A 1966 Saturday Evening Post quote from sports writer Myron Cope stated that DKR was the “patron saint of clean-cut coaches.”

DKR was handsome and charismatic, often called the “Sweet Bear Bryant.” Little did Royal know that Texas had a list of 115 prospects for the head coaching job.

The Interview process

5 hours after the 32-year-old DKR arrived at Texas, he was named head coach, but the background hiring process took much longer. Frank Leahy, Ex-Notre Dame Coach, announced that Hollywood was available, and he was approached. But Leahy only wanted the A.D. job, not the head coaching assignment. Dr. O.B. Williams, chairman of the Athletics, quickly discarded this proposal. Then, a procession of head coaches for consideration followed:

1) Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd;

2) Duffy Daugherty at Michigan State;

3) Stu Holcomb at Perdue;

4) Bill Murray at Duke;

5) Murray Warmath at Minnesota; and

6) Tommy Prothro at Oregon State.

All of those mentioned were either happy with their job or Texas rejected.

Royal said that Michigan coach Duffy Daugherty, Georgia Coach Bobby Dodd, and Dodd’s assistant athletic director Tonto Coleman recommended DKR for the job as the head coach of UT football. Texas A.D. Dana Bible knew that hiring an individual with only three years of experience as a head coach in college football was risky. But Bible rolled the dice, and the Athletic Council hired DKR. A.D. Bible retired, and Ed Olle was promoted to athletic director.

A condensed bullet point history of Texas Longhorn football during the Royal years follows. Please go to the “credit” section of this website to view books you can purchase from many fine bookstores about Texas Longhorn Sports, or please visit the official University of Texas Longhorn site Texassports.com.

Coach Royal feared Public speaking when he was hired at Texas. He reached out to  Bill Alexander, a consummate speaker, for help.  Bill told Royal to memorize the BRIDGE BUILDER by Will Allen Dromgoole and learn to tell it like a story and not a poem. Coach Royal did as instructed and learned a valuable lesson. You can’t imitate someone’s speaking style or mannerisms without appearing phony, so he decided to be himself at speaking engagements. He commented, “I do think that if you’re sincere, even in a clumsy way, sometimes it might have some effect.” After this revelation, Royal created his own style, and the “Royalisms over the next 20 years started to flow.  Search for “Bridge Builder” to understand the origins of Royalisms.

http://www.cah.utexas.edu/news/press_release.php?press=press_royal_memoriam

http://www.cah.utexas.edu/publications/royal.php

http://www.cah.utexas.edu/news/press_release.php?press=pressroyal

Stay away from the Capitol.

Coach Bible told Royal to stay away from the capital, warning the coach that politics and power could destroy a University president or a football coach instantly. Politics, UT Presidents, and UT Coaches are a dangerous combination. Wealthy businessmen and politicians know how to get what they want, using intimidation and force when necessary. In the 20 years as head coach for Texas, Coach Royal witnessed a rotation of 7 different University presidents.

Royal understood the importance of attitude in winning.

Royal was a dreamer.  As a young man, he dreamed of kicking a ball 90 yards, running faster than anyone, or getting a coaching job that he would never get.  Royal was small for a football player.  In high school, he was even told that he was too small to try out for the football team.   Because of his rejection from the football team due to size and speed,  Royal understood early in his coaching career that slow and small guys who dreamed big were great recruits.  He knew these young men were winners.  He also understood there are great athletes with power, height, and speed but who do not have the heart and soul to complement their attributes.   In the 1960s, Darrell Royal led the Longhorns to three national championships by combining skillful players with many who had big dreams and believed they were faster and stronger than they actually were. James Saxton recalls a game against Ole Miss in which the Longhorns were outweighed by 40 pounds per player, yet they still managed to win. Royal’s early teams demonstrated that attitude, rather than talent alone, can win games.

In his book “Darrell Royal: Dance With Who Brung Ya,” it is noted that during Royal’s first five years at Texas, the team achieved 21 goal-line stands, prevented opponents from scoring, and saved nine games that could have resulted in losses. Ultimately, it was their attitude that secured those victories.

