Southern Miss M-Club Hall of Fame
Clyde "Heifer" Stuart
- Induction:
- 1980
Clyde (Heifer) Stuart is recognized as one of the finest assistant football coaches to have ever been at the University of Southern Mississippi. In the formative years of the Golden Eagle football, he joined with Head Coach Pie Vann and assistant H.A. (Bear) Smith to make the team into one of the most competitive and feared football programs in the country.
One of the reasons that Stuart was so successful was his attention to detail and the fact that he would spend hours upon hours studying the game and studying the opponents long before that was the thing to do.
Stuart had been a 130-pound star fullback at Mississippi State from 1923 to 1927. After building up quite a reputation as an end at Meridian High School he switched to halfback and fullback for the Bulldogs. He also was a fine baseball player for the Bulldogs. Upon graduation he began to make a name for himself as a coach, after a brief fling at professional baseball.
He had great success as a coach at Newton, Forest, Gulfport and Meridian High Schools and also at Hinds Junior College. He helped develop two Big Eight Conference championship teams and two undefeated clubs at Meridian High School. Taking over at Hinds Junior College in 1939, his team won the Mississippi Junior College championship in 1944.
Stuart came out of semi-retirement in 1949 to join the first staff of Coach Pie Vann, after Vann had taken over for Coach Reed Green at Southern Miss. He would remain with Vann and Southern through 10 seasons until leaving following the 1958 season to accept a job at Mississippi State.
He was a part of the 1958 Southern Miss team that captured the UPI College Division National Championship and the team’s here he was associated with had a record of 76-27-1.
During his tenure as an assistant coach at Southern Miss, Stuart was in charge of the backfield and coached some of the greatest players the school has ever had at that position.
Three of the Southern offenses that he was involved with produced three of the five best seasons in total yards rushing. The 1952 team holds the school record with 3,651 yards (331.9 yards per game), while the 1951 team rushed for 2,967 (269.7 yards per game) and the 1953 team rushed for 2,854 yards (285.6 yards per game).
Several of the school’s greatest runners also worked under Stuart. Bubba Phillips, Hugh Laurin Pepper and Bucky McElroy are just some of those great runners that learned from Stuart.
Stuart also served as the Southern Miss head baseball coach and enjoyed success on the diamond. He coached several players that went on to play professional baseball and move on to the major leagues.
He planned and supervised construction of the first baseball field located on the Southern campus, which came to be regarded as one of the best playing fields in the area.
Stuart was a small man in stature, but a giant as a coach and a part of Southern Miss history
One of the reasons that Stuart was so successful was his attention to detail and the fact that he would spend hours upon hours studying the game and studying the opponents long before that was the thing to do.
Stuart had been a 130-pound star fullback at Mississippi State from 1923 to 1927. After building up quite a reputation as an end at Meridian High School he switched to halfback and fullback for the Bulldogs. He also was a fine baseball player for the Bulldogs. Upon graduation he began to make a name for himself as a coach, after a brief fling at professional baseball.
He had great success as a coach at Newton, Forest, Gulfport and Meridian High Schools and also at Hinds Junior College. He helped develop two Big Eight Conference championship teams and two undefeated clubs at Meridian High School. Taking over at Hinds Junior College in 1939, his team won the Mississippi Junior College championship in 1944.
Stuart came out of semi-retirement in 1949 to join the first staff of Coach Pie Vann, after Vann had taken over for Coach Reed Green at Southern Miss. He would remain with Vann and Southern through 10 seasons until leaving following the 1958 season to accept a job at Mississippi State.
He was a part of the 1958 Southern Miss team that captured the UPI College Division National Championship and the team’s here he was associated with had a record of 76-27-1.
During his tenure as an assistant coach at Southern Miss, Stuart was in charge of the backfield and coached some of the greatest players the school has ever had at that position.
Three of the Southern offenses that he was involved with produced three of the five best seasons in total yards rushing. The 1952 team holds the school record with 3,651 yards (331.9 yards per game), while the 1951 team rushed for 2,967 (269.7 yards per game) and the 1953 team rushed for 2,854 yards (285.6 yards per game).
Several of the school’s greatest runners also worked under Stuart. Bubba Phillips, Hugh Laurin Pepper and Bucky McElroy are just some of those great runners that learned from Stuart.
Stuart also served as the Southern Miss head baseball coach and enjoyed success on the diamond. He coached several players that went on to play professional baseball and move on to the major leagues.
He planned and supervised construction of the first baseball field located on the Southern campus, which came to be regarded as one of the best playing fields in the area.
Stuart was a small man in stature, but a giant as a coach and a part of Southern Miss history
Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference - The Georgia Southern Game
Tuesday, October 07
Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference - September 30, 2025 (Bye Week)
Tuesday, September 30
Postgame Press Conference - The Jax State Game
Sunday, September 28
Charles Huff Weekly Press Conference - The Jax State Game
Tuesday, September 23
