After 182 wins, 91 loses, 7 region runner-ups, 10 region championships, and 19 playoff appearances in 23 seasons an emotional Mark Bray told his players that he will not be returning as the Vardaman head football coach next season.
“It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do,” said a teary-eyed Bray. “I still get emotional talking about it now because how much these kids and the community mean to me. I’ve been here 23 years and I am planning on coaching at the least five or six more years. It was one of those situations if I was ever going to make a move I felt like now would be the time to do it is now so I could have time to build a program wherever I was going to go.” “
Coach Bray turned a struggling program from the early eighties into a 1A juggernaut by the early nineties making sixteen straight playoff appearances, but Coach Bray will be the first one to tell you the driving force behind all the Vardaman athletic programs has been the people of the community.
“When we first got here it was about as down and as bad as it could have gotten, but the community and the kids decided they wanted the program to go another direction and worked at it. It took about four or five years, but we got our numbers up and have been winning ever since.”
The Rams put together six straight region championships from 1993 to 1998.
In 30 years of coaching Bray has seen a lot of adaptation to the game of football, but credits the constant change to the game of football to the success of the program at Vardaman.
“In the early eighties football was smash mouth everywhere, but it started gradually changing by spreading out more and more to the point where it has gotten today. That’s one of the reasons we are successful here we didn’t keep doing the same thing. We changed with times and the personnel we have here and that has been a big part of it too.”
When people hear Vardaman football it is hard not to talk about their outstanding running backs, but there have been a bevy of talented athletes wear the blue and white under Coach Bray’s guidance and he is leaving the cupboard full for the new head coach next season.
“There have been some good ones here, going all the way back in the beginning with George Willis. Randy Armstrong, Jimmy Vance, Stanley Vance, Odie Armstrong, Greg Horton, and Kelvin Clemons all have been good running backs and there hasn’t been many years when we haven’t had a thousand yard rushers.”
As soon as people started loading up against the anticipated running attack during the nineties along came thousand yard rusher and passer Terrance Jones and the “new millennium” Rams with their spread offense style of play.
“Terrance come along and we happened to have some good receivers to go along with him and he sort of took off. We could really spread out the defenses with his ability to run and throw the football.”
While Coach Bray never reached the state championship stage in Jackson, the Rams have seen the best of the best come through the 1A ranks.
“1A is about as tough as you are going to get… The competition is going to be good every year and a lot of times it all depends on the luck of the draw – like (in 1998) we got Smithville when they won state,” Bray.
Vardaman made three North State Championship appearance in 2000, 2001, and most recently the 2006 season where they suffered a 29-24 loss to East Webster. Eight times the Rams were eliminated from the playoffs by the team that eventually represented the North in the state championship game.
Shifting away from Calhoun County their will be that lost feeling of the Calhoun City and Bruce rival games.
“If you could everyone would want you to play Calhoun City and Bruce each week, but of course you can’t do that… The Calhoun City and Vardaman game was really big and the Bruce and Vardaman game was starting to get big with some of the things going on… Not many counties have the rival like we have in this county because most of the time we are pretty equal,” Bray.
(Photo Courtesy of the Monitor-Herald)
Bray will be stepping away from one brand of tough competition and head first into equally tough competition playing in Region 2-3A where the North State Champion has come from the past two season.
“It’s going to be some tough competition I knew that before talking to them about the job… That’s the only bad thing in 1A you have some good teams and some that aren’t very good… It’s kind of a distraction and hard to practice for those not so tough games, but in this situation the kids will be getting ready each week which that will be a real good thing,” Bray.
One of those teams in the region will be the Houston Hilltoppers – a school that a lot of people were hoping to see Bray roaming the sidelines wearing the maroon and white.
“It’s going to be just another game that we are going to get ready for like any other game. I’ve been in Vardaman so long it feels like I am from here,” Bray.
When asked about his interest in a return to Calhoun County Bray’s eyes brighten as he quickly answered, “Yeah! I’d be up for it just according to how everything falls in the scheduling.”
South Pontotoc finished 1-9 last season under Jack Clark, who returned to Nettleton High School to take over as the new head coach.
“The biggest adjustment is going to be getting us to wearing red instead of blue,” Bray joked. “Our first goal is going to be making the playoffs and then we will take things from there. Right now it is going to be the players, the coaches, and everyone getting adjusted to each other.”
It has been hard for Coach Bray to say goodbye to everyone that has been involved with Vardaman athletics over the years he wants to credit the people of Vardaman as the true cornerstone of success and encourage them to continue help the growth of all the school’s athletic programs.
“The community is really what has made us over the years. You take them away and we wouldn’t have anything here because the school district doesn’t give you the money to do the things we have done like adding on to the field house and adding the stands… They have raised nearly two hundred thousand for not just football, but our entire athletic program. As long the community continues to do that our programs will continue to grow because they have help made things possible for things to be the way they are today,” Bray.
Coach Bray wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone that has been a part of the program that he might not have the ability to see in the next few days as he will finish out his teaching duties and start springs practice with the Cougars. Vardaman is hoping to announce the new head football coach in the coming weeks to have someone in time for spring practices.
Bray finishes his 23 year tenure at Vardaman with a overall career record of 182-91-0 and a 108-20-0 record in region play.
Posted by Adam Gore 
