earlier this season. Tigers coach Quin Snyder said his team must be wary of A&M’s emotions tonight.

“The game can take on added significance in some respects,” Snyder said. “Competitively, we’re just focused on playing Texas A&M regardless of the situation.

“At the same time, on a personal level, you feel for Melvin. He’s an excellent coach, a good person who has been good to me. I’m sure he’ll have plenty of more opportunities.”