Royal, as a quarterback for OU, played the Longhorns when they were in tough competition. After he accepted the Longhorn job, he said, “It’s not like I’ve been hired to coach step in it U. I’ve played against these people when they were mad. What I’ve got to do is make’em mad again.”

               THE “RESURGENCE” OF TEXAS FOOTBALL

In the year 1956, the Ed Price era of UT football ended with a one win and 9 loss season and he was asked to step down as Head Football Coach but remained employed as a teacher in the Physical Education Department. After interviewing several candidates for the Head Coaching job, the Board of Regents and Athletic Council hired a young coach who played football at the University of Oklahoma, Darrell Royal. He is currently the Head Football Coach at the University of Washington and had served 2 years as the Head Coach at Mississippi State before the Washington job.

After arriving on campus to formally accept the job as the new head coach, Royal began assembling a staff of assistant coaches that would have the task of “turning around” a program that had become mired in a losing culture. The staff of the early Royal years included some of the following men.

• Mike Campbell- Ends/Linebackers-Coach Campbell was successful in the Mississippi high school ranks and was a Royals staff member at Washington.

• Jim Pittman—Offensive line coach. Coach Pittman played and coached at Mississippi State and was also on Washington’s staff.

• Charlie Schira- Defensive line coach- Schira, a native Texan and West Point graduate, was on Royal’s staff at Mississippi State.

• T. Jones- Defensive backs coach -Coach Jones was an outstanding quarterback at UT in the early 1950s and was on the Ed Price staff.

• Bob Schultze- Freshman coach- Coach Schultze was a successful recruiter from the Houston and Gulf Coast area who would produce an abundance of future UT players.

• Bill Ellington- Offensive backs -Coach Ellington had won championships at Amarillo Tascosa High School and Garland High School.

• Russell Coffee-Center’s Coach and Recruiting Coordinator -Coach Coffee had numerous championships at Weatherford High School.

• Frank Medina-Head Trainer- Medina was retained from Price’s staff and was also in charge of disciplinary procedures that became known as “Medina Sessions.”

• Lan Hewlitt-Athletic Counselor-Hewlitt supervised the scheduling of courses for student-athletes. He was also a liaison agent between the faculty members and the athletic department.

• Jim Blaylock-Equipment Manager- Blaylock was retained as equipment manager, and Juan Conde was hired as his assistant.

Royal demanded three things from recruits: “The athlete must be ambitious in his studies and make proper progress toward graduation; that he conduct himself like a gentleman and reflects credit on the university; and that he be a competitor.”

Bob Hawthorne’s book Longhorn Football—Royal’s football theory was to keep the game simple and direct. Know what you’re trying to accomplish. Express it clearly and precisely. “Plan everything down to the smallest detail. Be disciplined. Be prepared. Play with ferocity. Beat the man across the line of scrimmage from you “jaw to Jaw.” Coach Royal once said, “You want them to play every Saturday as if they were planting the flag on Iwo Jima.”

Royal era begins 1957- He is “The Bridge Builder.” 

Royal arrives and the Longhorns learn how to "twist and shout" and Rock the Longhorn Fans around the clock. Sophomore Quarterback Bobby Lackey leads the way. 

Rodney Kelley tells a transition story from Coach Price to Coach Royal

Rodney Kelley says, “I am unsure if you know the story about Garland and his teammates.  Coach Royal’s first season was their senior year.  The year before, they only won one game.  They beat Tulane 7-6 without scoring an offensive TD.  Tulane fumbled in the end zone, and the Horns recovered and kicked the extra point.  Tulane scored, and Garland Kennan blocked the extra point for the win.   Garland was one of Coach Royal’s first Captains.

In his first year, Coach Royal went 6-3-1 and played Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, where he was badly beaten. This experience forever changed the way Royal prepared for bowl games.

Walter Fondren is Mr. Everything for the Horns. He is always among the leaders in rushing, passing, receptions, punting, punt returns, touchdowns, and point-after conversions.

Arlis Parkhurst said, “We didn’t have a grand time before the bowl game. We had two-a-day workouts, just like spring training. By game day, we had no legs. Coach Royal later said he learned a great lesson. That is when he started treating the team, wives, and dates to a long weekend at the Dude Ranch in Bandera after the bowl rather than before.”

