Hogs AD stepping down, not out

FAYETTEVILLE Frank Broyles is an avid golfer, but he can only play Augusta National so many times.

He needs something else to keep him busy, and the idea of retirement doesn't sound too appealing to the 83-year-old workaholic.

That's why he's looking for a part-time job at an age when most men want to simply enjoy a slower pace of life. But he wants to work. He needs to work.

It's part of his personality, along with his playful sense of humor and Southern charm.

"I've still got a lot of things to do fundraising and other things," Broyles said, leaning back in an office chair. "But every job, whether it's athletics or anything, is a work in progress. Always room to improve."

But after 50 years as either a football coach or athletic director, Broyles' tenure at Arkansas has wound down to its final few days.

He has moved out of his spacious office, which overlooks Broyles Field and is conveniently located in the Broyles Complex.

And when Jan. 1 arrives, the man who has been the face of Arkansas' athletic department for the past half-century will officially step down and let Jeff Long take over as his replacement.

"I figured he'd just work there 'til he died, which would be about 120 (years old)," said Jack Broyles, the oldest of Frank Broyles' four sons. "We'd just go in one day and say, 'Dad is gone.' We'd just load him out and take him to a funeral home."

The Workaholic

That seemed to be the popular sentiment when it came to how Broyles' time at Arkansas would come to an end. After all, he's a workaholic who has continued well past the age of retirement.

"The way I described what I would like to see happen ... would be for Coach Broyles to have this job for the rest of his life, except he'd give us one-day's notice," former Arkansas football player Jim Lindsey said when Broyles announced his retirement last February.

"One day before he died, he'd tell us, 'I'm going out, boys.'"

That scenario wouldn't have surprised anyone, particularly those who know his work ethic and his passion for the Razorbacks.

Broyles began his coaching career as an assistant at Baylor University in 1947 when he was 22, though the man who hired him lied about Broyles' age and said he was actually 25.

In the 60 years since, Broyles has managed to change careers three times and be successful each time as a coach, television commentator and athletic director.

He led Arkansas to its only national championship in 1964 as a player-friendly coach who had no problem working long hours just as long as he was home in time to eat dinner with his family.

"He's a workaholic, so he spent a lot of time working," his son said. "He would be up and gone before we got up in the morning, I don't care how early that was. He would get up at six and go to work. (But) he always came home and had dinner with us."

Broyles, with his soft voice and Southern accent, became one of college football's recognizable voices in the late 1970s and early '80s as a color commentator for ABC. He worked in the booth alongside legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson.

At the same time, Broyles had a second job he enjoyed more than talking football. He was Arkansas' athletic director, putting the pieces in place for the Razorbacks to eventually leave the now-defunct Southwest Conference for the big-time world of the Southeastern Conference.

But Broyles couldn't get coaching completely out of his system, even after he stepped away from the sideline in 1976.

"When I was here, he wasn't doing the (TV) announcing so he was around a lot more," said former Arkansas coach Ken Hatfield, who was also a star player for Broyles in the early 1960s. "He looked at a lot more film, he had a lot more ideas and I think there was a lot of the coach still in him."

Sometimes, that made Hatfield's job more difficult, particularly toward the end of his tenure in the late 1980s.

More Work

But Broyles didn't grow up dreaming of being a college football coach or an athletic director or a TV sports commentator. Asked what he wanted to be as a kid, Broyles said without hesitation, "Ted Williams."

Broyles was a promising baseball player as a teenager. He threw with his right hand, batted from the left side and played pitcher and first base until he separated his shoulder during his junior season at Georgia Tech.

"I was recruited hard by the Yankees right out of high school, and I was going to go to college, so I didn't follow up with that," Broyles said. "I played all three sports all the way through college, but baseball was probably my best."

But football, as it turned out, was his calling.

He was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and the field at Reynolds Razorback Stadium was named in his honor earlier this season.

But all eras must end eventually.

Broyles said Monday, his final day as athletic director, won't be a sad occasion. It has been coming for some time. Besides, he has plans to keep himself busy.

Broyles will stay on to help the Razorback Foundation raise money for Arkansas' athletic department. He'll continue to attend speaking engagements, and he plans to work with Lindsey's construction company to help design golf courses.

Broyles is also looking into the possibility of making a return to TV as a college football analyst, assuming he's still "marketable," as he puts it.

"He's not the type of guy that's going to sit around and do nothing," said Harold Horton, a former Arkansas assistant coach under Broyles who now serves as a vice president for the Razorback Foundation. "He's going to try to make things happen."

After all, there is still more work to be done.