Frank Broyles has died at age 92 after being the heart of the Arkansas Razorbacks football and sports programs. He was their head football coach who led them to a national title in 1964, and he later became the athletic director who served until his retirement in 2007. Frank Broyles did much more than coach football, and it is important to note that he has touched many parts of the landscape of college sports.
His championship
Frank took the Razorbacks to the national title in 1964 at a time when Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma where fighting each other for prominence in college football.
They had a strong rivalry going on around the Red River region, and they were contending every year for the same spots in the same bowl games. He won an unlikely national championship in the midst of Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and USC. Those teams could not catch Arkansas that season, and he used his goodwill to become a titan of Arkansas sports.
His reign as athletic director
Broyles became the athletic director because the football coach had the profile and cash to become the director of the athletic department. There are many successes that may be attributed to what Frank did, and he allowed the school to grow with the SEC. He was never tempted to leave the conference, and he allowed Arkansas to remain in the most profitable conference in college sports.
He knew that the university would be served better by staying in the SEC, and he kept the school in the conference while maintaining the respect of his fellow athletic directors.
He hired Nolan Richardson
The brilliant Arkansas basketball teams of the 90s were built by Nolan Richardson, who was hired by Broyles to turn around the basketball program.
No one expected to see Arkansas basketball be brilliant, and Frank had the vision to hire Nolan Richardson. He saw the potential in the program that led to a national championship, many deep tournament runs, and a hall of fame college coaching career.
The hole that is left in the lives of the Arkansas faithful is large today as they lose one of their most beloved men.
Frank Broyles gave all of his best years to the school, and he will surely be honored by the university because of the things that he did to make Arkansas a relevant and fine athletic program. Everything good you see at Arkansas can be traced back to Frank and his tenure as both a football coach and athletic director.