1957  6-4-1- Rebuilding the winning tradition

As the new head coach, all was not well. Royal said the facilities were “subpar.”… I was shocked”. “the entire coaching staff was in one office. The practice field had big ol’ goat-head sticker burrs.” UT gave Royal a budget so he could remake the football team and the Longhorn facilities, including:

• A new “T” room where players could study and former lettermen could congregate during home games;

• New offices and secretaries for the coaches;

• A remodeled press box;

• new turf for the stadium and practice field;

• New workout equipment

• new concessions stand, and

• new landscaping.

However, Royal was pleased with the talent level of Coach Price’s last recruiting class, which was composed of some good, experienced players and a very talented sophomore class. Twelve sophomores make the starting lineup.

The players sensed Royal’s commitment to the game, and Royal excelled in discipline and morale. When one of the players threatened to quit the team, Royal said, “Goodbye.”

Appleton said, “Coach Royal had one set of rules players, “and the rules applied “for a no. 1 fullback or the number 6 six guard, and they don’t bend.”

DKR says, “Football is physical contact, a Spartan game. You don’t go out there for any taffy-pull.”

While all spring training is difficult, the 1957 “reset” and the 1968 “purge” were tradition-builders. Very quickly, in 1957, the players understood that only the strongest would survive Royal’s regimen.

This team had no speed, and Royal quantified it by saying that a 34-run was the team’s longest for the season.

Rene Ramirez was a passer, catcher, and runner in 1957, leading the Longhorns in scoring and all-purpose yards. In 1958, he was the total Longhorn offense leader. In 1959, he was All SWC.

After graduating, Jim Bob Moffett founded Freeport-McMoran, one of the world’s largest natural resources companies. When Royal needed a donor for a project, Jim was first in line, offering his jet and money.

Top of the Charts 1957

In the video Tom Hanks father is on the far left.

Tackling fundamentals by Coach Royal

 Texas lost to OU 21-7, but for the first time in 6 years, fans could see a positive attitude change in the Horn football program. Royal says, “It’s funny how you can lose a game… and still pick up the poise and confidence we need”.

Texas beats A & M, led by Heisman winner John David Crow and Coach Bear Bryant, and gets the Sugar Bowl bid.

The letter below to Bobby Goodwin was sent to each freshman in Coach Royal’s first recruiting class at Texas. 

About Media criticism, Royal says, “How can you truly appreciate a compliment if you’ve never been criticized?”

On Oct. 19th, 1957, Fred Bednarski was the first soccer-style kicker to kick a field goal in college football history.

Final ranking 11th nationally

Coach Pittman is assigned the responsibility of restoring dormitory discipline. He does! One player had a fight in his room and broke the window. Coach Pittman throws the player’s belongings out the window and kicks him off the team.

The DKR era arrives, and the notorious “Medina conditioning Sessions” begin. ( Please use the search engine for “Frank Medina” to read the article about Frank Medina.

Don Wilson is the MVP of the Texas team.

In the book Runnin’ with the Big Dogs, the author, Mike Shropshire, states that “Royal is a hands-on coach, particularly with his quarterbacks,” and the “kicking game is an almost manic obsession.”  Royal states,” A boy shows how much he wants to play ……in two-a-days when it is hot and tough”.  ” I don’t count on the boy who waits until October when it is cool and fun.” That player may be ” better than three guys in front of him, but I know those three won’t change their minds in the fourth quarter.”

Lan Hewlett – First Academic Counselor in the history of college sports

When Coach Royal takes over, he has several immediate issues to overcome. In Jenna Hays McEachern’s book DKR- The Royal Scrapbook, she notes that Logan Wilson, the University of Texas president,  informs Coach Royal that all freshmen will have to pass an entrance exam.   In the book Oklahoma vs Texas, Robert Heard elaborates on Jenna’s point by saying President Logan Wilson is not particularly fond of Longhorn football usurping Academia. Hence, he passed a new rule that requires all students to pass an entrance exam before admission. Up to this point in time, It is the toughest admission standard for a state school in college sports history. In 1957, 23.5 percent of the student body was on scholastic probation.

