ROYAL IMMEDIATELY MAKES INROADS into Rebuilding a winning tradition by RECRUITING GREAT TEAM PLAYERS.

In the year 1956, the Ed Price era of UT football ends with a 1 win- 9 loss season and afterwards he is asked to step down as Head Football Coach but will remain 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 hires a young coach that had played football at the University of Oklahoma whose name is 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 prior to the Washington job.

After arriving on campus to formally accept the job as the new head coach, Royal began putting together 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 : Mike Campbell- ends/linebackers- Coach Campbell had been successful in the Mississippi high school ranks and was a member of Royals staff at Washington.

T. Jones- Defensive back’s coach -Coach Jones was an outstanding quarterback at UT in the early 1950’s and was on the Ed Price staff.

Mike Campbell- ends/linebackers- Coach Campbell had been very successful in the Mississippi high school ranks and was on Royal’s staff at Washington.

Bob Schultze- Freshman coach. Coach Schultze was a successful recruiter from the Houston and Gulf Coast area that 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.

Jim Pittman- Offensive line coach-Coach Pittman played at Mississippi State and coached there and was also on the staff at Washington.

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

THE BEGINNING OF THE ROYAL ERA 1957

The Royal Era begins in 1957 and the first football season ends with a 6-3-1 record and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Texas loses to Georgia 35-7 and afterwards some of the players complained that the Bowl practices were like Spring Training practices.

1958- UT has a 7-3 season but no Bowl game as a majority of players say that they are not in favor of going to a Bowl game if practices are like the Sugar Bowl ones.

1959-In Coach Royal’s third season the “Turn Around” begins. UT ends the season 9-1 and is co-champions of the SWC receiving an invitation to the Cotton Bowl to play Syracuse University. This was the first time to play in the Cotton Bowl since 1953. Syracuse defeats Texas 23-14 and the 9-2 Horns finish 4th in the AP Coaches Poll.

1960-UT has a 7-3-1 season and finishes 2nd in the SWC as Arkansas kicks a game winning field goal late in the fourth quarter to win 24-23. Texas and Alabama square off in the Blue Bonnet Bowl with a matchup between Darrell Royal vs Bear Bryant teams. The conservative offensive game ends in a 3-3 tie with Texas missing a field goal in the fourth quarter that could have won the game.

1961-UT has a 10-1 season-Before the beginning of fall practices there is a sign installed over the dressing room door that states “Our greatest glory is not in never falling but it is rising every time we fall”. Coach Royal and his staff initiate a new offense and call it the “Flip-Flop” offense that switch sides of the strongside and weakside units of the offense in order to reduce the number of plays. After seven straight blowout wins that includes big scores over rivals Oklahoma 28-7 and Arkansas 35-7, Texas is now ranked number 1 in the AP and UPI polls and will now play pesky TCU the following week in Austin. The Texas offense has the ball inside the 20-yard line three times in the first quarter but does not score. TCU scores on a long pass play just before halftime but the extra point is blocked making it a 6-0 score. TCU does not cross the 50 yard line during the second half but does control the line of scrimmage and the final score is 6-0. Texas defeats Texas A&M in the last regular season game and is once again the SWC co-champion. The Cotton Bowl is next up and the opponent is number 2 ranked Ole Miss from the SEC. Texas earns a hard fought 12-7 victory with four pass interceptions and finishes the season #3 in the nation.

1962-UT has a 9-1-1 season. The horns end the regular season “undefeated” and is the first team of the Royal area to be an undefeated SWC champion. The only blemishes are a 14-14 tie with Rice and later a 13-0 loss to LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Horns finish 4th in the final UPI poll.

1963- UT has a 11-0 season and is the “undefeated” SWC champion as well as the Cotton Bowl champion defeating #1 ranked Navy 28-6. Roger Staubach, the Heisman Trophy winner, was corralled by the Longhorn defense and the UT offense led by Duke Carlisle and Phil Harris scored 28 points on the Mid-shipman. Texas is now # 1 in the nation and wins the 1963 National Championship.

1964-UT has a 10-1 season and is 6-1 in SWC play losing only to Arkansas by 1 point. The Longhorns finish the season by defeating Alabama and Joe Namath in the Orange Bowl 21-17. Tommy Nobis and the Texas defense stopped Namath on fourth and inches to preserve the victory. Texas finishes 4th in the UPI Coaches Poll.

In summary the won-loss record for these 6 seasons total: 56 wins, 8 loses, 2 ties, 3 SWC Championships, 6 Bowl appearances, and 4 years of finishing in the top 10 final rankings of the AP and UPI polls.

