Frank Broyles Finally Calls it a Career

There will never be another Frank Broyles. And please know that such all-encompassing words aren't meant to discourage future aspiring athletic directors from trying to rise to the top of their chosen field, but merely as a reminder that the landscape of college athletics (and really, all the world of sport) has changed drastically in the 50 years since John Franklin Broyles first appeared on the scene at the University of Arkansas. No longer are athletic directors given totalitarian type control of their schools; those days have come and gone. As Hawgs Illustrated publisher Clay Henry put it on the Morning Rush this week, "There was a time when Frank Broyles was more powerful in the state of Arkansas than the governor." It couldn't be spelled out any more plainly than that.

Yet times change---inevitably and relentlessly---and without question the control allotted to athletic directors at NCAA Division I universities has changed as well. It used to be, when Broyles first started out, that ADs could make their decisions without having to defer all that much to a respective board of trustees, or anyone else for that matter. Nowadays, rarely, do we see anything like that. And certainly Frank Broyles is the last of such a dying breed.

But, oh, what a run Broyles did have . . . It started with his coaching of the Razorback football team for 19 years, in which his clubs amassed an impressive 144 wins against just 58 losses and 5 ties. (An especially strong record when you consider he lost his first six games as coach of the Hogs.) During that time, Broyles won seven Southwest Conference titles and his 1964 club captured Arkansas' only national football championship. Additionally, his 1969 team played Texas in a #1 versus #2 matchup that many still consider college football's "Game of the (20th) Century." But more than the wins and accolades his teams generated on the field, Broyles' legacy was fully cemented by his work off of it. As a coach, he spawned others coaches---Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson, Jonny Majors and Barry Switzer, to name a few---and his players went on to (generally) successful lives after football, in or out of the pigskin sport.

And then comes his work as athletic director. During 33 years in that role, Broyles oversaw a complete overhaul of the school's athletic facilities. Take a drive around Razorback Road in Fayetteville these days and the buildings speak for themselves . . . For football, Razorback Stadium---a 70,000 seat crown jewel of a place. For basketball, 19,000 seat Bud Walton Arena, nearly as crisp and pristine now as it was when it was built in the early '90s. For baseball, 10,000 seat Baum Stadium, as nice a collegiate diamond home as anywhere else in the country. And that isn't even taking into account the Tyson track center, or the soccer fields, or the administrative complexes that house the people who spawn the magic that make it all happen.

On Saturday, during his farewell announcement, Broyles called that magic "the Razorback Miracle." He was referencing the optimistic financial situation at the university, which has grown increasingly viable as the years have gone by. Through tireless fundraising and generous donations from his network of support, Broyles has been able to turn the University of Arkansas campus---across the board---into the single most impressive host of collegiate athletics in the country. For the University and a state like Arkansas---with less than three million people in it---to be able to lay claim to that title is a remarkable thing. And Broyles was the engine driver behind all of it.

Officially, Broyles will step down at the end of the 2007 calendar year. The negative publicity that helped hurry his exit will not carry any water years from now when stocked up against his achievements. And one would hope that the rest of the year is filled with countless tributes and homages to a Decatur, Georgia native who has dedicated his life to the state of Arkansas. Whoever is ultimately tabbed to fill his position has an awfully lengthy shadow from which to emerge. Good luck trying to replace the legacy of Broyles. Frankly, it's downright impossible.

-JAB