I Know Many Hate TU.....

DeepGreen · November 8, 2012

Darrell Royal passed away at age 88. I always thought he was a classy guy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/sports/ncaafootball/darrell-royal-texas-coach-who-pioneered-wishbone-offense-dies-at-88.html?_r=0

drex · November 8, 2012

Nothing from me but reverance for coach Royal. I know for a fact that he was a fan of Jamario Thomas and Patrick Cobbs.

Harry · November 8, 2012

A class act! He will be missed.

emmitt01 · November 8, 2012

Very sad to hear of an icon's passing.

Huff · November 8, 2012

Mack Brown said that for the first play in their game this Saturday they were going to line up in the wishbone and run a play as a tribute to Coach Royal. I think that is pretty neat.

NT03 · November 8, 2012

Mack Brown said that for the first play in their game this Saturday they were going to line up in the wishbone and run a play as a tribute to Coach Royal. I think that is pretty neat.

Very cool

RIP

glick1980 · November 8, 2012

Good coach, RIP. But class act? As far as racists go, maybe.

Cr1028 · November 8, 2012

Good coach, RIP. But class act? As far as racists go, maybe.

Why the -1s for this guy? He said Royal was a good coach and RIP. Is it untrue that he resisted putting black players on his team? If it is untrue, then the -1s are well deserved but my understanding is that Royal was against integration of his football team.

NorthTexan95 · November 8, 2012

Why the -1s for this guy? He said Royal was a good coach and RIP. Is it untrue that he resisted putting black players on his team? If it is untrue, then the -1s are well deserved but my understanding is that Royal was against integration of his football team.

That doesn't necessarily make one a racist.

foutsrouts · November 8, 2012

That doesn't necessarily make one a racist.

Not necessarily. That's just the way things were back then before people woke up. Most everyone is scared of change in one way or another. RIP.

TheTastyGreek · November 8, 2012

BIH, P?

KRAM1 · November 8, 2012

Darrell Royal passed away at age 88. I always thought he was a classy guy.

Agree 100 percent. RIP Coach Royal. A good man and a great coach will be missed.

VideoEagle · November 8, 2012

I vividly remember the game in Austin in '76. As I understand it, Royal split the gate with us.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 8, 2012

Why the -1s for this guy? He said Royal was a good coach and RIP. Is it untrue that he resisted putting black players on his team? If it is untrue, then the -1s are well deserved but my understanding is that Royal was against integration of his football team.

He was racist until Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer starting beating his ass with black players from Texas.

DeepGreen · November 8, 2012

Good coach, RIP. But class act? As far as racists go, maybe.

Good lord man, can't you let it go? That was 40-50 years ago. Let the man rest in peace. Royal was a class act.

LongJim · November 8, 2012

He was racist until Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer starting beating his ass with black players from Texas.

Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer didn't do shit against Darrell Royal until Darrell and Bellard taught the wishbone to them out of sympathy when they were about to lose their jobs after Texas beat THEIR asses repeatedly.

SilverEagle · November 8, 2012

Good coach, RIP. But class act? As far as racists go, maybe.

You know, this might be a good time to mention this. North Texas might have been the first D-1 state school in Texas to integrate it's sports teams (back in the 50's).And we might feel a bit superior and progressive compared to the other schools in Texas. But please keep in mind that those players still were not allowed to live in the dorms, and they had to seek housing in the predominately black part of town.

I don't know when that finally changed.

RIP coach Royal. You didn't deserve the manner of death that eventually took you.

Edited November 8, 2012 by SilverEagle

LongJim · November 8, 2012

RIP coach Royal. You didn't deserve the manner of death that eventually took you.

Agreed. Cruel, cruel disease.

MeanGreenTexan · November 8, 2012

Agreed. Cruel, cruel disease.

For sure. I'd rather lose all 4 of my limbs than lose my mind to Alzheimer's/dementia.

GrayEagle · November 8, 2012

He was racist until Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer starting beating his ass with black players from Texas.

What a crock of crap. Darrell was never a racist. He beat OU 12 of his first 14 times he faced his alma mater and they had black players the entire time. DKR recruited and coached black players when he was at the University of Washington. He regretted that he wasn't able to use black players earlier but never barred any black person from his squad. His first star black player was Roosevelt Leaks around '73 but he had a few others earlier. That didn't stem the tide by the way as Texas lost to OU Leaks first two years. Fairbanks and Switzer may have beaten UT a few times but it had nothing to do with black players per se.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 8, 2012

No. Royals had the last all white national championship team, and he was slow to integrate until Texans like Billy Brooks, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington, George Cumby, etc. started pummelling the Horns under the guidance of Fairbanks and Switzer.

OU installed the Wishbone midway through the 1970 season. From 1971 until his retirement, Royal never beat OU again, 0-5-1 against an offense his own coordinator, Emory Bellard, had developed off Bill Yoeman's version of the Veer. Royal got tired of watching it and began recruiting blacks as well.

Black Texans on those early OU teams that Texas wouldn't recruit: Dexter Bussey, Greg Pruitt, Albert Qualls, Kenith Pope, Mike Thomas, Billy Brooks, Waymon Clark, Horace Ivory, Joe Washington. OU was already recruiting black players nationwide back then as well...out of San Diego, California, current Mizzou QB James Franklin's dad, WIllie...out of Miami, Fla. Elvis Peacock...Jim Culbreath form Pennsylvania...Jerry Anderson from Tennessee...etc., etc., etc.