Royal has no problem with the new directive from UT and decided to hire a full-time academic counselor instead of a football recruiting director.  Coach Royal says, “We don’t need another ‘ get ’em here’ coach: we need a ‘keep ’em here coach,” and that is what Royal accomplished. Out of 48 members of the 1969 team, 45 graduated.

Texas hires Lan Hewlett as the first “brain coach”  in college sports. His official title is  Academic Counselor.

Lan said, “I feel our boys are college students first and athletes second, and I’m sort of the catalyst trying to get an athlete and his professor close together-without getting used up in the process.” Texas is the first University in NCAA history to have a full-time “brain coach” Adding an Academic Counselor is one of Coach Royal’s finest legacies, and  Jenna McEachern states in her book DKR The Royal Scrapbook that “80% of the lettermen during the Royal years graduated”.  In Jenna McEachern’s book 100 things, she states that  45 of 48 players on the 1963 team graduated, and The team’s GPA was higher than the student body GPA average.

The Road to Success

A bigger problem than the Scholastic entrance exam is the team he inherits. He said, “You don’t take over a team that has lost nine games and inherit a warm bed.” He calls the 1957 team his “average whackers.” However, the 1957 team was not average, and the foundation for Royal football teams is set with the quality of players from Coach Price’s last recruiting class.

The split-T is installed.

This team plays Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl but loses the game. Coach Royal concedes that he worked the players too hard before the Sugar Bowl game. He said the Sugar Bowl game against Ole Miss would forever change my bowl game preparation.” He says, “It was just inexperience on my part, but when you get a lesson like this, it’s a forceful lesson.” In the next 19 years, he never pushed another one of his bowl teams as hard as the 1957 team.

Texas had four fumbles, and 4 of 11 passes in the game were intercepted.

Royal is named “Texas Senior College Coach of the Year” by the Texas Sports Writers.

Walt Fondren and the entire starting offensive line graduate.

The highest attended Longhorn bowl game from 1943 to 1970 was in 1958. 78,937 fans watched Ole Miss. destroy Texas in the Sugar Bowl. UT-SWC split for the bowl was $160,003.10.

1958 7-3 – A tradition building year with “Average whackers”. The team finished in 4th place in the SWC.

Bobby Gurwitz says that the varsity in 1958 did not have the “guns to outrun or be more athletic than somebody, so Royal figured out ways to outsmart the other team with his defense.”

 James Saxton, Jack Collins, Mike Cotton, and Ray Poage were all freshmen this year and were fast.

 Fullback Don Allen is the first person in College sports history to convert a Two-Point conversion after a touchdown.

About playing OU in 1958, he said, “They get a yellow dog running downhill, and they’ll strap him real. good.”

Coach Royal receives a lifetime membership in the ex-students association. No other coach or graduate of another school has ever received this honor.

Royal looks for players who understand that starting a winning tradition requires bumps and bruises. He says, “Texas has to develop a football tradition. It had one once but lost it. When we get one, maybe we can stop the blood-letting up at Dallas (the O.U. game) and turn it into a good show.”

In the O.U. game, Royal became the first coach in NCAA history to win a game with a two-point play.   Royal says, “We decided on Friday to try for the two points if we scored first. We felt one touchdown wouldn’t hold up in this ball game, and we were shooting for the win.” Don Allen made the two-point conversion behind the block of G. Anderson.

In the 1958 Texas-O.U. In the game, the Sooners beat the Horns soundly in the first half, and Royal motivates his team for the second half by saying, “There’s a helluva fight going on out there by one side. Why don’t you get in on it?” Bobby replaces Vince Matthews with 3 minutes and throws a jump past to Bobby Bryant to win the game.

Captain Bryant loses some teeth in the Rice game. Two days after this incident, the rubber mouthpieces ordered for the players arrived.

With Royal’s halftime speech, the red candle tradition, the new two-point rule, and Vince Matthew’s passing, Texas beat O.U. for the first time in many years.

Vince, a great passing quarterback but a forgotten man after some knee injuries sidelined him, was called on by DKR and delivered the win for the Longhorns.

Vince’s heroics reflect a new winning attitude for the Horns, and the “blood-letting in Dallas” is finally over.

The victory over O.U. in 1958 was a transition game that converted Texas from an average team for 15 years into one of the best college football programs in the country.

