UA coach sought ambitious aides

“Coach Broyles has always been there and you always expected him to be there. He had a great life and was such a differencemaker for so many people, especially in the state of Arkansas. Not only in the athletics world, but the entire university and state and nationwide. Everybody knew him. He was just a great man.” — Former Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt
“Coach Broyles has always been there and you always expected him to be there. He had a great life and was such a differencemaker for so many people, especially in the state of Arkansas. Not only in the athletics world, but the entire university and state and nationwide. Everybody knew him. He was just a great man.” — Former Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt

FAYETTEVILLE -- Not only did Frank Broyles turn the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville into a nationally-prominent football program that won seven Southwest Conference championships and played in 10 bowl games during his 19 seasons as coach, he became known for churning out assistants who became head coaches.

Broyles' former assistants won a combined seven Super Bowls and seven national championships. Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson -- who both played and coached for Broyles -- each won college and NFL titles.

Beyond Switzer and Johnson, the list of former Broyles' assistants and players who took over programs includes Doug Dickey, Pat Jones, Houston Nutt, Harold Horton, Ken Hatfield, Joe Gibbs, Johnny Majors, Hayden Fry, Fred Akers, Jackie Sherrill, Raymond Berry, Butch Davis, Jesse Branch, Ken Stephens, Ken Turner, Charley Coffey, Jim Mackenzie, Hootie Ingram, Richard Williamson and Pete Carroll.

In 1996 former Arkansas linebacker David Bazzel created the Broyles Award, which is presented annually to the nation's top assistant coach.

"Frank was a great recruiter not only of players, but of coaches," Switzer said. "They recognized his talents and abilities and wanted to be part of his program."

Broyles died Monday. He was 92.

"I think he lived an amazing life," Bazzel said. "He was an incredible man and so talented.

"I think sometimes when you're up close and personal, you don't really pull back and look at the big picture. But he was so good at so many things -- player, coach, athletic director, broadcaster, fund-raiser, family man. He was a supporter of great causes. Everything he did he excelled at.

"Personality-wise he was bigger than life. I've had a chance to be around a ton of coaches through all the things I do with the Broyles Award and nobody was as charismatic as Coach Broyles. He could command the room better than anybody."

Dickey said Broyles sought ambitious coaches who wanted to learn from him so they could run their own programs and that Broyles always was interested in bringing fresh ideas to Arkansas.

"Frank filled the openings on his staff by looking very hard for what he considered to be people who would contribute something new and different," Dickey said. "He was able to attract people by the power of his personality.

"It was on-the-job training to be a head coach if you went to work at Arkansas and were associated with Frank Broyles."

Nutt, the last player Broyles recruited to Arkansas as part of the 1976 freshman class, and he coached the Razorbacks for 10 seasons from 1998-2007.

Despite Broyles' age, Nutt said his death still came as a shock.

"Coach Broyles has always been there and you always expected him to be there," Nutt said. "He had a great life and was such a difference-maker for so many people, especially in the state of Arkansas.

"Not only in the athletics world, but the entire university and state and nationwide. Everybody knew him. He was just a great man."

Majors, who won a national championship at Pittsburgh in 1976 and also coached at Iowa State and Tennessee, was an Arkansas assistant from 1964-1967.

"Frank Broyles knew X's and O's, but he expanded your thinking more than any coach that I could imagine," Majors said in 2014. "He made you think, had a lot of ideas and was very creative.

"His motivation was outstanding. I remember my wife saying that even the few games we lost, you never felt we had lost them after you saw Frank on television because he was a great motivator.

"He paid us very well, and I think Frank was the first coach to establish a courtesy car program for his coaches. We had memberships to the country club and had nice homes."

Broyles said his plan each year was to have one coach leave for a head coaching job.

"Then I could look for things that I was impressed with that some other coach was running, and I'd hire one of his assistants," Broyles said in 2004." Virtually every time I lost a coach, I hired another one who was ready to be a head coach."

Broyles became Arkansas' coach in 1958, the year after the desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School drew national attention.


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"Coaches Broyles did so much for the confidence and psyche of this state coming out of what happened in in 1957," Bazzel said. "Here's a guy from Georgia and he saw the potential in Arkansas at a time when a lot of people probably wouldn't have seen that."

Sports on 08/15/2017

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