could have been changed in a startling manner if one strategic hire had been made in 1945.
At that time the Head Coach at Ole Miss was a man named Harold "Red" Drew. Coach Drew had an up and coming assistant coach named John Howard Vaught who had been with Red for several years. At the end of the '46 season, Alabama hired Red to be the head coach in Tuscaloosa. Knowing the very great potential of Vaught, the Ole Miss hierachy immediately promoted Vaught to Head Coach. Keep in mind that up to that point, Mississippi State had thoroughly dominated the Rebels in football. Those of us who wear the Red and Blue and who are old enough to remember the hiring of John Vaught as our head coach in 1947, shake in our boots when we remember that had the Maroons hired Vaught in 1945-46 the history of the Ole Miss-MSU series would, no doubt, have been forever changed in favor of the Bulldogs. The rest, as they say, is history. And now you know the rest of the story!
At that time the Head Coach at Ole Miss was a man named Harold "Red" Drew. Coach Drew had an up and coming assistant coach named John Howard Vaught who had been with Red for several years. At the end of the '46 season, Alabama hired Red to be the head coach in Tuscaloosa. Knowing the very great potential of Vaught, the Ole Miss hierachy immediately promoted Vaught to Head Coach. Keep in mind that up to that point, Mississippi State had thoroughly dominated the Rebels in football. Those of us who wear the Red and Blue and who are old enough to remember the hiring of John Vaught as our head coach in 1947, shake in our boots when we remember that had the Maroons hired Vaught in 1945-46 the history of the Ole Miss-MSU series would, no doubt, have been forever changed in favor of the Bulldogs. The rest, as they say, is history. And now you know the rest of the story!
