The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Catching up with Darrell Royal
08.11.2003 | Football
Legendary Longhorn coach Darrell Royal was on hand for the Texas' practice on Monday and the Hall of Fame mentor spent a few mintues visitng with Mack Brown-TexasFootball.com.
How does it feel to come out to practice and watch this year's Texas team? I always enjoy coming to practice, and Coach Brown and his entire coaching staff make me feel so welcome. Cleve Bryant (Associate Athletics Director for Football Operations) always points me to the right drills and where the action is going on. He gives me a heads up where the drills will be going on in the next few minutes, and I get there in advance. It's a nice, easy way to watch practice. I don't get a chance come very often, but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy watching.
How do you feel about continuing to have a connection to the program? As I said, I feel welcome. I've always said I would never hang around too close after I left. After I left the office and active coaching, I don't come out here often enough that anybody thinks that I have strong opinions about what's going on, that's for sure.
Can you describe your view of how the program has progressed under Coach Brown? He and his staff cover everything, the total student. From manners, to how to be interviewed, being on time to practice, working hard in practice, citizenship, the whole package. He has a staff that handles everything. I'd say student-athletes get a very positive total package when they come to The University of Texas under Coach Brown.
What would you say are the biggest differences between the era in which you coached and today? I would say that the ways they film every practice, every drill, and they can go look at that immediately. We used to have to get the film developed. In my last year we had videos, but nothing like what they have now, which is such an excellent training method. I think all coaching staffs do a better job than we did back then, but I guess we did it all right for our era. Like everything else, coaching has improved, just like airplanes, cars and everything else has improved.
Can you compare the athleticism between the two eras? It would be hard for me to do unless I was actually working and looking at film. I know that linemen are larger now than they used to be, and I can't tell you why all of a sudden they start weighing over 300 pounds. A big guy was 250 for us.
