It was an unseasonably cool Mississippi evening in mid-September and Larry Gann searched for the right words to address his Vardaman football team.
He stood in front of 22 players and his assistant coaches in the west end zone at Thrasher High School. Parents and some Vardaman residents were also in earshot behind a fence. Many had left the fields back home in Vardaman and driven the 80 miles to Prentiss County at a time when sweet potato storage roots were beginning to swell.
Postgame speeches have helped define Gann for much of his life in a state known for its agriculture, small-town values, and high school football.
He heard them growing up as a football player in Okolona, an agricultural community similar to Vardaman that was part of the original Cotton Belt in Mississippi.
Gann cut his teeth giving postgame speeches as head coach at tiny Chickasaw Academy in Van Vleet, only eight miles down the road and now shuttered. He listened as an assistant back at Okolona High School for three years. And listened some more under the tutelage of legendary high school and junior college coach James “Booty” Sloan at Clinton.
Gann honed the craft during his first stint as head coach at Vardaman beginning in the late-1970s. He became seasoned at Baldwyn for nine years, and had stops at Horn Lake and Northeast Community College.
To some degree he even practiced his speeches as an administrator at Center Hill High School in DeSoto County. He was out of coaching for a period of time in the mid-2000s, and retired from Center Hill in 2012.
But on this night, Gann struggled to find the right words. The combined experience of 40 or so years in the coaching and teaching professions was providing little help to contextualize what had happened. He finally cracked a wry smile.
Gann’s words were simple, and maybe even a bit tongue-and-cheek.
“We’ll have to figure out how we did that when we get back home,” Gann said.
The Rams defeated Thrasher 21-14 after having been behind two touchdowns at halftime. The victory was significant. Vardaman had won just one game in Gann’s first two seasons, and that was by forfeit. The Rams were outscored by a combined 1,010-228, and the average margin of defeat was more than 35 points.
But already in 2015 his team had its second win, a full month and a half before harvest and the Vardaman Sweet Potato Festival. One week later, the Rams were on a winning streak for the first time since 2012.
“The past two seasons we wouldn’t have come back from seven (points) down, much less 14 down, and we’ve done that twice this year,” Gann said. “In the past when something went wrong we were done. Now, something goes wrong and we just keep fighting through it. We have a long way to go, but up to this point we’ve overcome some adversity in ball games that we wouldn’t have overcome in the past.”
Gann wasn’t the only one at a loss for words after the Thrasher game. It seemed no one knew what to say. Sophomore quarterback Trae Owen tried to put it in perspective.
“I can’t explain what it felt like,” he said.
A Return to Vardaman
When the phone rang in May of 2013 and Vardaman Principal Porter Casey was on the other end of the line, Larry Gann knew what he was about to be asked.
Vardaman’s football team was looking for a head coach, and Casey, who played for Gann for three seasons in the 1980s, wanted to know if Gann would lead the Rams.
Gann had been out of coaching since after the 2006 season. He questioned whether it was the right time to return and the right situation.
Vardaman had qualified for the playoffs every year since 1991, a streak of 22 consecutive appearances. The 2012 team went undefeated in district play before losing in the first round of the playoffs.
But the 2013 team would be losing 10 seniors from a roster that had been shrinking for several years. The demographics of the town had changed since Gann left in the 1980s. More Hispanic families had moved in, in part because of the farming industry, and soccer not football had become the preferred sport for many children in the local community.
Although Vardaman does not field a high school soccer team, the number of participants in recreational matches around town often outnumbered those on the sidelines for football practice during Gann’s first two years.
Still, Gann understood that expectations would be no different, and the only acceptable outcome was the playoffs.
The call from his former player is what ultimately convinced Gann to come out of retirement.
“It was huge. No. 1, (Casey) told me most of the situation,” Gann said laughing. “He said it was going to be tough, and that he wanted somebody where he knew what he could expect from them. He wanted somebody who could withstand the ups and downs of what was going to be taking place the next couple years.”
Gann wondered to himself whether his coaching philosophy would be outdated. He left the game as an old school, hard-nosed coach who demanded a lot from his players. He believed in blocking and tackling on the field, and handling your business off it.
He always insisted that everyone call him “Coach Gann,” even school administrators.
Once during his time as an assistant at Clinton, Gann confronted a principal who repeatedly called him “Mr.” instead of “Coach.”
“I told him that my coaching title is as important to me as your doctor title is to you,” Gann said, referring to the principal’s Ph.D.
It was a prime example of the persona that is “Coach Gann.”
“Sometimes my expectations cut the kids the wrong way, but it’s been successful and I don’t think you can win without discipline or being in shape,” Gann said. “I also don’t think you can win without coming to practice.”
Gann found out very quickly that his approach wasn’t resonating. The tough love ran off a number of players and the losses started to mount.
