Johnny Vaught

Johnny Vaught
	Vaught in 1947
Biographical details
Born	May 6, 1909; Olney, Texas, U.S.
Died	February 3, 2006 (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
	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 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 or championship game berth
^†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. ^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll.

Notes

^ 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

^ "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

Johnny Vaught at the College Football Hall of Fame
Template:CFBCR

[1973season-2] 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.

[NCPreCoach-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.

[1]

[n 1]