Tale of the Coaching Tape: Nick Saban vs. Johnny Vaught

Comparing the Alabama coach's numbers to the all-time greats on the 150th anniversary of college football

Courtesy of the SEC

When it comes to Ole Miss, no one comes close to John Vaught.

During his coaching career (1947-70, 1973), Vaught complied a 190-61-12 record, for a .745 winning percentage, and 18 bowl appearances.

The coach of Archie Manning preached diligence and preparation, but despite having three teams reach No. 1 didn’t have any finish atop a final Associated Press poll.

The 1959 and 1960 Rebels were both second, the latter being somewhat controversial as No. 1 Minnesota subsequently lost to Washington in the Rose Bowl, 17-7, while the Rebels beat Rice in the Sugar Bowl, 14-6.

The coaches had Ole Miss at No. 3.

Still, he’s the benchmark for the Rebels:

Nick Saban vs. John Vaught

(For consistency reasons, statistics through 2018 season)

Category, Saban; Vaught

Seasons 23; 25

Consensus national titles 6; 0

Top five finishes 9; 4

Top 25 finishes 16; 14

Overall record 232–62–1*; 90-61-12

Percentage 78.5; 74.5

Losing seasons 0; 1

Bowl record/CFP record 14-10; 10-8

Percentage 58.3; 55.6

Conference titles 9; 6

Conference record 138-42-1; 106-39-10

Consensus All-Americans 41; 5

First-round draft picks 34; 4

Record against ranked teams 82-40; 29-29-1

Percentage 67.20; 50.0

Record against Top 10 teams 42-21; 18-22

Percentage 66.77; 45.0

Ratios/percentages

National title seasons One every 3.8 seasons; 0

Consensus All-Americans 1.78 every season; 0.20

First-round draft picks 1.48 every season; 0.16

Average wins vs. ranked teams 3.57 each season; 1.16

Wins over top-10 teams per year 1.82 every season; 0.72