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Revision as of 05:01, 16 May 2013
| Ellis Johnson | |
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Current position | |
| Title | Defensive Coordinator |
| Team | Auburn |
| Conference | SEC |
| Annual salary | $800,000 |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | December 23, 1951 Winnsboro, South Carolina |
| Alma mater | The Citadel |
| Playing career | |
| 1971–1974 | The Citadel |
| Position(s) | Defensive end |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1975 1976–1978 1979 1980–1981 1982 1983 1984 1985–1987 1988–1989 1990–1993 1995–1996 1997–2000 2001–2003 2004–2007 2008–2011 2012 2013–present | The Citadel (DE) Gaffney HS (DC) Spartanburg HS (DC) Spartanburg HS The Citadel (LB) Gardner–Webb Appalachian State (DC) East Carolina (OLB) Southern Miss (DC) Alabama (OLB) Clemson (DC) Alabama (DC) The Citadel Mississippi State (DC) South Carolina (asst. HC) Southern Miss Auburn (DC) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 17–40 |
| Statistics College Football Data Warehouse | |
Ellis Johnson (born December 23, 1951) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current defensive coordinator at Auburn University. He served as head football coach at Gardner–Webb University in 1983, The Citadel from 2001 to 2003, and the University of Southern Mississippi in 2012, compiling a career college football record of 17 wins and 40 losses.
Assistant coaching career
Johnson began his coaching career following his graduation from The Citadel in 1975, as the defensive ends coach at his alma mater under Bobby Ross in 1975. In 1976, Johnson accepted an assistant coaching position at Gaffney High School.[1] He served as an assistant at Gaffney through the 1978 season before taking the defensive coordinator position at Spartanburg High School in 1979. After one season as defensive coordinator at Spartanburg, Johnson was promoted to head coach in 1980 and held the position through the 1981 season.[2] As head coach he led the Vikings to a pair of playoff appearances and an overall record of 16 wins and eight losses (16–8).[2] Johnson resigned his position to take the linebackers coach position at The Citadel.[2]
After his one season at Gardner–Webb, Johnson served as an assistant at Appalachian State, East Carolina and Southern Miss before being hired at Alabama by Gene Stallings for the 1990 season. At Alabama, Johnson served as linebackers coach and was on the staff that won the 1992 national championship. He resigned from Alabama after the 1993 season to become the defensive coordinator at Clemson.[3] After only two years at Clemson, Johnson returned to Alabama in January 1997 to serve as defensive coordinator for head coach Mike DuBose.[4] He served at Alabama through the 2000 season when he was hired as head coach at The Citadel.[5]
After his three-year tenure with The Citadel, Johnson served as defensive coordinator at both Mississippi State (2004–2007) and South Carolina (2008–2011). In December 2011, Johnson took the head coaching position at Southern Miss. After one season, Johnson was fired from that position following the school's only zero-win season. After his dismissal from Southern Miss, on December 5, 2012, Johnson was hired as the defensive coordinator at Auburn.[6]
Head coaching career
Gardner–Webb
After serving one season at The Citadel, on January 6, 1983, Johnson was named head coach at Gardner–Webb University.[7] During his only season at Gardner–Webb in 1983, he led the Runnin' Bulldogs squad to a five wins and six losses (5–6).[8] He resigned his position on January 10, 1984, to become the defensive coordinator for Mack Brown at Appalachian State.[9]
The Citadel
After serving three seasons as defensive coordinator at Alabama, on December 21, 2000, Johnson was named head coach at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina.[10] During his three seasons at The Citadel from 2001 to 2003, he led the Bulldogs to 12 wins and 22 losses (12–22).[8] He resigned his position on December 15, 2003, to become the defensive coordinator for Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State.[11]
Southern Miss
Johnson was hired on December 20, 2011, as the Golden Eagles head coach.[12][13] At his introductory news conference he noted USM’s 18 straight winning seasons and said: "I am convinced you can always be successful."[14] He signed a four-year contract on August 20, 2012 (twelve days before the start of the 2012 season) that payed him a minimum of $740,000 annually, and was to run through December 23, 2015. In the event that Southern Miss decided to terminate the contract, Johnson would be paid $700,000 for each year left on his contract.[15]
Prior to Johnson's tenure, the Southern Miss football team had recorded eighteen straight winning seasons and been to ten consecutive postseason bowl appearances. In 2011, under Coach Larry Fedora, the Golden Eagles won a school record 12 games and finished in the Top 20 of both major polls after a victory in the 2011 Hawaii Bowl. Fedora departed for North Carolina after the 2011 season, yet the Golden Eagles were expected to experience continued success due to the fact that they would return 13 starters from the previous season. But the 2012 season quickly came unraveled due to a rash of injuries, and as a result, Johnson found himself dealing with an increasingly angry Golden Eagle fan base.[16]
The October 20, 2012, Marshall game resulted in the most points scored against USM at home since 1987, Brett Favre's freshman year.[17] Following USM's loss to Marshall, Paul Myerberg of USA Today wrote, "Southern Mississippi is having an awful year. Just a terrible, horrible, awful, disheartening, disappointing, aggravatingly horrendous year".[18] Dave Bartoo, owner/operator of the website cfbmatrix.com (College Football Matrix), a site that analyzes college football statistics based upon a given mathematical formula, recently told Bo Bounds of 105.9 The Zone in Jackson that Johnson had done “probably the worst coaching job I’ve seen in the matrix this century in (Football Bowl Subdivision) football.”[14]Southern Mississippi: minus-77. Sagarin Rating 122nd. Combine participant rating: tied for 45th (two).
