Hall of Fame
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 12
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 10 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.
