Broyles to receive AFCA’s ‘Stagg Award’ posthumously

FAYETTEVILLE — Former Arkansas coach Frank Broyles has been named the recipient of the AFCA’s 2018 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award.

The award is given to those “whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests in football,” and will be presented, posthumously, to Broyles at the American Football Coaches Awards show on January 9 during the 2018 AFCA Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Broyles passed away on August 14 at the age of 92.

After playing quarterback at Georgia Tech under legendary head coach Bobby Dodd, and earning Southeastern Conference (SEC) Player of the Year honors, Broyles began his coaching career in 1947 as an assistant coach at Baylor.

He spent three years with the Bears before following head coach Bob Woodruff to Florida.

After one season with the Gators, Broyles returned to Georgia Tech in 1951 to serve as offensive coordinator under Dodd.

Broyles assisted his former head coach for six seasons before landing his first head coaching job at Missouri.

He guided the Tigers to a 5-4-1 record and a tie for third place in the Big Seven Conference in his only season at Missouri.

In 1958, Broyles landed the head coaching job at Arkansas, a place he would never leave.

During his 19 years, Broyles turned the Razorbacks into a national power in college football.

In only his second season, Broyles led Arkansas to 9-2 record, a share of the Southwest Conference (SWC) title and a win in the Gator Bowl. The Razorbacks added two more SWC titles in 1960 and 1961.

Broyles greatest year came in 1964 when he guided Arkansas to an 11-0 record, his fourth SWC title and a 10-7 win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl Classic to earn the national championship.

He was named AFCA National and Regional Coach of the Year for his efforts that season. Broyles would lead Arkansas to three more SWC titles and earn three more AFCA Regional Coach of the Year honors during his tenure as head coach.

Broyles retired from coaching after the 1976 season, finishing with an overall record of 149-62-6 with 10 bowl game appearances.

He still holds the Arkansas record for most victories by a head coach with 144. Before he stepped down from coaching, Broyles was named athletic director at Arkansas in 1973.

He continued that post until 2007, overseeing 43 national championships, 57 SWC titles and 48 SEC championships. Broyles was instrumental in Arkansas leaving the Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Conference in 1990.

From 1977 to 1985, Broyles served as the primary color commentator for ABC Sports coverage of college football, normally alongside play-by-play man Keith Jackson.

His distinct Georgian accent was easily recognizable to college football fans across the country, and he focused his commentary on the play calling and strategy of the coaches on the sidelines.

Broyles’ legacy as a great football coach and mentor is evident from his many former players and assistants who would go on to serve as head coaches themselves.

Over 30 of his former players or assistants would go on to great coaching careers, including Barry Switzer, Johnny Majors, Joe Gibbs, Hayden Fry and Jimmy Johnson. The Broyles Award, which was established in 1996 to honor the former Arkansas head coach, goes to the top FBS assistant coach each year.

Broyles was inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and is also a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame, the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame, the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame, the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame, the SWC Hall of Fame and the State of Georgia Hall of Fame among others.

Broyles served on the AFCA Board of Trustees from 1964 to 1970, serving the association as president in his final year.

He was honored by the National Football Foundation as the 2000 recipient of the John L. Toner Award for outstanding achievement as an athletic director and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette named him the most influential figure in athletics in the state during the 20th century.

In 2007, the field at Razorback Stadium was dedicated as Frank Broyles Field.

The Award

The Amos Alonzo Stagg Award is given to the “individual, group or institution whose services have been outstanding in the advancement of the best interests of football.” Its purpose is “to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg.”

The award is named in honor of a man who was instrumental in founding the AFCA in the 1920s.

He is considered one of the great innovators and motivating forces in the early development of the game of football.

The plaque given to each recipient is a replica of the one given to Stagg at the 1939 AFCA Convention in tribute to his 50 years of service to football.

Amos Alonzo Stagg

Stagg began his coaching career at the School of Christian Workers, now Springfield (Mass.) College, after graduating from Yale University in 1888. Stagg also served as head coach at Chicago (1892-1932) and College of the Pacific (1933-1946).

His 41 seasons at Chicago is one of the longest head coaching tenures in the history of the college game. Among the innovations credited to Stagg are the tackling dummy, the huddle, the reverse play, man in motion, knit pants, numbering plays and players, and the awarding of letters.

A long-time AFCA member, Stagg was the Association’s 1943 Coach of the Year. According to NCAA records, Stagg’s 57-year record as a college head coach is 314-199-35.

