16 Facts About Bill Yeoman

William Frank Yeoman was an American college football player and coach.

Bill Yeoman served as the head football coach at the University of Houston from 1962 to 1986.

Bill Yeoman revolutionized offensive football in 1964 by developing the Veer option offense.

Bill Yeoman played a prominent role in the racial integration of collegiate athletics in the South by being the first coach at a predominantly white school in the State of Texas to sign a black player.

Bill Yeoman's Cougars finished the season ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll four times and finished 11 times in the AP or UPI top 20.

Bill Yeoman played center for Army from 1946 to 1948 under head coach Earl Blaik.

Bill Yeoman was a team captain in 1948 and chosen as a second-team All-American.

From 1950 to 1953, Bill Yeoman served in the United States Army.

Bill Yeoman became the first head college football coach of a major program in the state of Texas to award a scholarship to an African American player.

Bill Yeoman finished as the runner-up for the AFCA Coach of the Year award and won Coach of the Year in the state of Texas.

Bill Yeoman was alleged to have handed out cash to players.

Bill Yeoman coached 46 All-Americans, and 69 players who later competed in the National Football League, during his career.

The NCAA said that the penalties would have been even harsher had Bill Yeoman still been coach.

Bill Yeoman was inducted into the University of Houston Hall of Honor in 1998.

Also in 2002, Bill Yeoman received the Paul "Bear" Bryant Lifetime Achievement Award.

Bill Yeoman died on August 12,2020, at the age of 92, from kidney failure and pneumonia.