Broyles Once Stood on Gators Sideline

Frank Broyles, right, receives award from New York Touchdown Club in 1978 along with his broadcast partner, Keith Jackson. (Photo: Getty Images via archives of New York Post).

Broyles Once Stood on Gators Sideline

Tuesday, August 15, 2017 | Football, Scott Carter

Frank Broyles, who passed away Monday at age 92, was an assistant coach at Florida in the fall of 1950.

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Frank Broyles is a legendary figure in the history of college football.

Broyles' death Monday at age 92 from complications due to Alzheimer's disease cast a spotlight on his legacy and 56-year career at Arkansas as head coach, athletic director and later in life, as a key fundraiser for the Razorback Foundation.

Long before he became a national figure, Broyles spent a season at Florida as an assistant coach for Bob Woodruff in 1950. It was Woodruff's first season at UF and the former Georgia Tech assistant under Bobby Dodd was hired by UF after three seasons as head coach at Baylor, where he gave the young Broyles his first coaching job.

43347 — Frank Broyles' bio in 1950 Gators media guide.

When Woodruff took over the Gators, he brought Broyles with him to coach the defensive backs and help direct the offense.

"I played for Woodruff at Georgia Tech for two years, went to the service for two years and then came back and played another year at Georgia Tech,'' Broyles told Jay Jones, a former student assistant in the Tennessee athletic department and now the NCAA's associate director of Division III, on a trip to Knoxville in 1998 to visit Woodruff and one Jones documented for the two families. "When I told him of my plans to turn pro, he asked me if I had ever considered coaching. I really hadn't, but it sparked an interest with me when he said it. He was able to hire one assistant coach for $250 a month. I decided that coaching was what I really wanted to do and so I took the offer."

That decision led to one of the great careers in college athletics, most notably a record of 144-58-5 as Razorbacks head coach from 1958-76, including a national championship in 1964. For many fans, their first introduction to Broyles was when he teamed with another legend, former play-by-play man Keith Jackson, as one of the great broadcast tandems in the game's history from 1977-85 at ABC.

The Gators made their own history in Broyles' only season in Gainesville, earning a spot in the Associated Press poll for the first time with a 31-27 win at Vanderbilt that season. The Gators improved to 4-1 as quarterback Haywood Sullivan, who would go on to become a part owner of the Boston Red Sox, threw for 118 yards and a touchdown.

The Gators defeated Furman the next week to move up to 17th, but then lost their final four games to finish 5-5 in Broyles' only season. He left to become offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech after the season.

Broyles never faced Florida as a head coach but when the Razorbacks joined the Southeastern Conference in 1992, he was Arkansas' athletic director, a job he held until retiring in 2007.