Former Texas coach Darryl Royal died today. Something I didn't know is that Royal played for Oklahoma, but coached at UT. Seems very similar to the Ohio connection with Bo.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8602286/darrell-royal-for...
Former Texas coach Darryl Royal died today. Something I didn't know is that Royal played for Oklahoma, but coached at UT. Seems very similar to the Ohio connection with Bo.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8602286/darrell-royal-for...
Did I?
"Ohio is like a giant turd that Michigan just can't pinch off"
One of the first college games I remember watching was the "Game of the Century" between undefeated Arkansas and UT in 1969. I remember that President Nixon was at the game and it was a very BIG DEAL in a day and age when big deals weren't as common as they are today.
Hook em horns Darrell.
I work for a Texas alum, and he and I have often discussed the historical similarities between our two programs. To wit, it was a Michigan man who, I believe, served as UT's first head football coach and taught them the game. From what my boss has described, Mr. Royal was a great patriarch of the Texas football community, revered in a way much like our own Mr. Schembechler. I'm sure DKR will be missed by the Texas family.
I would love to see a link to this Michigan man teaching Texas how to play football.
'Try growing up in Texas a Michigan WOLVERINE'. Follow me on Twitter: RudygoBLUE
Michigan men coached at Texas in the early 1900s, but they were not the first Texas coaches, nor did they teach Texas the game.
However, two of Texas' early winning coaches (1910-15) were Michigan men associated with Yost. Here's the link:
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/tex/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2011-12...
He's the winningest coach in Longhorn history at 167-47-2, including an 8-7-1 bowl record. He was also AFCA Coach Of The Year twice, I believe. Quite an impressive run as the head coach at Texas, then as athletic director and an assistant to the UT President after that.
Favorite Royalism: "Don't matter what they throw at us. Only angry people win football games."
RIP, Darrell Royal
"Funny isn't it, how naughty dentists always make that one fatal mistake."
Follow the random tweets of a Michigan alum - http://twitter.com/#!/LorneEC3
In fact, they were close colleagues professionally. In the era before insanely competitive recruiting wars, college coaches regarded each other as fellow professionals in education. Bo and Coach Royal were friends and had a huge amount of mutual respect.
I met today the man several times here in Austin, and my wife is close with his wife Edith. Football lost one of its all time greats! It was sad to see him recently as he wa totally out of it, yet they'd wheel him out at charity functions and such.
Hopefully he's making all those candy asses in heaven do down-ups til they puke!
Hook 'me coach!
Sing to the colors that float in the light;
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!
It was actually Emory Bellard (of Texas A&M and Miss State fame) who developed the 3 -back wishbone option offense, but Royal got the credit and Texas teams were very tough to stop defensively.
It's noteworthy to me that Royal's career ended on a low note: 5-5-1 record in 1976 that started with a 1-point loss to a no-name Boston College team on the road in MA, followed by a 6-6 tie to hated rival Oklahoma in Dallas, then conference defeats to rival Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston (30-0). It was a completely different SWC that year with Texas sort of taking a dive, and the league was never the same, with Houston, SMU, Arkansas and Baylor getting stronger and stronger.
But the following year 1977 new coach Fred Akers took Royal's ridiculously talented and veteran team all the way to No. 1 and 11-0 before getting destroyed by Notre Dame 10-38 in the Cotton Bowl.
In 1977 the wishbone was already passe and on the way out, in favor of more balanced, West Coast passing offenses like the ones at BYU, Stanford, Washington State and Michigan State.
They were considered to be one of the hottest teams in the nation that fall, and featured a 270-lb battering-ram of a fullback named George Woodard in its wishbone attack.
There were a bunch of very vocal A&M fans at the game that day, and early in the game they kept yelling "We're #1!" The problem is that Michigan completely shut down Woodard and their option attack, and pounded the snot out of them 41-3.
That game is just one reason why I've always been convinced that if Bo's Michigan teams had the bowl tie-ins that the SWC or SEC had back then (the Cotton Bowl and the Sugar Bowl) instead of the Rose Bowl that he would have won at least one NC. Our offense and defense matched up far more favorably with the other option-running attacks prevalent in those conferences back then than we did with the pro-set-based passing attacks more common in the PAC-10.
The first thing you get when you Youtube "Darrell Royal" is:
Which I found ironic considering the current team's struggles with this exact art. From everything I've read about him, it seems like he was a man that preached toughness. A big loss to the Texas family, and I'm sure all of our thoughts are with them.
Avatar is a reference to this. Go Blue!
While he never attained the success that Bo or Royal did, it's exactly like Gary Moeller's situation.
"We bring you to Michigan to take care of Michigan; your job is to protect that block M."
-Carol Hutchins
Thank you to you all who educated a young person on someone. I wish coaches like this one and others ie Pop Warner got more press for their contributions to the game.
3-time Wolverine
Also they wouldnt take african americans in the mid 60's is why Bubba Smith ended up at MSU. Same with alot of players.
BigWeenie
How relevant was footaball at UofT and in the state before this man? It seems like football wasn't nearly as popular in the state back then as it is today, but I am just getting the feeling from watching videos. Did he put the program on the map or restore it? Did the state care about nothing besides football or was baseball Texas's pastime?
3-time Wolverine
Butchered the spelling of his name.
Not that I loved Rich Rod less, but that I loved Michigan more.