David McWilliams (born April 18, 1942) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as the head coach at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

in 1986 and at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

from 1987 to 1991, compiling a career

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record of 38–30.

Early life and playing career

Raised in

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 29,337. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that pro ...

, McWilliams' long tenure with the Longhorn football program started as a player from 1961 to 1963, when he helped the team compile a record of 30–2–1. During that time, the squad won a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, three

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

championships, and finished the year ranked among the nation's top four each year. He served as a tri-captain during the 1963 season, and was also a member of the

Texas Cowboys The Texas Cowboys is an honorary student organization at the University of Texas that is currently suspended due to hazing violations. The organization was founded in 1922 by Arno Nowotny and Bill McGill, with the purpose of serving the University ...

Coaching career

After graduating, McWilliams served two years as an assistant coach at Abilene High School in Texas, and in 1966, became one of the state's youngest head coaches, carving out a record of 21–17–2 in four years before

Darrell Royal Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an All-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 (1957� ...

hired him in 1970.Abilene High: Season by Season 1960-69
/ref> For the next 16 years, he was an assistant under both Royal and

Fred Akers Fred Akers (March 17, 1938 – December 7, 2020) was an American college football player and coach. He served as head football coach at the University of Wyoming (1975–1976), the University of Texas at Austin (1977–1986), and Purdue Universit ...

, working on defense with ends and linebackers for Royal and Akers, then serving as defensive coordinator for Akers from 1982 to 1985. McWilliams then spent the 1986 season as head coach at Texas Tech, leading the Red Raiders to a win over Texas and a bowl bid, before returning as head coach of the Longhorns the following year. McWilliams finished 7–5 in his first season at the helm for the Longhorns that included a dramatic last-play victory over the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

and a bowl win over

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. However, a 4–7 season the next year, which included a 66–15 loss to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, followed by a 5–6 year in 1989, put McWilliams' job status in question. In 1990, the Longhorns bounced back with a 10–1 regular-season record. Fueled by what became known as the "Shock the Nation" tour, Texas won the SWC championship—the only loss coming at the hands of eventual national champion,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Texas entered the New Year's Day

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

ranked number three in the nation, but was defeated by

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, 46–3. The resurgence gave rise to talk of a national title in 1991, but when Texas disappointed with a 5–6 record, McWilliams resigned. His final record with the Longhorns stands at 31–26.

Later life and honors

McWilliams remained in the Texas athletics department, serving as associate athletics director for development before becoming head of the T-Association, an athletic alumni group. He was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1993 and the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

Head coaching record

College

* Dykes coached

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after McWilliams left for Texas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, David 1942 births Living people American football centers American football defensive tackles Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns football players Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches High school football coaches in Texas People from Cleburne, Texas Players of American football from Texas