Darrell Royal

Bio

Darrell Royal was a quarterback at Oklahoma under Bud Wilkinson between 1946 and 1949, winning All-America honors in 1949. Three years of coaching at Mississippi State (1954-1955) and Washington (1956) prepared him for Texas and the Southwest Conference in 1957. Royal is credited with two innovations that set Texas out in front of the rest of the nation in offensive strategy: his "Flip-Flop Winged-T" in 1962 and the Wishbone in 1968. His Texas teams won 11 Southwest Conference Championships. He led the Longhorns to 16 bowls and won the MacArthur Bowl in 1963, 1969 and 1970. Royal's 23-year career record of 184-60-5 reflects his immense success on the field. The Longhorns finished in the Top-ten eleven times, had 77 players win All-SWC honors, while 26 won All-America laurels. Royal was twice named Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association, and won the same distinction twice from the Football Writers of America. He was Southwesterner of the Year four times and ABC-TV's Coach of the Decade for the 1960s. Royal retired as the Longhorn head coach after the 1976 season, devoting his time to the position of Texas' Athletic Director, from which he retired in 1980.