Frank Broyles, coach and athletic director at Arkansas, dies at 92
Frank Broyles, who guided the University of Arkansas to its lone national football championship and later molded the overall program as its athletic director, died Aug. 14. He was 92.
The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, according to a family statement. It did not provide further details.
Mr. Broyles won almost 71 percent of his games as head football coach with the Razorbacks for 19 years. He became the school’s athletic director in 1974 while still the football coach. He retired from the gridiron after the 1976 season to focus on administrative duties.
With Mr. Broyles as coach, the Razorbacks won or shared seven Southwest Conference football titles and went to 10 bowl games.
That included a win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl after the 1964 regular season. That made the Razorbacks’ record 11-0. Alabama also was undefeated entering the bowl season and was named the national champion by the Associated Press poll, but the Crimson Tide lost its bowl game to Texas — leading to Arkansas being named the champion by the Football Writers Association of America.
The Associated Press poll soon thereafter changed its policy and began naming its champion after the bowl games.
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Several prominent football figures were members of the 1964 football team, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Miami Hurricanes and Dallas coach Jimmy Johnson, and Ken Hatfield, who went on to coach at Arkansas and three other universities.
As athletic director, Mr. Broyles led an overhaul and upgrade of Arkansas’ facilities and guided the school in its move to the Southeastern Conference. After his coaching career, Mr. Broyles — who earned a spot in the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame — served as an analyst on ABC’s college football telecasts.
While his coaching record of 144-48-5 defined the first part of his career, Mr. Broyles’s work as athletic director was equally important.
Arkansas’ athletic facilities underwent a near-complete overhaul after the school’s move from the Southwest Conference to the SEC in 1991.
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Mr. Broyles’s spearheaded the fundraising efforts that led to the construction of Bud Walton Arena, renovation of and additions to Razorback Stadium, and the building of Baum Stadium. He also guided the school as it built indoor and outdoor tracks, a tennis facility and the athletic administrative complex that bears his name.
Mr. Broyles was known for his ability to identify top coaches, both head coaches and assistants. One of Mr. Broyles’s first moves as athletic director was the hiring of Eddie Sutton, who took over a struggling basketball program and turned it into a national power.
After Sutton’s departure, Mr. Broyles once again struck coaching gold with the hiring of Nolan Richardson. Richardson led Arkansas to the 1994 national championship in men’s basketball. But he and Mr. Broyles later clashed, and Richardson was fired in 2002. Richardson said he was a victim of racial discrimination and filed a lawsuit that was eventually ruled to be without merit.
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Mr. Broyles was also responsible for the hiring of Lou Holtz and Hatfield in football. Mr. Broyles also hired former great John McDonnell in track. McDonnell won 40 national championships, in indoor track, outdoor track and cross-country, with the Razorbacks.
Share this articleShareMr. Broyles retired as athletic director in 2007. He served in a fundraising role with the school’s Razorback Foundation until 2014.
John Franklin Broyles was born in Decatur, Ga., on Dec. 26, 1924. He won 10 letters in football, basketball and baseball at Georgia Tech and was the All-SEC quarterback in 1944 and 1946.
After graduating in 1947 with a degree in industrial management, he turned down professional football and baseball offers. Instead, he took a position on Bob Woodruff’s staff at Baylor University.
After a year as an assistant at Florida, Mr. Broyles returned to Georgia Tech as the offensive backfield coach. The Yellow Jackets won 31 straight games.
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In 1957, Mr. Broyles was hired as head coach at Missouri and guided the Tigers to a 5-4-1 record. The following January, Arkansas athletic director John Barnhill offered Mr. Broyles the Arkansas coaching position vacated by Jack Mitchell.
Mr. Broyles’s first team started 0-6 and finished 4-6. Only one other time did the Razorbacks finish below .500 under Mr. Broyles.
A couple of dozen of Mr. Broyles’s players or assistants became head coaches, leading to the creation of the annual Broyles Award, giving to the nation’s top assistant coach.
He spent much of his time later in life attending various Arkansas sporting events and raising money for Alzheimer’s awareness after the 2004 death of his first wife, Barbara Day Broyles, following a battle with the disease.
He started the Frank and Barbara Broyles Foundation CareGivers United, an Alzheimer’s education organization, and wrote a book that focused on helping those who care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s.
In 2005, he married Guendaline “Gen” Whitehead. Besides his wife, survivors include six children from his first marriage.
— Associated Press
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