The first game Gann coached at Vardaman in nearly 30 years was a 53-6 loss to perennial Class 2A power East Webster. And it got worse from there. The Rams lost every game in 2013 by a double-digit margin. It wasn’t until a 25-22 loss to Houlka five games into the 2014 season that the Rams even cracked single digits.
The postgame speeches during Gann’s first two seasons became pep talks to lift his players’ broken spirits after another crushing defeat. ‘Let’s go back to work on Monday, get better, and learn from our mistakes,’ he would say.
The losing wore on him and the community. Gann questioned his decision to return to the sidelines.
“Really, every Friday night,” he said.
A Winning Tradition
Vardaman is a town known for its record sweet potato production. The self-proclaimed “Sweet Potato Capital of the World” is fueled in part by soil so rich that researchers at North Carolina State and other places have tried to replicate it. Vardaman is not known for losing football games.
The last two years have been an anomaly compared with much of the past two decades. Beginning in the 1990s until a few years ago, the stands at Carter Field were at capacity every Friday night. Overflow fans lined the chain-link fence surrounding the field.
Some of the best years for Vardaman football saw appearances in Class 1A North Half championship games. Gann had coached a Vardaman team that played in the North Half title game in 1981.
But since his return the crowds had dwindled into the low hundreds on a good night. The numbers on the team continued to shrink, too.
Gann beams about currently having 24 players healthy and on the roster. It’s a far cry from when the roster numbered in the 40s. There was a time earlier this season when he had 22 players – the minimum needed to scrimmage in practice – but lost six players all during the same week due to illnesses.
Players have quit the team for various reasons. This year there are just four seniors, and two had never played football before. Two of the others left the team at different times during their careers before returning this year.
Gann has faced challenges before. He followed a legend at Baldwyn, the late Hubert Tucker who coached the Bearcats for 15 seasons and was Mississippi Class 2A runner-up in 1984 and 1986. Gann also succeeded Dan Wilkerson at Horn Lake, who in 2001 took the Eagles to the playoffs for the first time in school history.
But few situations compared to the challenge Gann faced at Vardaman.
“The number of players playing has been an issue. Also just getting kids conditioned to what our expectations are,” Gann said.“I was coached to believe that your conduct on the field and off the field has got to match up pretty good. I expect (football players) to be leaders in the classroom and in the hallway. Your ability on the field does not replace your responsibility off the field. That’s been a little bit of the issue, and just numbers in general has been a big challenge.”
New Normal Under Gann
The come-from-behind victory against Thrasher was the antithesis of Vardaman’s script for much of the previous two seasons. But it also seemed to ignite something within the team.
Brandon Walker is one of the four seniors. He was at one time the Rams’ starting quarterback and now plays split end. Walker has seen a difference in attitude this season from younger players and veterans.
“There is a different energy. Obviously, when you’re winning it’s different,” Walker said. “Everybody is pumped about coming out to practice. All we’re thinking about is football and going out and getting another win every week.”
Maybe a return to normal is underway thanks to a change of heart for Gann. He has been more relaxed this season and the players have noticed. Vardaman is 2-3 in region play but still very much in the playoff race.
“I think he’s really turned it around,” senior Briley Gordon said of Gann. “He’s been a little less hard on us and it’s made us happier. We play a lot better.”
The crowds have returned, too. The week after the Rams beat Thrasher there was again a capacity crowd for homecoming against Biggersville. Vardaman’s 48-7 win felt more like the Rams’ teams of old.
“The fans are giving us good energy and support. It makes us play better,” said Deon Johnson, a junior running back.
Gann admits he has eased up some this year. But he also points to a set of scrimmages this past spring which gave his players confidence heading into the season.
The Rams’ spring jamboree started with a 7-0 win against H.W. Byers. It was the first time many of the current players on the roster had felt victory, even if only in the form of a 30-play exhibition. Vardaman then beat Potts Camp 28-0 in a similar format.
“The fact that we won that first game, it was like a whole new team when we played Potts Camp in the second game,” Gann said.
Vardaman lost to Holly Springs but finished 3-1 in the jamboree after a win against Class 4A Byhalia.
The momentum from spring carried over into the early part of fall. The players have gained more faith in Gann as coach. Gann in turn has gained more confidence in his players.
“We’re responding to it as (Gann) giving us a little authority,” Johnson said. “He believes in us. He trusts in us.”
The Rams have lost back-to-back region games but it hasn’t diminished the team’s spirit. There is only one undefeated team in region 1-1A, and plenty of football left before the playoffs.
“In this deal with everybody beating everybody, you’re still in it a lot longer than you might be otherwise,” Gann said. “There’s still a spot to play for.”
The journey back to where Vardaman once was as a football program hasn’t been easy, and it isn’t complete yet. But there are signs that the difficulties of the past two seasons are fading.
“People’s attitudes are getting a whole lot better,” Walker said. “We’re going into games knowing we have a chance to win every week. There’s a good feeling around the program.”