Johnny Vaught

Johnny Vaught

Vaught in 1947
Sport(s) Football
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(s) Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1936–1941 North Carolina (line)
1942 North Carolina Pre-Flight (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
3 National (1959–1960, 1962)
6 SEC (1947, 1954–1955, 1960, 1962–1963)
Awards
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 American college football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) from 1947 to 1970 and again in 1973.

Born in Olney, Texas, Vaught graduated as valedictorian from Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth, Texas and attended Texas Christian University (TCU), where he was an honor student and was named an All-American in 1932. Vaught served as a line coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under head coach Raymond Wolf from 1936 until 1941. In 1942, Vaught served as an assistant coach with the North Carolina Pre-Flight School.[1] After serving in World War II as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy, he took a job as an assistant coach at Ole Miss in 1946, and was named head coach a year later. After winning the university's first conference title in his initial season in 1947, he led the Rebels to additional Southeastern Conference titles in 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, and 1963.

Vaught is the only coach in Ole Miss history to win an SEC football championship. 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 the Grantland Rice Award from the Football 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.

Vaught took Ole Miss to 18 bowl games, winning 10 times including five victories in the Sugar Bowl. Only two coaches held a winning record against Vaught: Paul "Bear" Bryant, with a record of 7 wins, 6 losses, and 1 tie against Vaught, and Robert Neyland holding a 3 win to two loss advantage.

Vaught's overall record at Ole Miss was 190 wins 61 losses and 12 ties, far and away the most in school history. Ole Miss ranked 9th in all-time Southeastern Conference football standings when Vaught arrived. When he retired in 1970, Ole Miss had moved up to third, behind only Alabama and Tennessee. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1982, Ole Miss revised the name of its football stadium from Hemingway Stadium to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in his honor. On February 3, 2006, Vaught died at the age of 96 in Oxford, Mississippi.

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Ole Miss Rebels (Southeastern Conference) (1947–1970)
1947 Ole Miss 9–2 6–0 1st W Delta 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 L Sugar 7 7
1953 Ole Miss 7–2–1 4–1–1 T–2nd
1954 Ole Miss 9–2 5–0 1st L Sugar 6 6
1955 Ole Miss 10–1 5–1 1st W Cotton 9 10
1956 Ole Miss 7–3 4–2 4th
1957 Ole Miss 9–1–1 5–0–1 2nd W Sugar 8 7
1958 Ole Miss 9–2 3–2 3rd W Gator 12 11
1959 Ole Miss 10–1 5–1 T–2nd W Sugar 2 2
1960 Ole Miss 10–0–1 5–0–1 1st W Sugar 3 2
1961 Ole Miss 9–2 4–1 3rd L Cotton 5 5
1962 Ole Miss 10–0 6–0 1st W Sugar 3 3
1963 Ole Miss 7–1–2 5–0–1 1st L Sugar 7 7
1964 Ole Miss 5–5–1 2–3–1 7th L Bluebonnet 20
1965 Ole Miss 7–4 5–3 4th W Liberty 17
1966 Ole Miss 8–3 5–2 4th L Bluebonnet 12
1967 Ole Miss 6–4–1 3–2–1 T–6th L Sun
1968 Ole Miss 7–3–1 3–2–1 5th W Liberty
1969 Ole Miss 8–3 4–2 5th W Sugar 13 8
1970 Ole Miss 7–4 4–2 4th L Gator 20
Ole Miss Rebels (Southeastern Conference) (1973)
1973 Ole Miss 5–3[n 1] 4–3 3rd
Ole Miss: 190–61–12 106–39–10
Total: 190–61–12
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches Poll.
°Rankings from final AP Poll.
1947 Ole Miss media guide featuring Charlie Conerly (left) and coach Johnny Vaught (right).

Notes

  1. Billy Kinard coached the first three games, all non-conference, of the 1973 season before he was fired. Vaught replaced Kinard and coached Ole Miss for the final eight games of the season. The Rebels finished 6–5 overall.

References

  1. "Ten grid games for Navy school". The News and Courier. Charleston, SC. The United Press. July 12, 1942. p. 14. Retrieved January 15, 2012.

External links

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