Emory Bellard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Emory Bellard | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Sport | Football | |
| Born | December 27, 1927 | |
| Place of birth |  Luling, Texas |
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| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 89–71 | |
| Bowls | 2–3 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Championships | ||
| 1975 SWC championship 3 Texas state championships (1958, '59, '66) |
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| Playing career | ||
| 1946-1947 1948-1949 |
Texas Southwest Texas State |
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| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1952-1954 1955-1959 1960-1966 1967-1971 1972-1978 1979-1985 1988-1993 |
Ingleside HS Breckenridge HS SA Central HS Texas (OC) Texas A&M Mississippi State Spring Westfield HS |
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Emory Bellard (born December 27, 1927, in Luling, Texas) is a former college football coach. He was head coach at Texas A&M University from 1972 to 1978 and at Mississippi State University from 1979 until 1985.
Bellard is a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. He is considered one of the most innovative offensive minds in football and is credited for inventing the Wishbone formation.
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[edit] Early life
A native of Luling, Texas, Bellard was one of twelve children. His father was a geologist and driller who arrived in Central Texas in the late 1920s to take part in the emerging oil boom.[1] Bellard graduated from Aransas Pass High School and went on to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where he played his freshman year under coach Dana X. Bible. Bellard broke his leg during his sophomore season and later transferred to Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University–San Marcos).
[edit] Coaching career
[edit] High school
Bellard was a high school head coach for 21 seasons where he achieved a record of 177-59-9 and three state titles over 21 seasons. During his time as a high school coach, he explored the idea of running an offense out of a three-back formation.
Bellard began coaching at Ingleside High School, a Class B school in Ingleside, Texas. He guided the school to two consecutive regional wins (as far as Class B football went) in 1953 and '54. He was then hired to succeed Joe Kerbel at Breckenridge High School, then a state powerhouse in the second highest UIL classification. Under coach Kerbel and his predecessor Cooper Robbins Breckenridge won three 3A state championships in 1951, '52 and '54. Bellard continued that winning tradition with state titles in 1958 and '59.
In 1960 Bellard was selected over Gordon Wood to replace Bob Harrell as head coach at Central High School in San Angelo, Texas. San Angelo Central was playing in the highly competitive District 3-5A – nicknamed the “Little SWC” – against perennial state champions like Abilene and Odessa Permian. Bellard amassed a 59-19-2 record at San Angelo Central, winning a 4A state championship in 1966. He then left the high school ranks for the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1988, Bellard returned to the high school level, coaching Spring Westfield High School in Houston, Texas to an 41-22-5 record over 6 seasons.
[edit] College
[edit] Texas
In 1967 he was hired as the linebackers coach at the University of Texas at Austin and was moved to offensive coordinator in 1968. It was at this time that he developed and implemented the wishbone formation, a system that was inspired by the variations of the Veer developed by Homer Rice and ran by Bill Yeoman at the University of Houston.[2]
[edit] Texas A&M
Bellard became head coach at Texas A&M in 1972, taking over head coaching duties from Gene Stallings. In his seven years at Texas A&M, he finished with a record of 48-27 and three top 15 finishes.
Acting as his own offensive coordinator, Bellard hired a couple of former high school football coaches to assist him as backfield coaches, including Gil Bartosh (1973) and Chuck Moser (1974-'78). Both Bartosh and Moser had won Texas state championships. In 1975, however, Bellard hired Tom Wilson away from Jim Carlen's Texas Tech coaching staff to serve as the Aggies offensive coordinator.
For the defensive department, Bellard hired Melvin Robertson, one of the top defensive coaches, away from Bill Yeoman's coaching staff at the University of Houston. Robertson became defensive coordinator, and among his assistants were R. C. Slocum and Dan LaGrasta.
Bellard's first two seasons at Texas A&M were difficult as his Aggies finished 3-8 and 5-6, respectively. In 1974, with a pair of his own recruiting classes suited to run the Wishbone formation, the Aggies went 8-3 then followed it up with a couple of 10-2 seasons including a pair of wins over Royal and the Longhorns and three consecutive bowl games.
After starting the 1978 season 4-0, Bellard resigned midseason after a two consecutive losses (0-33 to Houston, 6-24 to Baylor).
[edit] Mississippi State
After A&M, Bellard spent seven seasons as head coach Mississippi State University. His best years as the Bulldogs head coach were in 1980 and 1981 where his team finished 9-3 and 8-4 respectively.
[edit] Record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas A&M Aggies (Southwest Conference) (1972 – 1978) | |||||||||
| 1972 | Texas A&M | 3–8 | 2–5 | T–7th | — | — | |||
| 1973 | Texas A&M | 5–6 | 3–4 | 6th | — | — | |||
| 1974 | Texas A&M | 8–3 | 5–2 | T–2nd | 15 | 16 | |||
| 1975 | Texas A&M | 10–2 | 6–1 | T–1st | L Liberty Bowl | 12 | 11 | ||
| 1976 | Texas A&M | 10–2 | 6–2 | 3rd | W Sun Bowl | 8 | 7 | ||
| 1977 | Texas A&M | 8–4 | 4–4 | 5th | L Bluebonnet Bowl | — | — | ||
| 1978 | Texas A&M | 4–2* | 1–2* | ||||||
| Texas A&M: | 48–27 | 27–20 | *Bellard resigned after 6 games | ||||||
| Mississippi State Bulldogs (Southeastern Conference) (1979 – 1985) | |||||||||
| 1979 | Mississippi State | 3–8 | — | — | |||||
| 1980 | Mississippi State | 9–3 | L Sun Bowl | — | 19 | ||||
| 1981 | Mississippi State | 8–4 | W Hall of Fame Classic | 17 | — | ||||
| 1982 | Mississippi State | 5–6 | — | — | |||||
| 1983 | Mississippi State | 3–8 | — | — | |||||
| 1984 | Mississippi State | 4–7 | — | — | |||||
| 1985 | Mississippi State | 5–6 | — | — | |||||
| Mississippi State: | 37–42 | ||||||||
| Total: | 85–69 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. °Rankings from final AP Poll of the season. |
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[edit] References
- ^ Cashion, Ty (1998). Pigskin Pulpit: A Social History of Texas High School Football Coaches. Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 77. ISBN 0876111681.
- ^ ESPN.com 'No Place Else But Texas'
[edit] External links
| Preceded by ? |
Texas Longhorns Offensive coordinator 1968–1971 |
Succeeded by Fred Akers Willie Zapalac |
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