Ellis Johnson was just fired apparently

[sc455]

Originally Posted by Emery

I never thought it was going to work out but I was hopeful simply for the selfish fact that I wanted more publicity for USC. It would be nice to have a former coordinator become a successful head coach instead of a now trivia answer to who was the coach who drove a program into the ground the fastest?

very very few will ever correlate ellis johnson with sc when referencing his so miss failure.

[davidmc467]

Wow, he gets a nice payday for going 0-12 though.

If I were him, I'd just come home to South Carolina and retire.

[ColaCock]

Hard to feel sorry for the guy. One of the worst turnarounds in sports history.

That has to be coaching.

[U-Dub Gamecock]

Originally Posted by ColaCock

Hard to feel sorry for the guy. One of the worst turnarounds in sports history.

That has to be coaching.

He surrounded himself with a bunch of washed up coaches, that couldnt have helped things..

[CockTail]

Whammy is basically running EJ's system, the apprentice has become the teacher. For the last few years EJ was here, Ward took more and more responsibility for the defense until it was not a huge loss when EJ left.

[RoyalAir]

This is bad news. If he ends up back at an SEC school, and I believe that is a highly likely probability, he will be able to recruit the fertile Rock Hill area again. The last thing we need, after having been able to lock down the state in no small part thanks to Johnson's recruiting efforts, is to have UTK or Auburn regain a foothold here because Johnson s essentially a free agent.

I think Whammy is a great recruiter, too, but Johnson definitely has had success locally lately.

[GetemGamecocks]

Originally Posted by yazoo

I just hope he doesn't go to Clemp. I like their scrawny, gesticulating DC just fine.

Well when EJ left they did claim that we would suck, as he had been carrying Spurrier's team for years. Thank goodness for Whammy, he's one hell of a coach.

[Cockholio]

Yep, the assistants were questionable. Serious, old-skool cronyism there.

Best wishes for Coach Johnson though. I could see him getting a high profile coordinator's job after all the coaches silly-season is done with. Maybe FSU?

[Emery]

Originally Posted by sc455

very very few will ever correlate ellis johnson with sc when referencing his so miss failure.

Yeah...he's just the first coordinator to actually move up in the hierarchy.

[ktguen]

Jeez. Knew he had a rough year but I thought they would give him more than one season. Tough crowd down there....

[MWard]

Overall I think the amount of coaches who leave our program are finding success, but sometimes it doesn't work out.

Beamer is good at Va Tech
Fitz is good a PSU
Wolford is HC at YSU.
Butler is still at PSU.
Strong is now a HC
Ron Cooper is now in the NFL coaching the Bucs
Gillespie is now the RB coach at WVU.

Johnson Fired
Graham (could be fired shortly)
Kiffen's brother in law, David Reaves, was left in the rain when he bolted, but is now an OC at NMU.
Hunter (I think we canned him though)
John Hunt was HORRIBLE, and now he's coaching HS ball somewhere.
Coach Ray, unemployed I think.
Nix went from USC to ole miss and now to midd tenn state.
Did Fred Chatham retire?
David Wommack is at Ole Miss as the DC.

[Emery]

I wasn't very clear I think...most coaches who left here largely stayed in same role but at more 'prominent' programs. Thus, leading the assumption that 'you can succeed at USC, now let's see how you do in a big time program'. Southern Miss wasn't a bad job, the timing was poor but the possibilities were there. It was one of the first times I felt like a program looked an assistant coach here and was truly envious/impressed with the job he was doing.

[usc90grad]

How many other coaches have been fired after just one season? I can't think of any.

[lake-cityCOCK89]

I said it then, EJ is not head coach material. He is a good defensive coordinator and he knows his stuff, but he just doesnt have that personality that players these days can get behind.

hope for the best for the guy though.

[Kickerspl80]

Thank god the "coach in waiting" thing didnt work out with Ellis. Not that it would have actually happened, but if it had ended up that way things might have gone extremely bad for us. He is just not a head coach.

[JQ94]

12-2 to 0-12 deserves to be fired, 100% of the time under normal circumstances

[uscgmck]

Did not read the link but I can tell you first hand So Miss people are PISSED. The school is in a difficult spot. They can hardly afford the payout, but big boosters and fans made it clear if he comes back no dues and no ticket sales. The team will play to an empty stadium. The just completed their new lux boxes and upgrades and the big spenders that I know are just beside themselves.

I think EJ's attitude has a lot to do with it, his way or the highway. If he had tried to work with folks it may have given him more time.

[Flameout12]

Well that sure sucks for everyone...he may be one of the worst HBCs ever.
He'll get a DC job if he wants one....hope it's not SEC.

[peterlemon]

Originally Posted by Wkrice91

While I am sorry that he got fired. I truly hate that. However, it did piss me off when he ditched his defensive players here just before the bowl game last year. I felt he disrespected them. Although, things have worked out just fine for SC since, and I have to say that I like the more aggressive Whammy approach.

I felt the exact same way you on him leaving them hanging before the bowl, but now I am overjoyed to have Ward instead of him. I couldn't stand his attitude.

[Spurrier_Superior_One]

Just think that there were actually people on here who wanted EJ to be the heir apparent to Spurrier. He was exposed for what some of us already knew he was never going to even be a mediocre head coach, he is a coordinator not head coach material.