Doyle P. Royal (January 29, 1919 – September 29, 2020) was an American collegiate soccer and tennis coach. He coached the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

soccer team from 1946 to 1973, and the tennis team from 1954 to 1980.

Early life

Royal was a native of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

from a poor family. In 1939, the

tennis head coach, Lesley Bopst, offered him a job and room to enroll at the college. At Maryland, he played both tennis and soccer.David Ungrady
''Tales From The Maryland Terrapins''
pp. 99–100, Sports Publishing LLC, 2003, . Royal served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Coaching career

He became

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

's first men's soccer head coach in 1946 and served in that position until 1973. In 28 years, the coach compiled a 217–58–18 (.771) record, including a 94–12–6 (.866) mark against

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

competition. His winning percentage ranks No. 1 all time among Maryland head coaches, and his number of wins rank No. 2 all time. He led Maryland to the 1968

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 ...

, where they tied

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, 2–2, to share the national title. Under Royal, Maryland won 17

championships, including 16 outright. The Terrapins captured the conference title each year from 1953 to 1968, sharing the honors with

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

in 1966, and added another outright title in 1971. He was also the school's men's tennis head coach. Royal served as the Maryland tennis from 1954 to 1980 and teams compiled a 296–114–1 record. His combined 513 wins with two different Maryland sports ranks second to

Burton Shipley Howard Burton Shipley (January 17, 1890 – February 22, 1976) was a multi-sport athlete and coach for the Maryland Terrapins at the University of Maryland. He is probably most remembered as the first and long-time head coach of the men's basket ...

, who amassed 610 wins in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. Royal was also an assistant dean of men at the university. The

University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by the M Club Foundation to honor student-athletes, coaches, and administrators who made significant contributions to athletics at the University of Maryland, College Park, U ...

inducted Royal in 1988. In 1997, he was residing in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

Later life and death

In 2019, Doyle celebrated his 100th birthday in

at the Edgemoor Club. There he was presented with a 1968 men's soccer championship ring by Sascho Cirovski, the current head coach of Maryland soccer. Royal died in September 2020 of natural causes at the age of 101.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal, Doyle 1919 births 2020 deaths American soccer coaches Men's association football players not categorized by position Maryland Terrapins men's soccer coaches Maryland Terrapins men's soccer players Maryland Terrapins men's tennis players American men centenarians Military personnel from Washington, D.C. People from Bethesda, Maryland Soccer players from Washington, D.C. University of Maryland, College Park administrators United States Army personnel of World War II Sports coaches from Washington, D.C. Tennis coaches from Washington, D.C. Tennis players from Washington, D.C. American men's soccer players Sports coaches from Maryland 20th-century American sportsmen