Three legendary football coaches who left lasting legacies in Mississippi

Their hallmarks of authentic goodness, love of coaching young men and strong affection for Mississippi overlap their wins and losses.

The trinity of former head college football coaches in this state, Archie Cooley at Mississippi Valley State, Steve Sloan at Ole Miss and Bob Tyler at Mississippi State, secured some sweet victories, however. While not as often as desired by all fans, each delivered the glory.

I knew Tyler best, mainly from his willingness to do anything he could to help this state, on or off the field. He was super successful as a prep coach with records that vaulted him into the college ranks.

I’ll always believe that if he’d been chosen to succeed John H. Vaught at Ole Miss in 1970, the Rebels’ long run as a Southeastern Conference power would’ve endured. He wasn’t picked and the Rebs’ heyday closed.

Tyler prospered as head coach at Mississippi State from 1973-1978, taking his 1974 team to the program’s first bowl in 11 years, defeating North Carolina in the Sun Bowl and attaining a national ranking. Eventually, he worked in government, lobbying for the state parks system and his home county of Yalobusha.

He and I talked about a book project. It never happened, but I wanted to entitle it, “Bob Tyler: He coached the Bulldogs; He should’ve coached the Rebels.”

Sloan was called “America’s hottest young coach” when he became the Ole Miss head man, succeeding the fired Ken Cooper. He’d won everywhere he’d been, including the impossible Vanderbilt, where, at age 27, his team played in the school’s first bowl in 20 years.

He never got it going at Ole Miss from 1978-1982, his best season 5-6 as he compiled a 20-34-1 overall record. Sloan went beyond the call supporting “The Ole Miss Spirit,” a publication of mine and two associates, Chuck Rounsaville and Josh Bogen, while he was the Rebel coach. We are forever grateful.

I’ve often said Sloan missed it on vocations. I believe he was good enough to have played professional golf. He found time to play often and well, even while coaching, and qualified and competed in the 1995 U.S. Senior Open.

Veteran Mississippi sportswriter Rick Cleveland called Sloan “the nicest coach I ever covered. Just a prince.” That’s a sentiment heard often about this, well, prince of a guy.

Sloan played quarterback for Alabama legend Bear Bryant, who on his deathbed called in Sloan to sit with his family.

Cooley, the most colorful of this coaching triumvirate, was known as “The Gunslinger” for his wide-open, no-huddle “Satellite Express” offensive scheme sometimes featuring five receivers.

Cooley found microphones early and often in Itta Bena, highlighted by his Sunday night TV show that attracted an outsized Mississippi Delta following.

At Valley from 1980-1986, he coached inarguably the greatest wide receiver ever known in College Hall of Famer and NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who dazzled crowds catching passes from Delta Devils quarterback Willie “Satellite” Totten.

Cooley took Valley to the NCAA playoffs and coached a momentous game in 1984 against in-state rival Alcorn State. Both were unbeaten at 7-0 going into the game played in Jackson because, in a move successfully sought by the writer Cleveland, Valley’s stadium was deemed too small for such a tectonic game.

Alcorn rattled Valley 42-28 before 63,000-plus fans. The Jackson stadium’s capacity was 62,000. “They whipped us good, like we usually do to people,” Cooley admitted later.

Each member of this special trio spoke candidly, among their other traits.

— Mac Gordon, a native of McComb, is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.