Frank Broyles

Often we talk of a coaching tree – how one master of his profession produces so many more whose achievements also echo through the sport.

That’s one way we will remember Frank Broyles, the University of Arkansas football coach and athletic director who died Monday in Fayetteville, Arkansas at the age of 92.
Broyles coached for 19 years (1958-76) at Arkansas, won seven Southwest Conference titles and national championship in 1964.

That ’64 team included a pair of young lions named Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson. The former owns the Dallas Cowboys and was recently inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Johnson won two Super Bowls as the Cowboys coach and a national championship at the University of Miami.

Other Broyles’ assistants who dressed up his resume: Barry Switzer, Johnny Majors, Hayden Fry and Joe Gibbs. Switzer won a Super Bowl after replacing Johnson with the Cowboys; Gibbs coached the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl victories.

Broyles was nothing if not a multi-tasker before that term was ever invented. He shrewdly joined ABC Sports even as he served as AD and was the folksy companion to Keith Jackson from 1977-86, giving Arkansas further national exposure. Broyles was also the AD at Arkansas for 33 years, including three while still coaching. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.

His life was full, his pupils many and his successes extensive. He leaves us with many, many memories of great games, great teams and great people.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman