 Broyles in 1957 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1924-12-26)December 26, 1924 Decatur, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 2017(2017-08-14) (aged 92) Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1943–1946 | Georgia Tech |
| Baseball | |
| 1946–1946 | Georgia Tech |
| Positions | Quarterback (football) Guard (basketball) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1947–1949 | Baylor (backfield) |
| 1950 | Florida (backfield) |
| 1951–1956 | Georgia Tech (backfield) |
| 1957 | Missouri |
| 1958–1976 | Arkansas |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1974–2007 | Arkansas |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 149–62–6 |
| Bowls | 4–6 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Awards | |
| |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1983 (profile) | |
John Franklin Broyles (December 26, 1924 – August 14, 2017) was an Americancollege football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at theUniversity of Missouri in 1957 and at theUniversity of Arkansas from 1958 to 1976, compiling a career coaching record of 149–62–6. Broyles was also theathletic director at Arkansas from 1974 to 2007. His mark of 144–58–5 in 19 seasons at the helm of theArkansas Razorbacks football gives him the most wins and the most coached games of any head coach in program history. With Arkansas, Broyles won sevenSouthwest Conference titles and his1964 team was named anational champion by a number of selectors including theFootball Writers Association of America.
Broyles attendedGeorgia Tech, where he was the startingquarterback for theYellow Jackets and also lettered inbaseball andbasketball. Following his playing career, he was an assistant football coach atBaylor University, theUniversity of Florida, and his alma mater, Georgia Tech. Broyles was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1983.
After his graduation fromDecatur Boys High School, Broyles studied atGeorgia Tech, where he was aquarterback from 1944 to 1946. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Industrial Management. Broyles started all of Tech's games as quarterback during his senior season, and led the Yellow Jackets to the1945 Orange Bowl. Tech lost the bowl game, but in defeat Broyles set an Orange Bowl record for passing yards with 304. The record stood for 55 years until eclipsed byMichigan quarterbackTom Brady in the2000 Orange Bowl. Broyles is a member of theOrange Bowl (1991),Gator Bowl (1995), andCotton Bowl Classic (1999) halls of fame, and the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame.[1] Broyles was drafted by theChicago Bears in the third round of the1946 NFL draft when he still had a year of college eligibility.[2] When his college career was over he moved straight into coaching.
While at Georgia Tech he also played basketball.
Broyles entered coaching in 1947 as the backfield coach under head coachBob Woodruff atBaylor University.[3] In 1950, Broyles followed Woodruff when the latter took the head coach position at theUniversity of Florida.[4] In 1951, he left Florida and returned to Georgia Tech as the backfield coach under coachBobby Dodd.[5] Broyles sought the head coaching position atNorthwestern University in 1954,[6] and ultimately left Georgia Tech in 1957 when he was offered the position of head coach at theUniversity of Missouri. Broyles stayed at Missouri only one season when he was offered the head coaching job at Arkansas. During his nineteen years as head coach there, he was offered other major coaching and leadership positions, but remained at Arkansas.
During his tenure atArkansas, Broyles coached the Razorbacks to sevenSouthwest Conference championships, and twoCotton Bowl Classic wins. His 1964 team was proclaimed national champions by theFootball Writers Association of America, as well as theHelms Foundation, and to date is the last Razorback team to go undefeated and untied in a season. If the wire service polls had not given out their national championships prior to the bowl games during that era of college football, Arkansas positively would have won both the AP and the UPI national titles as well. Not only were the Razorbacks the only undefeated and untied team in the nation, but AP and UPI national champion Alabama lost to Texas (a team Arkansas beat in Austin in 1964) in the Orange Bowl. He still holds the record for most wins by a head coach in the history of Arkansas football, with 144. During the 1960s and 1970s, one of college football's most intense rivalries was between Broyles' Razorbacks and theUniversity of TexasLonghorns under legendary coachDarrell Royal.
Among Broyles' most memorable victories while coaching the Razorbacks was the 14–13 win over No. 1 Texas in 1964 in Austin, the1965 Cotton Bowl victory over Nebraska to complete an undefeated season, the1969 Sugar Bowl victory over Georgia, beating No. 2 Texas A&M in the 1975 season finale to win a share of the SWC championship, and then beating Georgia in the1976 Cotton Bowl.
The two most painful losses in his tenure at Arkansas, included the1966 Cotton Bowl loss to LSU that snapped Arkansas' 22 game winning streak, and, most famously, the 1969Game of the Century that saw No. 1 Texas come from behind to beat No. 2 Arkansas, 15–14.[7]
After his retirement from coaching, but concurrent with the early part of his tenure as men's athletic director at Arkansas, Broyles served as the primarycolor commentator forABC Sports television coverage ofcollege football, normally alongside top play-by-play manKeith Jackson. Broyles' time as a broadcaster atABC lasted from 1977 to 1985. Broyles was often assigned games involvingSoutheastern Conference orSouthwest Conference teams, but if the primary game of a particular week involved the Razorbacks, Broyles was paired with another play-by-play man, many timesAl Michaels orChris Schenkel, while Jackson called the game with another color commentator, many timesAra Parseghian. Broyles' commentary was normally focused on play calling and coaching strategy, and while paired with Jackson, resulted in an all-Georgian booth (Jackson was a native ofRoopville).
As a member ofAugusta National Golf Club, Broyles from 1972 to 1977 co-hosted (with tournament chairmenClifford Roberts and William Lane) thegreen jacket presentation ceremony at the end of theMasters Tournament from Butler Cabin televised onCBS.
