Walsh Is Content, Aggies in Dark : Pigskin Classic: Coach returns to sideline tonight with Stanford. Texas A&M; seeks clues about Cardinal offense.

There he was, the sophisticated, urbane Bill Walsh, winner of three Super Bowl rings and countless coaching accolades. There he was, Cary Grant with a whistle, sitting on a Disneyland park bench earlier this week with Goofy on one side and a member of the three little pigs on the other.

If only the San Francisco 49ers could see him now.

But this is the new Walsh. The content Walsh.

“This is the happiest and most excited I’ve been in my career,” he said.

Not about being seen with an oversized Disney pig or a Goofy dressed like a referee, mind you. That was public relations. That was putting on a happy face for the sponsors of tonight’s Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim Stadium, which features seventh-ranked Texas A&M; against Walsh’s 17th-ranked Stanford Cardinal.

Walsh is beaming again because he is back on a sideline, back where he belongs. He spent two wonderful years at Stanford in the late 1970s, 10 glorious seasons with the 49ers and three so-so ones at NBC as a broadcaster. Now he makes his return to football, replacing Dennis Green, who became coach of the Minnesota Vikings.

“I haven’t had a chance to get nervous,” he said.

He will. The Aggies finished 10-2 a year ago, played in the Cotton Bowl and are expected to challenge for a national championship.

Stanford got a break when Aggie Coach R.C. Slocum said Monday that standout linebacker Marcus Buckley, who is suffering from a mysterious ailment thought to be rheumatoid arthritis, will be sidelined indefinitely.

There also remain some questions about sophomore quarterback Jeff Granger, whose playing status was so questionable because of baseball that he was left out of the Aggie media guide. Granger, who skipped spring practice while making a failed attempt at the U.S. Olympic baseball team, has talent, but not much experience.

“Jeff Granger will not solve all of our quarterback problems,” Slocum said.

Maybe not, but Walsh still spent most of his week gushing about the Texas A&M; program.

There will be pressure on Walsh tonight, but only because he is the one putting it there.

“A lot of it will be self-induced,” he said.

Make no mistake, Walsh is having the time of his life. He has returned to his element and to the only school capable of persuading him to become a coach again. At Cardinal practices, Walsh can be seen in the middle of a drill, rather than atop an observation tower. He pulls players aside for individual consultation. He explains. He teaches.

“He’s really got a great football mind,” Stanford quarterback Steve Stenstrom said.

No one, especially Texas A&M;, is quite sure what to expect from Walsh’s team. Slocum and his staff watched countless tapes of past 49er games, but who knows what Walsh has devised in the last three years.

“We really don’t have a direction in what they’re going to do,” said A&M; free safety Patrick Bates, a former UCLA player who transferred to College Station after his freshman season.

Even if Bates had a copy of the Stanford playbook, Cardinal linebacker Ron George said it might not matter.

“I see our offense every day and I still have problems with it,” he said. “We see every one of those plays and they still beat us. And I don’t even like our offense.”

As for the playbook itself, George caught a glimpse of it once.

“It’s thicker than the unabridged dictionary,” he said.

Whatever happens tonight, Walsh said he and his playbook are staying put. There are too many more games to coach, too much fun to be had.

JEFF GRANGER: The Olympic baseball team’s loss was Texas A&M;’s gain. Elliott Teaford’s story, C10.