He was 84 years old when he ended his coaching career at Pacific in 1946. He died in 1965 at the age of 103.

Past Amos Alonzo Stagg Award Winners

1940       Donald Herring, Jr., (Princeton player) and family
1941       William H. Cowell (posthumously), New Hampshire
1946       Grantland Rice, sportswriter
1947       William A. Alexander, Georgia Tech
1948       Gilmour Dobie, North Dakota State, Washington, Navy, Cornell, Boston College; Glenn S. “Pop” Warner, Georgia, Cornell, Carlisle, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Temple;
Robert C. Zuppke, Illinois
1949       Richard C. Harlow, Penn State, Colgate, Western Maryland, Harvard
1950       No award given
1951       DeOrmond “Tuss” McLaughry, Westminster, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth
1952       A.N. “Bo” McMillin, Indiana
1953       Lou Little, Georgetown, Columbia
1954       Dana X. Bible, Mississippi College, LSU, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Texas
1955       Joseph J. Tomlin, founder, Pop Warner Football
1956       No award given
1957       Gen. Robert R. Neyland, Tennessee
1958       Bernie Bierman, Mississippi A&M, Tulane, Minnesota
1959       Dr. John W. Wilce, Ohio State
1960       Harvey J. Harman, Haverford, University of the South, Pennsylvania, Rutgers
1961       Ray Eliot, Illinois
1962       E.E. “Tad” Wieman, Michigan, Princeton, Maine
1963       Andrew Kerr, Stanford, Washington & Jefferson, Colgate, Lebanon Valley
1964       Don Faurot, Missouri
1965       Harry Stuhldreher, Wisconsin
1966       Bernie H. Moore, LSU
1967       Jess Neely, Southwestern, Clemson, Rice
1968       Abe Martin, TCU
1969       Charles A. “Rip” Engle, Brown, Penn State
1970       Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf, Syracuse, Oklahoma City, Kansas, Oklahoma A&M, Kansas State, Northwestern, California
1971       Bill Murray, Delaware, Duke
1972       Jack Curtice, Stanford
1973       Lloyd Jordan, Amherst, Harvard
1974       Alonzo S. “Jake” Gaither, Florida A&M
1975       Gerald B. Zornow, business executive
1976       No award given
1977       Floyd “Ben” Schwartzwalder, Muhlenberg, Syracuse
1978       Tom Hamilton, Navy, Pittsburgh
1979       H.O. “Fritz” Crisler, Minnesota, Princeton, Michigan
1980       No award given
1981       Fred Russell, sportswriter
1982       Eddie Robinson, Grambling
1983       Paul W. “Bear” Bryant, Maryland, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Alabama
1984       Charles B. “Bud” Wilkinson, Oklahoma
1985       Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State
1986       Woody Hayes, Denison, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State
1987       Field Scovell, Cotton Bowl
1988       G. Herbert McCracken, Allegheny, Lafayette
1989       David Nelson, Delaware
1990       Len Casanova, Oregon
1991       Bob Blackman, Denver, Dartmouth, Illinois, Cornell
1992       Charles McClendon, LSU
1993       Keith Jackson, ABC-TV
1994       Bob Devaney, Nebraska, Wyoming
1995       John Merritt, Jackson State, Tennessee State
1996       Chuck Neinas, College Football Association
1997       Ara Parseghian, Miami (Ohio), Northwestern, Notre Dame
1998       Bob Reade, Augustana (Ill.)
1999       Bo Schembechler, Miami (Ohio), Michigan
2000       Tom Osborne, Nebraska
2001       Vince Dooley, Georgia
2002       Joe Paterno, Penn State
2003       LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young
2004       Ron Schipper, Central (Iowa)
2005       Hayden Fry, North Texas, SMU, Iowa
2006       Grant Teaff, McMurry, Angelo State, Baylor
2007       Bill Curry, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky
2008       Bill Walsh, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford
2009       John Gagliardi, Carroll (Mont.), St. John’s (Minn.)
2010       Darrell Royal, Mississippi State, Washington, Texas
2011       Bobby Bowden, Samford, West Virginia, Florida State
2012       Fisher DeBerry, U.S. Air Force Academy
2013       Frosty Westering, Parsons, Lea College, Pacific Lutheran
2014       R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M
2015       Ken Hatfield, Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson, Rice
2016       John Cooper, Tulsa, Arizona State, Ohio State
2017       Don Nehlen, Bowling Green, West Virginia