Lan Hewlett -first academic coach
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 passes 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 decides 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.
Lan Hewlett
Royal said I don’t need another assistant coach and I need is a “keep them here” Coach, so Texas hired Lan Hewlett as the first “brain coach” in college sports. His official title was 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.
1982-1984
Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland….June, 1983
the most amazing thing is about to happen….I was almost at the very peak after taking a vernacular up the mountain and hiking for an hour, then, at the very peak there was a breeze from below and little clouds coming up….all you could hear were these very faint cowbells coming from this churchyard on a bluff at least a mile below….one of the most awesome moments of my life….
From 1982 to 1984, I tutored Chemistry and Biology and was in charge of the tutors….I can remember going into this job, I thought I was going to be running into some “out of control egos”….well, nothing was further from the truth. Since I was there every night for tutoring, I got to know almost everyone, and they were the nicest group of guys you could possibly assemble. This group included Todd Dodge, Jeff Ward, John Telchik, Edwin Simmons, Mossy Cade, Rick McIvor, and Richard Peavey….etc. The Defense was perhaps the best Texas ever put together. On October 22, 1983, we beat SMU 15-12 in Cowboy Stadium in Irving and remained undefeated and number 2 in the nation behind Nebraska. I spent October 23rd studying all day and made it to Jester to start the tutoring a little before 7 pm….I turned the corner to walk down a very long hallway to the tutoring rooms and could see a bunch of guys at the very end by the tutoring rooms….then, they disappeared….I got the rooms, and there was the entire team crammed in the rooms with a huge birthday cake and ice cream to surprise me for my 30th birthday….I can remember thinking to myself….”LIFE will be downhill from this moment”….a HUGE memory in my life….
Happy Birthday Ken!
