Robert Simon Devaney (April 13, 1915 – May 9, 1997) was a college football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1957 to 1961 and at the University of Nebraska from 1962 to 1972, compiling a career record of . Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers won consecutive national championships in 1970 and 1971 and three consecutive Orange Bowls. Devaney also served as the athletic director at Nebraska from 1967 to 1993, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1981. He died of a heart attack at age 82 and is buried at Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln. Playing and early coaching career Devaney graduated from Alma College in 1939, where he played end on the football team. Devaney coached high school football in Michigan at Big Beaver, Keego Harbor, Saginaw, and Alpena, before joining the Michigan State Spartans staff as an assistant coach under Biggie Munn and continuing under Duffy Daugherty. Head coach Wyoming Devaney's first college head coaching job was at the University of Wyoming, where he went in five seasons (1957–1961). The Cowboys won the Sun Bowl in his second season and won or shared the Skyline Conference title in his final four seasons in Laramie. Devaney was released from his contract by the university's board of trustees in and was hired at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln at an annual salary of $17,000. Nebraska Devaney was the fourth choice of Nebraska's athletic director, Tippy Dye. Utah's Ray Nagel and Utah State's John Ralston had turned down the job. Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty also turned down Dye, but recommended Devaney, his former assistant, for the Cornhuskers. When Devaney balked at leaving Wyoming for Nebraska, it was Daugherty who convinced him to accept the position because he could potentially win a national title at Nebraska, a goal that Wyoming was very unlikely to obtain. Devaney joined Nebraska in 1962 and immediately reestablished the program as a force in the Big Eight Conference. Prior to Devaney's arrival, Nebraska football had fallen on hard times with seven consecutive losing seasons. The 1961 team under Bill Jennings went 3–6–1 overall and 2–5 in conference. After a winning tradition up until the early 1940s, Nebraska had only three winning seasons in the two decades preceding Devaney's arrival. Devaney engineered an immediate turnaround with a record in 1962 that included a victory in