In 1974 Broyles was appointed Men'sAthletic Director of the University of Arkansas.[8] (Arkansas had acompletely separate women's athletics department from 1971 until the men's and women's programs were merged in 2008.) Broyles continued as head football coach for three years. Since stepping down as head coach, the University of Arkansas men's athletic programs under his leadership as athletic director won 43 national championships. The Razorbacks won 57Southwest Conference championships and 47Southeastern Conference championships during his tenure. Broyles disbanded the men's swimming and diving program to satisfy new regulations from the SEC of having two more women's sports than men's sports.[9]
On February 17, 2007, Broyles announced his plans to retire as Men's Athletic Director, effective December 31, 2007, ending his half-century association with Arkansas.[10]
As athletic director, Broyles was known for being very hands-on with the football program. Indeed, at least one head coach,Ken Hatfield, left the school because he couldn't abide Broyles' meddling. After Hatfield left, at least one booster doubted whether the Razorbacks would ever attract a top-tier head coach as long as Broyles was athletic director.[11]
In 2000, following an expansion of Razorback Stadium, Broyles announced that one home game would move from War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock to Fayetteville, and that, in the near future, all home games might be played on campus. In the end, a long-term agreement was reached to keep 2–3 games in Little Rock, while the rest would be played in Fayetteville.[12]As of the Fall 2022 season, all home games (7 for 2022) will be played in Fayetteville.
Over thirty of his former players have also become college or professional football coaches. Broyles is known for producing high quality coaches and the prestigiousBroyles Award, the annual award for best assistant coach, is named after him.Barry Switzer,Johnny Majors,Joe Gibbs,Hayden Fry, andJimmy Johnson all served under Broyles and have combined to win five collegiate national championships and sixSuper Bowls. Broyles' assistants have won more than 40 conference titles. Dallas Cowboys ownerJerry Jones played on Broyles' 1964 Championship team.
Broyles' tenure as men's athletic director has seen the construction of world-class facilities for basketball, football, track and field (indoor and outdoor), golf, and baseball at Arkansas. Broyles was selected as the 20th century's most influential Arkansas sports figure. Broyles will be remembered as the only SEC athletic director that had to drop a men's sport, bringing into questions the health of the athletic department under his leadership.
Broyles was known as a fierce competitor both as a head coach and athletic director. Broyles led Arkansas out of the Southwest Conference and into the Southeastern Conference.
In 1983 Broyles was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame, and in 1996, theBroyles Award was established to recognize the topassistant coaches in college football. He was a member of theAugusta National Golf Club.[13]
In 2005, after his wife Barbara was diagnosed and died fromAlzheimer's disease, Broyles became an outspoken advocate for Alzheimer's awareness and established the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation to support caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. With the assistance of the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences, he published and distributed 100,000 free copies of a book titledCoach Broyles' Playbook for Alzheimer's Caregivers to pharmacies throughout the state of Arkansas. In 2007 and again in 2009, Broyles successfully raised funds to distribute 500,000 copies of the book nationally, plus 100,000 copies in Spanish. Since then, the book has been translated into 11 different languages and distributed digitally worldwide.[14] Broyles himself would eventually succumb to complications of the same disease on August 14, 2017. He had 2 children.[15]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri Tigers(Big Seven Conference)(1957) | |||||||||
| 1957 | Missouri | 5–4–1 | 3–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| Missouri: | 5–4–1 | 3–3 | |||||||
| Arkansas Razorbacks(Southwest Conference)(1958–1976) | |||||||||
| 1958 | Arkansas | 4–6 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 1959 | Arkansas | 9–2 | 5–1 | T–1st | WGator | 9 | 9 | ||
| 1960 | Arkansas | 8–3 | 6–1 | 1st | LCotton | 7 | 7 | ||
| 1961 | Arkansas | 8–3 | 6–1 | T-1st | LSugar | 8 | 9 | ||
| 1962 | Arkansas | 9–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | LSugar | 6 | 6 | ||
| 1963 | Arkansas | 5–5 | 3–4 | 4th | |||||
| 1964 | Arkansas | 11–0 | 7–0 | 1st | WCotton | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1965 | Arkansas | 10–1 | 7–0 | 1st | LCotton | 2 | 3 | ||
| 1966 | Arkansas | 8–2 | 5–2 | T–2nd | 13 | ||||
| 1967 | Arkansas | 4–5–1 | 3–3–1 | 5th | |||||
| 1968 | Arkansas | 10–1 | 6–1 | T–1st | WSugar | 9 | 6 | ||
| 1969 | Arkansas | 9–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | LSugar | 3 | 7 | ||
| 1970 | Arkansas | 9–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | 12 | 11 | |||
| 1971 | Arkansas | 8–3–1 | 5–1–1 | 2nd | LLiberty | 20 | 16 | ||
| 1972 | Arkansas | 6–5 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1973 | Arkansas | 5–5–1 | 3–3–1 | T–4th | |||||
| 1974 | Arkansas | 6–4–1 | 3–3–1 | T–4th | |||||
| 1975 | Arkansas | 10–2 | 6–1 | T–1st | WCotton | 6 | 7 | ||
| 1976 | Arkansas | 5–5–1 | 3–4–1 | 6th | |||||
| Arkansas: | 144–58–5 | 91–35–5 | |||||||
| Total: | 149–62–6 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
The Alzheimer's Association extends sincere condolences to the family of Coach Frank Broyles following his death due to complications of Alzheimer's. Coach Broyles was a legendary leader on the field, and the Association saw that leadership translate off the field as he became a dedicated Alzheimer's advocate later in life.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
