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Kennett AD Jim Vaughan retires after 18-year career
KENNETT, Mo. - After nearly two decades of solid leadership, Kennett High School Athletic Director Jim Vaughan bids the district farewell at the end of the spring semester.
Vaughan, 53, who resides now at Poplar Bluff, retires after 18 years of service as both coach and director and spent time with the Delta Dunklin Democrat looking back on his career.
"I was a basketball coach, a head coach at the time I came to Kennett," Vaughan said. "This position came open and it all kind of happened as late as June of that school year.
"A friend of mine here contacted me about it," he added. "I looked into it, received the position and came here as the head boy's basketball coach."
Vaughan coached previously for three years at Twin Rivers High School and seven years at Poplar Bluff High School.
And sports is a forever passion.
"My mom has a picture of me as a baby," Vaughan said. "I have the most sour-puss expression on my face.
"The photographer was enticing me to smile with a ball and took it away," he laughed. "Sports is all I've ever known. That's all I'm interested in. I'm not handy. I don't like science stuff, although I do like history. Nothing for me was ever geared in any other direction than athletics."
A four-sport high school athlete, Vaughan was born at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri and raised at Fairfield, Illinois.
"My favorite sport was basketball," the coach said. "But I did get the opportunity to play football at the next level, at college at Greenville College, for four years.
"I was a receiver," he added. "That program was started in 1987. I got there in 1989. Coach Max Bowman got that program off to a great start. They had an 8-2 season. My sophomore year, 1990, we made the national playoffs. We became the youngest collegiate football program in history, at any level, to make a post-season appearance. That team was inducted into the Hall of Fame there at Greenville. Coach Bowman was a major mentor who instilled hard-work ethic in his players. We were good for a reason. And when we stepped off a charter bus on away games, we wore coats and ties. Countless film sessions. That's where i learned to prepare for upcoming seasons. He taught us how to be the best at life, too. That's what I gained from Coach Bowman and it carries on to this day."
Vaughan noted when he came on board at Kennett, one change was needed that he considered essential to establishing a successful basketball program.
"A culture change," Vaughan said. "How we went about preparing for a basketball season.
"Having off seasons that kids weren't crazy accustomed to," he continued. "Summertime. When I got here it was a ghost town on this campus in the summertime. Nobody really did anything in the off-seasons. I was accustomed to it and it was something I wanted to implement. I'm not gonna say I was a trend-setter for it. Now, you come here in the summertime and our athletic programs are going strong all summer long."
While at Poplar Bluff, Vaughan coached Tyler Hansbrough, who went on to play basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels at the collegiate level and was the 13th overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft.
"I left there after his sophomore year," Vaughan said. "He was the all-time leading scorer and rebounder at North Carolina.
"He was a high-level recruit there at Poplar Bluff," Vaughan recalled. "He cracked the NBA with the Indiana Pacers and played for the Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Hornets. I got to watch that young man grow up. Many a 5 a.m. phone calls, 'Coach, I want to get in the gym,' And we did. Many times. He had a drive like no other."
Vaughan said he always enjoyed full support at Kennett High School and that enabled him to add positives to his position.
"Things I believe that have been really good for our school district," he noted. "In particular is the fund-raising golf tournament we do every summer.
"It has now eclipsed more than six-figures in proceeds since we started it in 2016," he continued. "I was just allowed to take that and run. I have great assistance with that now. It's been very profitable and we've been able to fund a lot of projects, a lot of upgrades, with that money."
Which comes in very handy since the school district now offers 12 sports for student participation.
"I like to think that, hopefully, I've had a successful career in people's minds," Vaughan said. "There are things I'd like to go back and do differently, sure.
"I would have liked to have jumped on some head-coaching positions earlier in life," he continued. "Moving forward, I like to think I served kids well. Served my districts and my communities well. I've loved every minute of my career here. I hope the future is filled with success for every sports program here at Kennett."