Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Loss of Royalty


Early Wednesday morning reports flooded in of the passing of legendary football coach Darrel K. Royal at the age of 88.
Royals most significant years were spent in Austin coaching the University of Texas Longhorns.  He paved the road for what the Longhorn program is today.  In 20 season he won three National Championships (1963, 1969-1970) and 11 Southwest Conference titles, now the Big 12.  He compiled a record of 167-47-5 making him the the winningest coach in Longhorn football history.  He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and in 1996 University of Texas renamed their stadium to Darrell K Royal - Texas Memorial Stadium.  
Royal also patented the wishbone offense.  The wishbone offense put less stress on the offensive line by inserting a fullback into the backfield.  The wishbone eventually led to the invention of the option offense.  Which the Longhorns used to win 2 of the 3 national championships in Royals tenure.  
The Longhorns will honor Coach Royal by wear decals on their helmets with the initials DKR on it and will line up in the patented wishbone offense in their first offensive play.  The Longhorns will take on Iowa State at noon on Saturday.

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