Is Anyone Else Concerned/Worried about the Hiring of Ellis Johnson?

[dwbhog]

Look at the difference in who each team plays. Not concerned at all. Petrino knows what he's doing.

I believe we are darn fortunate to get him.  MSU did everything they could to keep him.

What exactly did Miss St. do to try an keep him?  Just Curious.

[HotlantaHog]

Not concerned. Like most of the other posters, I trust Petrino's judgment until there is a good reason not to -- hopefully that will be some time.

[mtnmusic]

I think BP put together a great staff... particularly with all the adverse publicity dealt out by ESpin. Give the man a break and lets stop second-guessing him. Anything he does will be an improvement over TCTWF's pickup basketball squad of flunkies.

[tophawg19]

i felt like with the money supposedly available they would go after bud foster or muschamp or another of the major names but this is a good hire . time will tell but it could turn out to be a great hire . if he doesn't work out L WARD might be another one ready to step up . the nice thing is we will have to fight to keep our coaches every year . finally we have some somebody will want.

[preach33]

Nope - Hogs have better talent - simply put

[Dwight_K_Shrute]

What exactly did Miss St. do to try an keep him?  Just Curious.

I heard Sly Croom called Johnson into his office and said

"Ellis are you sure you want to move to Fayetteville?  I think we can match whatever they offered."

Sly then said "Let's get out a peace of paper and we will write down all the good things about Starkville in one column, and all the good things about Fayetteville in the other column and see how they match up.  We'll start with Starkville"

So Sly stares at the paper for about 15 minutes and then stood up shook Ellis's hand and said "Congratulations, and good luck my friend"

[rizzohoghead]

not worried at all, this guy is a steady experienced defensive mind.  He did good at MSU he will do great for the hogs, no doubt...

[TMooney]

It was no contest at all.
He was getting 200,000 and Reggie got 350,000 not counting the last game which was more money. He wasnt happy and they were working on a raise but it would not have been anything close to what Reggie was getting . I dont know how much they are paying him right now . He didnt talk to the coach about leaving as the coach was out of town. He was told on a phone call he was "gone". He left in the shadow of darkness , lol. The HC mentioned that Arkansas didnt call and ask permission to talk to him. He would address that at another time but hasnt as of yet.

[losthawg68]

it's all gravy baby

[rickm1976]

Reggie's run defense may have been good, but his pass defense sucked quite a lot - and his run defense looked pretty bad in the Cotton bowl.  I know he wasn't coaching defense for that game, but it was still his defense.

[The Realist]

They also played West Virginia this year which boosted rushing stats

[ICEman]

Red Herring was number one in total defense at NCST until the Nuttster hired him away and corrupted his ability to fully perform as a DC.

[hog_fan]

Lets' see. Do I take some posters word that Johnson sucks or do I take Petrino's and Spurrier's word that they are good. I let the person that started this thread figured that one out.

[hogfanshan]

Let Petrino to is thing...coaching, hiring, recruiting, etc. IF in 3-4 years we are not a much improved program, then complain. Until then, I'm on the Petrino train and would be excited if he hired Gomer Pyle as an assistant coach.

[cessna8667]

Ellis Johnson was the Defensive Coordinator at Alabama from 1997-2000.  During those 4 Seasons while Johnson was the Defensive Coordinator at Alabama, the Hogs had 3 Wins and 1 Loss vs. Alabama.  During the Hogs 3 Wins and 1 Loss vs. Alabama while Johnson was the Alabama DC, the Hogs scored an average of 28.75 Pts/Game vs. Ellis Johnson's Alabama Defense.   

I'm sorry, I must have missed where you stated your qualifications to evaluate coordinator-level positions.  Could you please expand on that?

[GixerTaz]

NO..NO.NO.NO.NO..... AND If the org. Poster gohogs is?  He is a dork! Read the DARN BIO 1st {all of it}!

[Dr Swineglove]

Ellis Johnson was Steve Spurrier's first choice to replace Tyrone Nix as DC at South Carolina.
I think the ole ball coach knows a bit more about football than any of us here on this message
board.

[HOGPICKER]

He's probably has good contacts in Bama and Miss recruiting wise.  I think he is there for that reason plus he's a good DC.  I'm not questioning any of BPs hires. 

[Razor8]

Dont forget about recruiting - Ellis Johnson opens up avenues into Mississippi that we prob wouldnt have, had we hired Bumpas. Plus the whole competition level thing - i think we made the right hire!!!

[Throwback1]

My position is that I'm pretty sure Coach Petrino is a better judge of assistant coaching ability than I am.

[msudawgs64]

I heard Sly Croom called Johnson into his office and said

"Ellis are you sure you want to move to Fayetteville?  I think we can match whatever they offered."

