Once less giant | Miscellaneous Heathen

Longtime University of Texas Darrell Royal passed away yesterday. He was 88.

Royal took over as head coach at Texas at age 32 in 1956 after starring as a halfback for Oklahoma and then taking head coaching jobs at Mississippi State and Washington.

In 23 years as a head coach, he never had a losing season, with his teams boasting a 167-47-5 record in his 20 years at Texas, the best record in the nation over that period (1957-76).

Royal won 11 Southwest Conference titles, 10 Cotton Bowl championships and national championships in 1963 and 1969, going 11-0 each time. Texas also won a share of the national title in 1970 when it was awarded the UPI (coaches) national championship before losing to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. The UPI awarded its title before bowl games were played. Nebraska won the AP national title that year.

The national title season in 1969 included what was dubbed the “Game of the Century,” a come-from-behind 15-14 victory by the top-ranked Longhorns over No. 2 Arkansas in the final game of the regular season.

It’s not an exaggeration to say he was Texas’ Bear — they even named the stadium after him.

Via Edgar, some great Royals quotes you probably don’t know came from him; here’s a couple I like:

“Give me an O.J. Simpson, and I’ll show you a coaching genius.”
“I don’t know. I never had one.” Answer to Mack Brown, then coach at North Carolina, when Brown asked Royal how he handled a losing season
“He’s so rich he could burn a wet elephant.”
“Three things can happen when you pass, and two of ’em are bad.”

One thought on “Once less giant”

Thanks for this. Royal had his shortcomings coming late to integration. But he also was the first to recognize the need to tutor athletes, foregoing recruiters for “Brain coaches” and would pay for class rings out of his own pocket for the players who graduated. Reading stories by older journalists of the drink ups they had while all waiting to catch the newest Royalism are quite entertaining. He was the Will Rogers of football.

Royal also was very close to the Texas pickers, like Willie and Waylon which is an interesting collision of worlds, when you consider LBJ and Nixon were rubbing elbows with coach. Royal never lost a game to Bear, but lost all of them to switzer, dominated his old coach Wilkinson, and just about any great coach of that era, Taef, Stallings etc.

Tomorrow Mack Brown will honor Royal by opening the game in the Wishbone. This variety of the triple option helped Texas dominate football for about a decade. Royal never took credit for this offense and gave all the praise to his O coordinator. Mack Brown hired Royal as a consultant to fix Tulane football when he was coach there. Royal told him that only State Schools can manage success in football so Mack promptly took the UNC job. Royal is the one that picked Mack for the UT coaching job several years ago. Mack is following one of Royal’s most famous quotes quite literally with this formation; “Dance with the one that brung ya”. As a Texas fan there is no finer tribute. I’ll be at DKR tomorrow, I suspect there will be all kinds of cool happenings. Hook em’ and Roll tide.

Your Attorney on November 9, 2012 at 7:52 am said:

Thanks for this. Royal had his shortcomings coming late to integration. But he also was the first to recognize the need to tutor athletes, foregoing recruiters for “Brain coaches” and would pay for class rings out of his own pocket for the players who graduated. Reading stories by older journalists of the drink ups they had while all waiting to catch the newest Royalism are quite entertaining. He was the Will Rogers of football.

Royal also was very close to the Texas pickers, like Willie and Waylon which is an interesting collision of worlds, when you consider LBJ and Nixon were rubbing elbows with coach. Royal never lost a game to Bear, but lost all of them to switzer, dominated his old coach Wilkinson, and just about any great coach of that era, Taef, Stallings etc.

Tomorrow Mack Brown will honor Royal by opening the game in the Wishbone. This variety of the triple option helped Texas dominate football for about a decade. Royal never took credit for this offense and gave all the praise to his O coordinator. Mack Brown hired Royal as a consultant to fix Tulane football when he was coach there. Royal told him that only State Schools can manage success in football so Mack promptly took the UNC job. Royal is the one that picked Mack for the UT coaching job several years ago. Mack is following one of Royal’s most famous quotes quite literally with this formation; “Dance with the one that brung ya”. As a Texas fan there is no finer tribute. I’ll be at DKR tomorrow, I suspect there will be all kinds of cool happenings. Hook em’ and Roll tide.