 Vaught in 1961 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1909-05-06)May 6, 1909 Olney, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | February 3, 2006(2006-02-03) (aged 96) Oxford, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1930–1932 | TCU |
| Position | Guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1936–1941 | North Carolina (line) |
| 1942 | North Carolina Pre-Flight (assistant) |
| 1945 | Corpus Christi NAS (assistant) |
| 1946 | Ole Miss (assistant) |
| 1947–1970 | Ole Miss |
| 1973 | Ole Miss (interim HC) |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1973–1978 | Ole Miss |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 190–61–12 |
| Bowls | 10–8 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 3national (1959, 1960, 1962) 6SEC (1947, 1954–1955, 1960, 1962–1963) | |
| Awards | |
| First-teamAll-American (1932) 2× First-team All-SWC (1931,1932) 6×SEC Coach of the Year (1947–1948, 1954–1955, 1960, 1962) | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1979 (profile) | |
John Howard Vaught (May 6, 1909 – February 3, 2006) was an Americancollege football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at theUniversity of Mississippi (Ole Miss) from 1947 to 1970 and again in 1973. With a winning percentage of 74.5%, six conference championship titles, and three claimed national championships, he is often considered to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time.
Born inOlney, Texas, Vaught graduated asvaledictorian fromPolytechnic High School inFort Worth, Texas and attendedTexas Christian University (TCU), where he was an honor student and was named anAll-American in 1932. Vaught served as a line coach at theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under head coachRaymond Wolf from 1936 until 1941. In 1942, Vaught served as an assistant coach with theNorth Carolina Pre-Flight School.[1]
After serving inWorld War II as alieutenant commander in theUnited States Navy, he took a job as an assistant coach at Ole Miss in 1946 underHarold Drew, and replaced Drew as head coach a year later. He did not take long to make an impact, taking a team that had finished 2–7 and leading it to the first conference title in school history. He led the Rebels to additionalSoutheastern Conference titles in 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963. To date, Vaught is the only coach in Ole Miss history to win an SEC football championship. He also dominated theEgg Bowl rivalry withMississippi State, going 19–2–4 against the Bulldogs.
His 1960 team finished 10–0–1 and was the only major-conference team to go undefeated on the field that year. As a result, it won a share of the national championship; it was awarded theGrantland Rice Award from theFootball Writers Association of America after the bowl games. In those days, the wire services crowned their national champion before the bowl games. It is very likely that Ole Miss would have finished atop one poll, if not both, had they been taken after the bowl games as they are today. His 1962 team finished 10-0 and finished third in both polls; to date, it is the only undefeated and untied season in school history.
Vaught took Ole Miss to 18bowl games, winning 10 times including five victories in theSugar Bowl. Only two coaches held a winning record against Vaught:Paul "Bear" Bryant, with a record of 7–6–1 against Vaught, andRobert Neyland, with a record of 3–2.
Vaught suffered a mild heart attack on October 20, 1970. His longtime line coach,Bruiser Kinard, served as interim head coach for the remainder of the season,[2][3] though Ole Miss credits the entire season to Vaught.
Vaught formally retired after the season.Billy Kinard, Bruiser's younger brother, succeeded him; he was appointed by his older brother, who had become athletic director.[4] However, after a lackluster start to the 1973 season, Ole Miss fired Billy Kinard and demoted Bruiser Kinard. Vaught was named athletic director, and also served as interim head coach for the remainder of the 1973 season.[5]
Vaught's overall record at Ole Miss was 190–61–12. His 190 wins are far and away the most in school history. When Vaught arrived, Ole Miss ranked 9th in all-time SEC football standings. When he retired in 1970, Ole Miss had moved up to third, behind only Alabama and Tennessee. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1982, Ole Miss honored Vaught by adding his name toHemingway Stadium. On February 3, 2006, Vaught died at the age of 96 inOxford, Mississippi.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ole Miss Rebels(Southeastern Conference)(1947–1970) | |||||||||
| 1947 | Ole Miss | 9–2 | 6–1 | 1st | WDelta | 13 | |||
| 1948 | Ole Miss | 8–1 | 6–1 | 2nd | 15 | ||||
| 1949 | Ole Miss | 4–5–1 | 2–4 | 9th | |||||
| 1950 | Ole Miss | 5–5 | 1–5 | 11th | |||||
| 1951 | Ole Miss | 6–3–1 | 4–2–1 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1952 | Ole Miss | 8–1–2 | 4–0–2 | 3rd | LSugar | 7 | 7 | ||
| 1953 | Ole Miss | 7–2–1 | 4–1–1 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1954 | Ole Miss | 9–2 | 5–1 | 1st | LSugar | 6 | 6 | ||
| 1955 | Ole Miss | 10–1 | 5–1 | 1st | WCotton | 9 | 10 | ||
| 1956 | Ole Miss | 7–3 | 4–2 | 4th | |||||
| 1957 | Ole Miss | 9–1–1 | 5–0–1 | 2nd | WSugar | 8 | 7 | ||
| 1958 | Ole Miss | 9–2 | 4–2 | 3rd | WGator | 12 | 11 | ||
| 1959 | Ole Miss | 10–1 | 5–1 | T–2nd | WSugar | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1960 | Ole Miss | 10–0–1 | 5–0–1 | 1st | WSugar | 3 | 2 | ||
| 1961 | Ole Miss | 9–2 | 5–1 | 3rd | LCotton | 5 | 5 | ||
| 1962 | Ole Miss | 10–0 | 6–0 | 1st | WSugar | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1963 | Ole Miss | 7–1–2 | 5–0–1 | 1st | LSugar | 7 | 7 | ||
| 1964 | Ole Miss | 5–5–1 | 2–4–1 | 7th | LBluebonnet | 20 | |||
| 1965 | Ole Miss | 7–4 | 5–3 | 5th | WLiberty | 17 | |||
| 1966 | Ole Miss | 8–3 | 5–2 | 4th | LBluebonnet | 12 | |||
| 1967 | Ole Miss | 6–4–1 | 4–2–1 | 5th | LSun | ||||
| 1968 | Ole Miss | 7–3–1 | 3–2–1 | T–6th | WLiberty | ||||
| 1969 | Ole Miss | 8–3 | 4–2 | 5th | WSugar | 13 | 8 | ||
| 1970 | Ole Miss | 7–4 | 4–2 | 4th | LGator | 20 | |||
| Ole Miss Rebels(Southeastern Conference)(1973) | |||||||||
| 1973 | Ole Miss | 5–3[n 1] | 4–3 | 3rd | |||||
| Ole Miss: | 190–61–12 | 107–42–10 | |||||||
| Total: | 190–61–12 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
