Jess Neely

Jess Neely
Sport(s)	Football, baseball
Biographical details
Born	January 4, 1898(1898-01-04) Smyrna, Tennessee
Died	April 9, 1983(1983-04-09) (aged 85) Weslaco, Texas
Playing career
1920–1922	Vanderbilt
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football 1924–1927 1928–1930 1931–1939 1940–1966 Baseball 1929–1930 1932–1938 1945, 1948	Southwestern (TN) Alabama (assistant) Clemson Rice Alabama Clemson Rice
Head coaching record
Overall	207–176–19 (football) 109–108–5 (baseball)
Bowls	4–3
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 4 SWC (1946, 1949, 1953, 1957)
Awards Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1967)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1971 (profile)

Jess C. Neely (January 4, 1898 – April 9, 1983) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Southwestern University, now Rhodes College (1924–1927), Clemson University (1931–1939), and Rice University (1940–1966), compiling a career college football record of 207–176–19. Neely was also the head baseball coach at the University of Alabama (1929–1930), Clemson (1932–1938), and Rice (1945, 1948), tallying a career college baseball mark of 109–108–5. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1971.

Playing career

Neely played college football at Vanderbilt University from 1920 to 1922 under head coach Dan McGugin.

Coaching career

Neely began his football coaching career at Rhodes College, then known as Southwestern University, where he had a 20–17–2 record from 1924–1927. He was an assistant football coach at Alabama from 1928–1930, and he also compiled a 28–15–2 record as the school's head baseball coach from 1929–1930. From 1931 to 1939, he coached at Clemson, and compiled a 43–35–7 record. From 1940 to 1966, he coached at Rice, and compiled a 144–124–10 record. This makes him by far the winningest coach in Rice history.

Neely won the first four bowl games he coached: 1940 Cotton Bowl (with Clemson), 1946 Orange Bowl, 1949 and 1953 Cotton Bowls (with Rice). With Rice he lost the last three bowl games he coached: 1957 Cotton Bowl, 1960 Sugar Bowl, and 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl.

After the 1966 season, he returned to Vanderbilt as athletic director. In 1967, he received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. In 1999, he was ranked number 39 in Sports Illustrated's list of the "50 Greatest Tennessee Sports Figures of the 20th Century".

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Southwestern Lynx () (1924–1927)
1924	Southwestern	3–6
1925	Southwestern	7–2
1926	Southwestern	5–4–1
1927	Southwestern	5–5–1
Southwestern:		20–17–2
Clemson Tigers (Southern Conference) (1931–1939)
1931	Clemson	1–6–2	1–4	20th
1932	Clemson	3–5–1	0–4	T–21st
1933	Clemson	3–6–2	1–1	T–5th
1934	Clemson	5–4	2–1	5th
1935	Clemson	6–3	2–1	4th
1936	Clemson	5–5	3–3	8th
1937	Clemson	4–4–1	2–0–1	T–3rd
1938	Clemson	7–1–1	3–0–1	2nd
1939	Clemson	9–1	4–0	2nd	W Cotton		12
Clemson:		43–35–7	18–14–2
Rice Owls (Southwest Conference) (1940–1966)
1940	Rice	7–3	4–2	T–3rd
1941	Rice	6–3–1	3–2–1	4th
1942	Rice	7–2–1	4–1–1	2nd
1943	Rice	3–7	2–3	T–3rd
1944	Rice	5–6	2–3	T–4th
1945	Rice	5–6	3–3	T–3rd
1946	Rice	9–2	5–1	T–1st	W Orange		10
1947	Rice	6–3–1	4–2	3rd			18
1948	Rice	5–4–1	3–2–1	T–3rd
1949	Rice	10–1	6–0	1st	W Cotton		5
1950	Rice	6–4	2–4	T–5th
1951	Rice	5–5	3–3	T–3rd
1952	Rice	5–5	4–2	2nd
1953	Rice	9–2	5–1	T–1st	W Cotton	6	6
1954	Rice	7–3	4–2	T–3rd		19	19
1955	Rice	2–7–1	0–6	7th
1956	Rice	4–6	1–5	5th
1957	Rice	7–4	5–1	1st	L Cotton	7	8
1958	Rice	5–5	4–2	T–2nd
1959	Rice	1–7–2	1–4–1	6th
1960	Rice	7–4	5–2	T–2nd	L Sugar
1961	Rice	7–4	5–2	3rd	L Bluebonnet		17
1962	Rice	2–6–2	2–4–1	6th
1963	Rice	6–4	4–3	3rd
1964	Rice	4–5–1	3–3–1	T–4th
1965	Rice	2–8	1–6	T–7th
1966	Rice	2–8	1–6	8th
Rice:		144–124–10	86–75–6
Total:		207–176–19
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

See also

• List of college football coaches with 200 wins

External links

• Jess Neely at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Jess Neely at the College Football Data Warehouse