This post from earlier this fall noted that this season was the 50th anniversary of the legendary University of Texas football coach Darrell K. Royal (previous posts here) taking the reins of the then faltering Longhorn football program and turning it into one of the most successful programs in the country over the next 20 years. If you are interested in this fascinating man, then don’t miss this excellent Wann Smith article on Coach Royal, which passes along the story of why Coach Royal elected not to return to his alma mater (the University of Oklahoma) after the 1963 season when famed OU coach Bud Wilkenson finally stepped down:

After Bud Wilkinson resigned following the 1963 season, there was a groundswell of support for the idea of bringing Darrell Royal back across the Red River. Royal was inundated by calls from old schoolmates and friends urging him to take the OU job.
But Royal wasn’t interested in returning to his home state. He had made it clear from the start that he had no interest in the Oklahoma coaching vacancy. However Royal’s decision to stay in Austin had nothing to do with any enmity for either the State of Okahoma or for his Alma Mater.
“I had been searching for something,” said Royal. “And I found it in Texas. . .”

Read the entire article.