 Texas meets #1 Texas A&M on national TV at College Station. The winner will go to the Sugar Bowl. The Horns won 9-7 and restored the domination of the Aggies that would last many years. Aggie head coach Bear Bryant said after the loss to Texas, “THEY JUST SEEM TO HATE US MORE THAN WE HATE THEM.”

Bobby Bryant is the MVP of the Texas team.

Below is a 1958 letter to the Texas Ex-Students Association

1958- 5 out of the 7 wins were comeback victories

Coach Royal says the comeback against Georgia in 1958 is “the best thing that could happen to us.” “It sure gives you confidence you can do it again. You do that a few times, and then you’ve got a tradition started”.

Royal loves the quick kick and uses it often in his earlier years at Texas. Bobby Lackey has a 61-yard quick kick against Georgia. Coach Royal says of the loss to Rice, “There was a hornet’s nest waiting for us in Houston, and we were walking into it like Little Red Riding Hood with jam on her face.”

Tear Away Jersey– In the 1958  SMU game, Wurlitzer ran with the ball when the SMU linebacker “apparently grabbed him by the jersey and pulled him down several yards short of the first down.” This “incident plants in Royal’s mind the need to adopt tear-away jerseys. The team declines an invitation to the Gator Bowl “because of the bad taste from the previous year’s bowl disaster against Ole Miss.

Coach Royal now has all the ingredients for a winning tradition.

 1959  9-2 1960 Cotton Bowl – a loss to the Eventual National Champions but still a win for the Texas program.

1959 was the breakthrough year for the Horns. This was the first time since 1941 that the Horns were undefeated in the season’s first eight games and ranked #2 behind Syracuse. This year, there was a 3-way tie for the SWC championship- Texas, TCU, and Arkansas. All three were in the top 10, but Texas received the Cotton Bowl invitation because of a rule that stated the team that had been to the Cotton less recently would receive the invitation.

Between 1959 and 1963, UT won or shared 4 SWC titles and captured one national championship.

Final ranking 4th nationally

Blake Brokermeyer says in the Book “The Road to Texas” by Mike Roach.

“Even though my dad played there, it wasn’t something that was talked about a lot.” In fact, Blake was never even immersed in the UT culture growing up. Blake continues, “ He was very much about going to college to get an education. He grew up in Fort Worth and was from very humble beginnings. His education was part of his future where , you know , most kids now it’s like football is their major. “ Kay got his law degree.

In Lou Maysel’s book, he says, “Backfield speed, so limited during Darrell Royal’s first two seasons at Texas, increased markedly with the addition of a talented sophomore class to the 23 returning lettermen. James Saxton, Mike Cotten, and Jack Collins all ran 9.9 100s. Fifteen of these veterans were seniors who had been through the hard slogging of the formative Royal years, and they formed the framework for the launching of Texas into the new age of more explosive football.” The new group and new attitude were led by “Don Allen, who helped start the Texas hitting tradition,” and Monte Lee, who coach Campbell said “never went half speed.”

Coach Royal says of James Saxton, “He’s the quickest football player I’ve seen. He gives you a thrill on a two-yard gain. He is like a balloon full of air. When you turn him loose, there’s no telling where he’s going, and when the play is over, he’s spent”.

The offense changes to an “LSU-style Wing T” and the defense to a “6-2-2-1 alignment, which requires changes in duties and style of play for everyone.

T- Jones moves up to the varsity to coach, and Coach Bill Ellington joins the staff to coach the offensive line.

TCU ruins the chance of an undefeated season. Rumor has it that Lackey was pulled from the game because of a quarrel with Royal. For the second half, Royal used Cotten and Saxton as the quarterbacks.

Bob Gurwitz (above) interception against A & M clinches the SWC championship in 1959.

18 years after the 1959 Texas-Arkansas game Fred Akers will be the head coach the Texas Longhorns but in 1959 as a player on the Arkansas team he has a 30 yard field goal attempt blocked by the Longhorns.  Texas wins 13-12.

The goal post is widened by 5 feet. Goal-line infractions were changed to half the distance to the goal. Substitution rules now allow one player to enter the game when the clock is stopped.

Bobby Lackey- the anatomy of a DKR recruit

Bob Lackey was on the front cover of Sports Illustrated in November 1959.

