TAT: Fate Kept Bear Bryant From Coaching at Arkansas

This article originally appeared on September 26, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

When people think of Paul “Bear” Bryant, they think of his iconic houndstooth hat and six national championships at Alabama.

However, many tend to forget that Bryant coached at Texas A&M before the Crimson Tide and don’t realize that he was almost the head coach at Arkansas twice.

Bryant grew up in Fordyce, Ark., before playing college football at Alabama. Following his playing career, he went straight into coaching.

In 1941, he was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, but after the season, he took the head coaching job at Arkansas. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, Bryant never made it to Fayetteville.

As he was driving to Arkansas from Nashville on Dec. 7, 1941, he heard the news of Pearl Harbor on the radio. He immediately turned around and joined the Navy.

After serving in World War II, Bryant took the head coaching job at Maryland in 1945, and then became the head coach at Kentucky in 1946.

He led the Wildcats to their first and only Southeastern Conference championship in 1950 and was again offered the head coach position at Arkansas, but he turned it down and stayed at Kentucky through the 1953 season.

In 1954, he became the head coach of the Aggies.

His first season in College Station was rough, as the team went 1-9 after going through an infamous 10-day training camp in Junction, Texas. During the camp many players quit. The 37 “survivors” were nicknamed the “Junction Boys” and became the subject of a book by Jim Dent, The Junction Boys.

Dent mentions that Arkansas offered Bryant the head coaching job in the early 1950s when he quotes what Bryant said during contract negotiations with Texas A&M.

“I had lots of offers from schools all over the country,” Bryant said. “The Arkansas people flew me in and offered me an oil-and-gas deal about three years ago. I’d be a millionaire today if I’d took it.”

The Aggies improved greatly in Bryant’s next three seasons, going 24-5-2 and winning the Southwest Conference title in 1956. In 1957, John David Crow won the Heisman while playing for Bryant.

Following his short, but successful stint at Texas A&M, he was hired at Alabama and the rest is history.

After failing to sign Bryant in 1941, Arkansas went through seven head coaches in 16 seasons. They compiled a 72-86-5 record over that time span and only beat Bryant’s Aggies once.

The same year Bryant took over at Alabama, the Razorbacks hired Frank Broyles, who led them to one national title and a 144-58-5 record.

Texas A&M struggled without Bryant, as well. In the 14 seasons following his departure, they had three head coaches and an overall record of 45-92-6.

Bryant died in 1983 with 323 victories, which was more than any other head coach in college football at the time.