Ole Miss Coaching History

Ole Miss has seen 38 head coaches at the helm of the football program across its history, and incredibly, only 14 finished their tenure with more than 15 wins.

As with most SEC programs, the early years were chaotic, seeing a new head coach pretty much every season. From 1893 (Alexander H. Bondurant) to 1947 (when Johnny Vaught took over), the Rebels saw 24 total coaches come and go. Only 3 of those coaches stayed for more than 2 seasons.

From Bondurant to Lane Kiffin today, here’s a look at Ole Miss’s coaching history with years and overall record included.

Ole Miss Coaching History

We’ve already covered the fact that Ole Miss coaches don’t stick around for very long, especially in the early days. Really, other than Vaught, there’s not a truly impressive resume on this list. Vaught is one of just 2 coaches to stay in Oxford for more than 8 seasons — alongside Billy Brewer from 1983-1993.

However, there are a few coaches to see time in Oxford who went on to do (or had already accomplished) some good/great things away from Ole Miss. Tommy Tuberville (Auburn), Houston Nutt (Arkansas) and Ed Orgeron (2019 LSU) come to mind.

But as alluded to, Vaught is the king of the hill when it comes to Ole Miss football.

Johnny Vaught

Johnny Vaught is the best football coach in Ole Miss history and — unlike other SEC programs — it isn’t particularly close. There’s a reason the 6-time SEC Coach of the Year’s name is on the stadium, folks.

Vaught lived and breathed Ole Miss, as it was the only head coaching job he ever had. After serving as a Lieutenant Commander during World War II, Vaught took an assistant role at Ole Miss and made an immediate impact, winning the program’s first conference title in Year 1. He’d go on to claim 6 conference titles at Ole Miss from 1947-1970, and he’s still the only Ole Miss coach to win a conference title to this day.

He’s also the only Ole Miss head coach to win a national championship, and he did it 3 times: In 1959, 1960 and 1962. Those 3 seasons combined saw just one loss, one tie and 30 wins. Not too shabby!

Vaught served as AD for Ole Miss from 1973-1978 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979. He passed away in February of 2006 in Oxford.

Lane Kiffin

Is it fair for Lane Kiffin to get a few paragraphs when he’s still coaching the team? Well, Kiffin is probably the 2nd most successful coach in Rebels history already – and he’s done a good job keeping Ole Miss competitive in this new NIL era against the big boys such as Alabama and Georgia.

Kiffin is a semi-controversial figure, but not particularly due to anything he’s done at Ole Miss. And it’s not ‘controversial’ in a bad way – he has an unorthodox style that doesn’t change whether he’s online, with media or on the field. Even Tennessee fans, as we’ll touch on in a second, have a hard time disliking Lane Kiffin these days.

The son of one of the top coordinators in modern football history, Kiffin began his head coaching journey with the Oakland Raiders before taking the head job at Tennessee. After a strong first season with the Vols, Kiffin bolted for USC in the middle of the night. He was infamously later fired at the airport following a loss to Arizona State in 2013.

But Kiffin grew as a head coach from that moment on. He earned a job with FAU in 2016 and led the Owls to a 10-win season, prompting his hire by Ole Miss in 2020. The Rebels have since been competitive in the SEC after years of struggle, and he owns a .694 win % across his 5 years in Oxford – the 2nd best number in Rebels history among coaches who saw action for more than 1 year.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.