Yahoo Sports writer Pat Forde developed a forumla that measured the number of players invited to the 2013 NFL Combine against a team's wins for the 2012 football season. Forde's conculsion was that the USM team was "not completely bereft of talent" and therefore the reason "they fired Ellis Johnson after just one season."[19]
The Golden Eagles finished the 2012 season as the only winless team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, going 0–12 and losing their final game to Memphis—the worst record in school history. On November 27, 2012, after just one year at the helm of the Southern Miss football program, Johnson was fired by athletic director Jeff Hammond.[20]
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardner–Webb Runnin' Bulldogs (South Atlantic Conference) (1983) | |||||||||
| 1983 | Gardner–Webb | 5–6 | 4–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| Gardner–Webb: | 5–6 | 4–3 | |||||||
| The Citadel Bulldogs (Southern Conference) (2001–2003) | |||||||||
| 2001 | The Citadel | 3–7 | 2–6 | 7th | |||||
| 2002 | The Citadel | 3–9 | 1–7 | 9th | |||||
| 2003 | The Citadel | 6–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | |||||
| The Citadel: | 12–22 | 7–17 | |||||||
| Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA) (2012) | |||||||||
| 2012 | Southern Miss | 0–12 | 0–8 | ||||||
| Southern Miss: | 0–12 | 0–8 | |||||||
| Total: | 17–40 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl, Bowl Alliance or Bowl Coalition game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. | |||||||||
Personal life
Johnson is married to the former Caroline Courie, a Columbia, SC native, and Clemson University graduate. They have two sons, Eli and Charlie, and a daughter, Sandra Elliott.
References
- ↑ "Work on field houses to be done by classes". Spartanburg Herald-Journal: p. C10. March 10, 1976. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sIAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QM0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6758%2C4119138. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Johnson to resign Spartanburg post". Spartanburg Herald-Journal: p. B1. January 27, 1982. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LoQgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5c4EAAAAIBAJ&dq=ellis-johnson%20bill-carr%20head-coach&pg=6905%2C4821378. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Johnson leaves Alabama staff for job at Clemson". The Gadsden Times: p. D3. December 11, 1993. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Qr0fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=K9gEAAAAIBAJ&dq=ellis-johnson%20alabama%20hired&pg=5732%2C1503883. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ Hurt, Cecil (January 3, 1997). "Johnson returns to Bama". The Tuscaloosa News: p. C1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6gYiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FaYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6112%2C498405. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Johnson returns to Citadel". The Tuscaloosa News: p. C1. December 22, 2000. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KscnAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sqcEAAAAIBAJ&dq=ellis-johnson%20citadel%20hired&pg=5346%2C4509186. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Auburn makes Ellis Johnson's hire official: "One of the top defensive minds in college football"". AL.com. December 6, 2012. http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2012/12/auburn_makes_ellis_johnsons_hi.html. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
- ↑ Gaillard, Luther (January 7, 1983). "Johnson named Gardner–Webb coach". Spartanburg Herald-Journal: p. C1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9kMsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4M4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6645%2C1316610. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 DeLassus, David. "Ellis Johnson Records by Year". College Football Data Warehouse. http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=3173. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Johnson gets Appalachian post". Spartanburg Herald-Journal: p. C1. January 11, 1984. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KGEsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=284EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1495%2C1902018. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ Burger, Ken (December 22, 2000). "Johnson returns to dogs". The Post and Courier: p. C1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HZVIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ugkNAAAAIBAJ&dq=ellis-johnson%20citadel%20hired&pg=2119%2C3012411. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ Hartsell, Jeff (December 16, 2003). "Citadel's Johnson leaves for Mississippi State". The Post and Courier: p. C1. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HJxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=swoNAAAAIBAJ&dq=ellis-johnson%20citadel&pg=2026%2C121195. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ "Southern Miss hires Ellis Johnson". Associated Press. ESPN.com. December 20, 2011. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7371844/southern-mississippi-golden-eagles-hire-south-carolina-gamecocks-ellis-johnson-coach. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ Cleveland, Tyler (December 20, 2011). "Ellis Johnson to be next USM coach". The Clarion-Ledger. http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20111220/SPORTS030104/112200335/Ellis-Johnson-next-USM-coach?odyssey=mod. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Talty, John (November 17, 2012). "How far the Eagles have fallen: USM goes from 12–2 to 0–10 in one year". The Clarion-Ledger. http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121117/SPORTS030104/311170024/How-far-Eagles-fallen-USM-goes-from-12-2-0-10-one-year?odyssey=tab. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ↑ Doherty, Tim (October 25, 2012). "Johnson makes minimum $740K per year". Hattiesburg American. http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20121026/NEWS01/310260015/Johnson-makes-minimum-740K-per-year?nclick_check=1. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ↑ Brandt, Dave (November 12, 2012). "Southern Miss is only FBS team without a win". Associated Press. Yahoo! Sports. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/southern-miss-only-fbs-team-235306604--ncaaf.html. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ↑ "Marshall vs Southern Miss: Postgame Notes". SouthernMiss.com. October 20, 2012. http://www.southernmiss.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/102012aab.html. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ↑ Meyerburg, Paul (October 24, 2012). "Quarterback's mom arrested for altercation during game". USA Today (USAToday.com). http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2012/10/24/southern-mississippi-quarterback-mom-arrested/1654603/. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
- ↑ http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--combine-math-makes-overachievers-of-northwestern--mississippi-001611992.html
- ↑ "Southern Miss fires Ellis Johnson". Associated Press. ESPN.com. November 27, 2012. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8682876/ellis-johnson-fired-coach-southern-mississippi-golden-eagles-following-0-12-season. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
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