V(ernon) L(ouis) Parrington - Main Currents in American Thought, As coach

Literary historian, born in Aurora, Illinois, USA. He revolutionized the study of American literature by regarding literary works in the context of intellectual history, most influentially in his Main Currents in American Thought (3 vols, 1927–30).

Vernon Louis Parrington (1871–1929) was an American professor and author.

Main Currents in American Thought

Parrington is best remembered as the author of Main Currents in American Thought, a politics-centered three-volume history of American letters from colonial times, He postulating a sharp divide between the elitist Hamiltonian current and its populist Jeffersonian opponents, and making clear Parrington's own identification with the latter.

Parrington defended the doctrine of state sovereignty, and sought to disassociate it from the cause of slavery.

Main Currents won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928, and was for many years one of the most influential books for American historians.

As coach

Parrington was the second head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team, where he was the first OU faculty member to officially hold the position. Parrington's span as head football coach was the longest of any of Oklahoma's first 5 coaches.