Jess Neely

Jess Claiborne Neely (January 4, 1898 – April 9, 1983) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Southwestern University—now Rhodes College (1924–1927), Clemson University (1931–1939), and Rice University (1940–1966), compiling a career college football record of 207–176–19. Neely was also the head baseball coach at the University of Alabama (1929–1930), Clemson (1932–1938), and Rice (1945, 1948), tallying a career college baseball mark of 109–108–5. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1971.

Playing career
Neely played college football at Vanderbilt University from 1920 to 1922 under head coach Dan McGugin.

Coaching career
Neely began his football coaching career at Rhodes College, then known as Southwestern University, where he had a 20–17–2 record from 1924 to 1927. He was an assistant football coach at Alabama from 1928–1930, and he also compiled a 28–15–2 record as the school's head baseball coach from 1929 to 1930. From 1931 to 1939, he coached at Clemson, and compiled a 43–35–7 record. From 1940 to 1966, he coached at Rice, and compiled a 144–124–10 record. This makes him by far the winningest coach in Rice history.

Neely won the first four bowl games he coached: 1940 Cotton Bowl (with Clemson), 1946 Orange Bowl, 1949 and 1953 Cotton Bowls (with Rice). With Rice he lost the last three bowl games he coached: 1957 Cotton Bowl, 1960 Sugar Bowl, and 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl.

After the 1966 season, he returned to Vanderbilt as athletic director. In 1967, he received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. In 1999, he was ranked number 39 in Sports Illustrated's list of the "50 Greatest Tennessee Sports Figures of the 20th Century".