It doesn't matter where they learned the offense. The Pistol offense of today was thought up by a guy at Nevada. Who cares? Texas running it with their white players couldn't keep up with OU running it with their black players once the Sooners adopted it. That's fact.

You can thank the rise of OU on Royal and UTs delay in integrating. Since 1970, OU's record against Texas: 22-18-3, Texas winning a majority of games in the series only one of the last four decades (1990s). Remove the years between Switzer and Stoops and OU is 20-11-1 against Texas since the Horns delay in recruiting black football players.

By not recruiting blacks, Royal and Texas really opened the door for many schools to rise. Good work. Very charitable.

Between the retirement of Bud Wilkinson and Fairbanks' offensive coordinator Barry Switzer convincing him to gamble with a new offense midseason, OU had become mediocre. So, every time OU beats Texas' butts, think of Darrell Royals' all white Longhorn teams futiliy chasing the Greg Pruitts and Joe Washingtons around the Cotton Bowl.

"Speed kills," Barry Switzer used to say. Barry Switzer...the man who owes his rise, three national title rings and one Super Bowl ring, to the Darrell Royal who wouldn't recruit black football players. Remember that every time you see Barry, Horn fans.

Fun historical facts about Darrell Royal. Lots of fun.

Edited November 8, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

tylermeangreen · November 8, 2012

I vividly remember the game in Austin in '76. As I understand it, Royal split the gate with us.

He always had a lot of respect for Hayden Fry - and the feeling was mutual.

LongJim · November 8, 2012

No. Royals had the last all white national championship team, and he was slow to integrate until Texans like Billy Brooks, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington, George Cumby, etc. started pummelling the Horns under the guidance of Fairbanks and Switzer.

And again, Switzer and Fairbanks didn't pummel Royal until he had Bellard save their asses by helping them install the Wishbone. Until then, the Texans OU was recruiting were getting their asses kicked regularly.

Texas running it with their white players couldn't keep up with OU running it with their black players once the Sooners adopted it. That's fact.

No one argued otherwise. But you keep on jocking Switzer and Fairbanks.

You can thank the rise of OU on Royal and UTs delay in integrating.

Wilkinson did just fine and OU rose long before Royal even went to Texas. You're full of crap.

But again, keep slagging off an icon a day after his death with distorted bullshit.

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 8, 2012

Bellard went to OU and showed them the offense during the 1970 football season? What a strange thing to do midseason for an archrival.

Anyway, what happened, according to Switzer, Fairbanks, Jimmy Johnson, and others on the OU staff at the time was Barry and the defensive coaches sat down in the film room and studied the offense. Switzer, in the middle of the 1970 season, convinced Fairbanks to switch to it. Emory Bellard never went to OU to teach them to offense, and Switzer and Fairbanks never went to Austin to learn it from them.

Also, OU was mediocre between the retirement of Wilkinson and Fairbanks/Switzer making the midseason switch to the Bone in 1970, going 40-25-1 from 1964 to the third game of 1970, winning more than seven games only once in that span. Wilkinson, in his 17 years as head coach, only lost 29 times. So, yes, the Sooners had become middle of the pack mediocre following Wilkinson's retirement.

OU's only national titles to the point of the wishbone were won during Wilkinson's tenure. After winning their conference titles in 14 of the 17 seasons Wilkinson led them, OU won only two in the in the eight years following, 1963-1970.

The Wishbone, and having those fast, black Texas halfbacks that Darrell Royal wouldn't recruit led to the Oklahoma resurrection, saved Chuck Fairbanks' job, and provided the impetus for Barry Switzer being chosen over other assistants to lead the Sooners when Fairbanks was hired away by the New England Patriots a couple of year later.

The 1972 OU coaching staff consisted of Wilkinson, Switzer, Jerry Pettibone (head coach at Northern Illinois, 1985-90, and Oregon State, 1991-96), Jimmy Johnson (heach coaching history well known in these here parts), Jim Dickey (Kansas State head coach, 1978-85, father of former UNT head coach Darrell Dickey), Galen Hall (Florida head coach 1984-1989, during the Emmit Smith years, 1987-89). Many careers saved/launched by Texas/Royal racism in recruting.

Racism can have many unintended consequences. For Darrell Royal and Texas, the uninteded consequence was reawaking a fallen giant...that happened to be their cross border rival.

From Sports Illustrated's recruiting history article in 2008:

"Lacewell said the most important recruiting innovation the Oklahoma staff brought to its corner of the world had nothing to do with NCAA rules. 'We were some of the only ones,' Lacewell said, 'who would recruit black players.' While much of the nation had already integrated, the schools of the SWC and SEC remained mostly segregated in the late '60s and early '70s. Switzer, the assistant in charge of recruiting Texas, used this to Oklahoma's advantage.

Switzer, who had grown up on the black side of town in Crossett, Ark., related easily to black players and their families. He also didn't hesitate to point out the fact that Oklahoma's rivals remained lily-white. 'If you were to sign with a Southwest Conference team,' Switzer recalled telling black recruits in Bootlegger's Boy, 'just think how lonesome it would be to look around in the huddle and see nothing but honky faces.'"

Ka-pow! A salesman knows how to sell! Royal and the good old boy white guys running the SWC schools and football programs did OU and other Big 8 schools a huge favor with their high brow racism.

Edited November 8, 2012 by The Fake Lonnie Finch