Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal ( July 6 , 1924 – November 7 , 2012 ) was an American football player and coach . He served as the head coach at Mississippi State University ( 1954 – 1955 ) , the University of Washington ( 1956 ) , and the University of Texas at Austin ( 1957 – 1976 ) , compiling a career college football record of 184 – 60 – 5 . In his 20 seasons at Texas , Royal ' s teams won three national championships ( 1963 , 1969 , 1970 ) , 11 Southwest Conference titles , and amassed a record of 167 – 47 – 5 . He won more games than any other coach in Texas Longhorns football history . Royal also coached the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League for one season in 1953 . Royal never had a losing season as a head coach for his entire career . He played football at the University of Oklahoma from 1946 to 1949 . Royal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1983 . Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin , Texas , where the Longhorns play their home games , was renamed in his honor in 1996 . Early life . " K " is Royal ' s given middle name , not an abbreviation . He received it in honor of his mother , Katy , who died when he was an infant . She died of cancer , but because of the stigma surrounding the disease at that time , Royal was led to believe until he was an adult that she had died giving birth to him . Playing career . In 1942 , during World War II , Royal finished Hollis High School , where he had played football . Royal joined the United States Army Air Corps , where he played football for the 3rd Air Force team during 1945 and was spotted and recruited by scouts for the University of Oklahoma Sooners football program . Royal played quarterback and defensive back at the University of Oklahoma under his mentor , coach Bud Wilkinson from 1946 to 1949 . While attending Oklahoma , he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity . Royal was most noted for his prowess as a defensive back , where his 18 career interceptions and his three interceptions in the 1947 game against Oklahoma A & M are still Sooner records . Royal ' s part - time contributions at quarterback had a similar impact , despite having to share time with Jack Mitchell and Claude Arnold at the position . He threw a 43 - yard pass against North Carolina in the 1949 Sugar Bowl . Royal holds the fourth - best winning percentage in school history ( minimum 15 starts ) with a 16 – 1 mark as a part - time quarterback starter . His 11 – 0 mark as a starter in 1949 ranks as one of the best seasons in school history . In 1992 , Royal was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame . Coaching career . Early positions . Royal served as an assistant coach at North Carolina State , Tulsa and Mississippi State . He coached the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League , and in 1954 , he returned to Mississippi State for his first collegiate head coaching job . He spent the 1956 season as head coach at the University of Washington . University of Texas . Royal took over as head coach at University of Texas in December 1956 , and achieved success almost instantaneously . The team went from a 1 – 9 record , their worst record ever , in 1956 to a 6 – 4 – 1 mark and a berth in the Sugar Bowl in 1957 . In Royal ' s 20 years as head coach , Texas never had a losing season . Royal posted a 167 – 47 – 5 career record at Texas . His overall coaching record was 184 – 60 – 5 . With Royal at the helm , Texas won three national championships ( 1963 , 1969 , and 1970 ) , won or shared 11 Southwest Conference championships , and made 16 bowl appearances . Royal ' s coaching tactics were the subject of criticism in Gary Shaw ' s exposé of college football recruiting and coaching practices , " Meat on the Hoof " , which was published in 1972 , six years after Shaw left the Texas football program . Beginning in 1962 , Royal also served as athletic director for the University of Texas . He retired from coaching in 1976 , and remained director of athletics until 1980 . He then served as special assistant to the university president on athletic programs . In 1996 , the University honored him by renaming Texas Memorial Stadium as Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium . Royal was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 Coach Royal was famous for the inspirational Royalisms he deployed as motivational tools . These sayings include :