I would like to mention one of my fondest memories about playing music for Coach Royal after the Jurazzic Cowboys band had played a gig at Barton Creek Country Club for a large group of pharmaceutical representatives. It was a regional group of about 300 people that former Longhorn Clayton Lacy headed up and had booked our band to play for their dance. After our last set he asked me to do him a favor and I said sure what can I do for you and he said Coach Royal wants to hear you guys play and I can pay you extra if you would do that! I said Clayton you don’t have pay us to play for Coach as it would be an honor for us to do so! We picked and sang for about hour with Coach as our audience and afterwards I asked him which team that he coached was his best team and he said it would be hard to single out just one team but he did say that the success of 1959 to 1964 teams was very important to establishing the foundation for future Longhorn success.

Recruits that turned the Longhorn Football program around

1959-Bobby Lackey, Don Allen, Monte Lee, Clair Branch, Maurice Doke, Mike Dowdle, Dickie Jones

1960-1961-Don Talbert, James Saxton, Mike Cotton, Jack Collins, Bobby Moses, Ed Padgett, David Kristynik

1962-Johnny Treadwell, Pat Culpepper, Ray Poage, Tommy Lucas, Marvin Kubin, John Genung

1963-Duke Carlisle, Tommy Wade, Scott Appelton, Tommy Ford, Ernie Koy, Charlie Talbert, Sandy Sands, Staley Faulkner, David McWilliams, George Brucks

1964-Jim Hudson, John Elliott, Fred Edwards, Frank Bedrick, Phil Harris, Clayton Lacey, Pete Lammons Tommy Nobis, Knox Nunnally, Olen Underwood, Harold Phillip, George Sauer, Joe Dixon, George Bass, Anthony King, Hix Green

The Sherman Boys and the Cleburne boys are prototypical Royal football players- Under 200 Pounds, quick, Instinctive, and Motivated to Win! 

After the football season of 1962, I was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 19th round as a prospective Tight End or Outside Linebacker. I attended their training camp at Thousand Oaks, California in July of 1963 where I survived several squad cuts but did not make their final team roster. Soon after returning to my hometown of Houston, Texas, I was hired as an assistant football coach at Abilene Cooper High School but my stay in Abilene was short lived because the Head Coach Clovis Riley was hired as the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at Sherman High School in Sherman, Texas.

 Coach Riley asked me to go with him as the Defensive Coordinator even though I was 24 years old and just 2 years of experience.

Our first year at Sherman resulted in a 6-4 season and really not that bad because our team was young and the district that we were in was a tough one consisting of teams from Garland, Richardson, Mesquite, Carrolton, Highland Park, Denton, and Denison. The following year we began the season with a loss to an old rival Gainesville HS but the team responded with 8 straight wins, however, we lost our last district game to another old rival Denison HS. In those days only the district champion went to the playoffs so we were out and the Yellow jackets were in but it was still one of the best seasons that the Bearcats had in some time.

A large part of our success was due to a strong senior class that included two outstanding players by the name of Greg Ploetz and Mike Dean

Captain Ploetz and Captain Dean

On offense Greg was the right guard and Mike was the left guard and defensively Greg was the left inside linebacker and Mike was the right inside linebacker. We employed the same 6-2 defense that Coach Mike Campbell established at the University of Texas in the early 1960’s and as their position coach I was of the opinion that they could play at the next level. They were our leading tacklers making plays from side line to side line however; I became disappointed because only a few college coaches were somewhat interested in offering them a scholarship. (TCU and North Texas)

Coach Ellington far right , Patterson is on the right

The  next week Pat Patterson the recruiter for the Dallas area came by and asked to see some game film so I set him up with a projector and our last 4 games. After my last class of the day, I went by the stadium and Coach Patterson was still there. He quickly told me that he was impressed with Greg’s play and that he had heard about him from some of the coaches in our district but then he said I also like the Dean kid and I would like to talk to both of them about coming to Austin for an official visit to our campus. Pat then said, “l think we may have a scholarship for those two”.

Well as they say in the movies, the rest is history! Greg Ploetz became NOT an outstanding linebacker for the Longhorns but instead he became an outstanding defensive tackle in the Texas split 4 defenses going against much bigger offensive lineman but seldom losing one on one battles. He overcame a size disadvantage with his strength and fierce determination.

Mike Dean became a starting offensive guard and was according to many to be undersized for his position. He had to block defensive lineman that had a size advantage but he proved many times that determination plus strength and the will to win can overcome a lot of minuses. He is Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame member because of his outstanding performance versus an All American defensive tackle from Notre Dame and he is also a member of the Longhorn Hall of Honor.

Mike and Greg will always be very special to me and I am proud to say that I was one of their coaches. They exemplify my belief that lack of size can often be overcome by the will to succeed and having unrelenting determination.