I have no idea why Art would hold any resentment towards Coach Yeoman. After all, Coach Yeoman wasn’t responsible for his parents’ deaths. What makes you think Art might have some resentments towards Yeoman? Did Yeoman made him show up for practice or a game within a few days after his parents’ deaths? Art did transfer to TT the following year after his parents’ deaths. But it was reported that that had more to do with the fact that he wanted to be close to his extended family, such as his uncles and aunts, than anything else since they lived near Lubbock. Anyway, I don’t think Art and his son are good people. Too selfish, inconsiderate and disloyal.
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I have to disagree! The best one is the humble man that made that statement.
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Had the discussion about Briles recently after someone told me Briles was a good coach: he is the best offensive mind since Jenkins but UH lacked in defense, special teams, and discipline (lots of PF against his teams) under Briles’ leadership.
But back to Maggard. The guy was great for UH and came just at the right time. He had the right direction even if sometimes the output was not the best manifestation of that direction.
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Bill Yeoman remembered as 'a Hall of Fame man’
Joseph Duarte, Staff writer
Aug. 12, 2020 Updated: Aug. 12, 2020 9:45 p.m
Through the years, it became one of the perks of being the head football coach at the University of Houston.
A visit from Bill Yeoman.
Even in retirement, Yeoman, who died Wednesday at age 92, was never far from the campus he called home during a 25-year coaching career. After all, UH was where Yeoman invented the veer offense, played a role in the integration of college athletics in the South, and became the winningest coach in school history with a 160-108-8 record. And it was proudly the only head coaching job of his career.
“First and foremost, it’s always his office,” said Art Briles, a former UH player who returned as head coach from 2003-06. “He is University of Houston football. When I was there, it was at least a three to four times a week occurrence that he would come down and talk and share knowledge. I was all ears because I knew I was talking to a legendary person.”
No matter the head coach at the time — from Kim Helton to Dana Dimel and Briles to Kevin Sumlin, Tony Levine and Tom Herman — Yeoman remained a frequent visitor to the UH football program until his later years. Even then, in declining health, Yeoman was often seen being pushed into the Athletic-Alumni Center in a wheelchair for his weekly visits.
Herman, who led the Cougars to 22 wins from 2015-16, said Yeoman’s impact on college football “will live on through many like myself who were blessed to be around him.”
“During my time at UH, he was always a presence around the fieldhouse, ready and willing to share his knowledge and provide great advice to me and our entire staff,” said Herman, now the coach at the University of Texas. “He was a wonderful example for people in the Houston community. College football, our beloved game, and the world lost a great one.”
Briles said Yeoman played a significant role in his life. After a 29-6 win over SMU at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 16, 1976, it was Yeoman who delivered the news that Briles’ parents, Dennis and Wanda Briles, and aunt, Elsie, were killed in a car crash while driving to see the game from their West Texas town of Rule.
“He was instrumental in my life there, especially with the tragedy that I went through with my mother and dad,” Briles said. “His support and (that of the) coaching staff and players still holds dear to my heart today.”
While he was a running backs coach at Texas Tech, Briles said, Yeoman played a big role in his being hired as UH’s head coach in 2003.
“He was very, very vocal in support of me. He helped me get the job there,” Briles said. “I’m forever indebted to him, mainly because he offered me a scholarship and I got to play football at a great university in a great city and meet a lot of great friends due to the fact he believed in me when I was 18 years old.”
Levine, who coached the Cougars from 2012-14, called Yeoman’s passion for UH “unparalleled.”
“He was first class in everything he did,” Levine wrote on Twitter. “The impact he had on the game of football and on so many lives is immeasurable.”
In 1964, Yeoman helped integrate collegiate athletics in the South with the signing of Warren McVea, UH’s first Black football player. McVea, who was from San Antonio, picked the Cougars from more than 75 offers from around the country.
“One of the finest people I’ve ever been around,” McVea said. “He and I could talk about anything. We were that close.”
McVea recalled words Yeoman told him after he arrived on campus.
“He told me I’m going to treat you special and you’ve got to act special,” said McVea, a two-time All-America running back.
A pair of former rivals, Rice coaches Fred Goldsmith and Ken Hatfield, remembered Yeoman for “being a gentleman” and a tough opponent with a veer offense that piled up yardage and points.
“He was a creative offensive thinker, and when he came to Houston and combined his innovations with great local talent, it was no fun to play them when they turned it loose,” Hatfield said. “It wasn’t a surprise that they could score 100 points in a game.”
Goldsmith was an assistant coach at Arkansas when he first met Yeoman, who led the Cougars to their fourth Southwest Conference title in 1984.
“A few years later when I came down to Houston to take the Rice job, I was fortunate to get to know him as a man and learned he was so much more than just a great football coach,” Goldsmith said. “He was a Hall of Fame coach, to be sure, but he was a Hall of Fame man.”
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AGREED on MAGGARD BUT Harry couldn’t see the slush fund which the BIG12 would have generated. Wouldn’t mortgage the farm for a new on Campus stadium.