The Cotton Bowl game in 1960 was against the number 1 team in the nation. The press loves Syracuse. Quotes from the L.A. Times and many other newspapers tell Texas to concede the game and go fishing. Coach Royal says, “We want crawl into the ring against Syracuse in awe. We’ve got enough competitive spirit that we don’t feel we’re whipped”.

Coach Mike Campbell says the Syracuse line is the strongest he has ever seen.

Texas is paid $175,071.33 for the Cotton Bowl appearance.

Kristynik’s demeanor is evident, consistent, and uniform – before, during, and even after a play.

The game includes a fight on the field and accusations that the Longhorns are prejudiced. President Wilson asked the NCAA to investigate the Syracuse allegations. However, the NCAA dropped the case with no conclusion.

There are accusations that Texas players are prejudiced, and Texas players play dirty. Coach Royal offers to let anyone inspect the game films for evidence of dirty play and comments,” Looks like they (Syracuse) ought to be satisfied. They’re number 1. They won the Cotton Bowl. Ben (Syracuse coach) is the coach of the year. I don’t know what else they want.”

Lou Maysel says despite the unsavory finish, the 1959 season is a return of Texas as a national power, ending a drought of individual honors. Maurice Doke, who started all 32 games from the time he became eligible, made the All-American team and won one of the 8 Earl Blaik Fellowships given by the National Football Foundation. He is an All-American, and Lee, Collins, and Ramirez make the All-SWC team.

Royal receives an extension on his contract without a raise to $17,500 a year.

The chemistry of the players from the 1956-1959 era, in combination with the insights of the coaching staff, revived the winning tradition that would bring the Longhorns 3 National championships and many SWC championships in the ’60s and early ’70s. 

1960 7-3-1 

“Coach Royal was an energetic leader responsible for the Texas quarterbacks and Longhorn special teams.” Pat Culpepper

The Freshman class of 1960 4 year record at Texas was 35-2-1 with a 90% graduation rate. 

Saxton initially signs with Rice but changes his mind and decides to sign with Texas.

James Saxton becomes one of the greatest backs in Longhorn history after heeding Coach Royal “advice” To “Quit Dancing So Much And To Head Upfield.”

Marvin Kubin says about Royal, “When he talked to us before a game, he was like a man who was going to play himself. He’s so sincere about what has to be done. I heard him three years ago and believed him.”

28 sophomores make the 44-team roster.

For the first time in 140 games, the Sooners are shut out. Texas 24 -OU 0. After the game, Don Myers of the Daily Texan wrote, “It was so quiet in the Oklahoma dressing room you could hear a win drop.”

According to Royal, 1960 was the turning point to “building the bridge”. He said ” “ Failure breeds failure,” and, “ I think our program would have been a long way towards hard times if that 1960 team hadn’t rallied from the 3-3 record.

Second in the SWC but the loser of two games the Longhorns could have won. Each game is decided by one point.   Injuries and fumbles hurt the offense, but the defense led by Culpepper,  Lee, and Cooper was stellar.

Alabama and Texas tie in the Bluebonnet Bowl.  Both teams have coaches who know that if the opposing team does not score, you can’t lose.  Both teams played great football and tied 3-3.

Monte Lee is The First Two-Year Captain since 1903. No Player After Lee has received this honor. Monte is the MVP of the Texas team.  

A New Substitution Rule Allows One Player To Enter Between Plays. Royal uses this New Rule to use Poage On Offense And Culpepper on defense.

Based On A Suggestion From An Alumni Coach, Royal moves James Saxton From Quarterback To Right Half Back.

Texas Tech Joins The SWC.

Bud Wilkinson Said After the Longhorns’ 24-0 Shutout Of OU, ” It’s No Mystery. They’re Tougher, Faster, run Better, and tackle Better Than We Do.”

From 1958- 1963, U.T. was serene, without political arguments or public demonstrations. The times were changing. By 1968, the University was caught up in loud protests over the Vietnam War, racial discrimination, and social injustice, and drugs—not beer—were the mind-benders of choice.

The major villain during this period was the chairman of the Board of Regents- Frank Erwin. See the link for Frank Erwin’s story https://www.texaslsn.org/frank-erwin