Sly then said "Let's get out a peace of paper and we will write down all the good things about Starkville in one column, and all the good things about Fayetteville in the other column and see how they match up.  We'll start with Starkville"

So Sly stares at the paper for about 15 minutes and then stood up shook Ellis's hand and said "Congratulations, and good luck my friend"

lol..actually he did get all of the assistants a raise but truth be told, Johnson was not going to stay even though he said he was.  He was interviewing with Ga. Tech and South Carolina before the bowl.   No way could we match what Arkansas offered but if he did not want to be there, then no money was going to change that.  I actually did hear though, not sure if it is true or not though, that he and Woody McCorvey had some philosophical differences, mainly Woody running a shite offense and letting his defense take up the slack and keep us in pretty much every game.  Hopefully South Alabama sees what an offensive genius that McCorvey is and hire him away from us, that would not hurt me in the least bit.

[Hogs12]

Didn't MS State limit the rushing yards of both Slaton and Pat White the past two years? Nuff said. I think it was a pretty good hire.

[msudawgs64]

It was no contest at all.
He was getting 200,000 and Reggie got 350,000 not counting the last game which was more money. He wasnt happy and they were working on a raise but it would not have been anything close to what Reggie was getting . I dont know how much they are paying him right now . He didnt talk to the coach about leaving as the coach was out of town. He was told on a phone call he was "gone". He left in the shadow of darkness , lol. The HC mentioned that Arkansas didnt call and ask permission to talk to him. He would address that at another time but hasnt as of yet.

not sure how he resigned, the article on the CL out of Jackson MS is not real clear but he did inform Croom.  This is the quote from Croom on EJ leaving.

"Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson informed me yesterday morning that he had accepted a similar position at the University of Arkansas," Croom said in a statement e-mailed Monday by the MSU media relations department. "We feel that we have done everything possible to keep Ellis here, but he indicated to me that his decision was in his family's best interest. Ellis has been a big part of our success and we wish him well in the future, but we will move quickly to hire a replacement."

end of story.  Croom promoted from within and all is well.  You won't hear anything else from Croom on this matter, bank on that.

[intoxhog]

I believe we are darn fortunate to get him.  MSU did everything they could to keep him.

Im going to have faith in CBP, however i an concernd a bit after hearing Miss State fans and Bama fans saying how bad he sucks. Only time will tell the test of time.

[intoxhog]

Ellis Johnson was Steve Spurrier's first choice to replace Tyrone Nix as DC at South Carolina.
I think the ole ball coach knows a bit more about football than any of us here on this message
board.

I didn't hear that, but that is reassuring to say the least.

[stronguard]

I think EJ is a solid if unspectacular hire.  Every year when I watch MSU I comment on how solid their D looks and how awful their O looks.  Every year they consistently stop the run and play a physical brand of football. 

I know Central Florida isn't SEC caliber, but when you shut down a team that was scoring points in droves with the leading rusher in the nation you have a solid plan.  They did that, and EJ was the architect. 

Plus, think how motivated EJ will be.  Not only is he getting to move away from Starkvile, he is also trading Croom's Maroon Swoon offense for Bobby Petrino's power spread attack.  He just got a 25 point per game bonus to work with.

I wouldn't have been as excited with Bumpass as am with EJ.  Not because Bumpass is a bad DC, but because when I hear TCU, I don't think defense.  When I hear MSU, I think defense.  (Well, truthfully I first think eeeeewwwwww, THEN defense)

[missippihog]

Every MS State fan I have spoken to says Ellis Johnson was the best coach on the MSU staff and the only coach they should have not let get away no matter what. Sound like a good hire to me.

[razorbackcaller]

Just give Petrino a chance. we gave nuttless 10 years. If Johnson is not working he will be gone soon.

[TMooney]

msudawgs64 , I read the same thing plus Ive read everything I could find on it . Somtimes you put two and two together but I tried not to do that .

It seems like he was the best coach on the feild on results .
Im really sorry they are money limited . As Ive read the articles on HI this is really a big statement on athletics. I noticed last night that one coach in the GMAC bowl got 350,000 and the other is getting 1 million. Im sure as long as you have been here on this forum how radical pay has been upped. Then we get a front page article Sunday saying that donations are down. Then we have to put two and two together . We have been asking why we took the golden hand cuffs off Nutt. I think the donations thing makes it pretty clear and we know they wont report that . Jones from HI was getting 350,000 but now the "governor " has stepped in the middle and suppposedly given him a third offer to keep him. That would put it somewhere over 2 million.

[PlayCallinBrotha]

One thing to keep in mind, these coaches are not isolated from each other, they have to work together, if I want to get a job done in a hurry I will take people who I'm comfortable will do what I want without me having to watch over their shoulder to make sure their doing it the way I want it done. Give BP the benefit of the doubt in knowing who will work WITH him and his staff the best.

[Dropkick]

Are you the president of Bumpas' fan club or just have a crush on him?

[tbhogfan]

Having seen MSU play a couple of times this year, I am not worried at all about the hiring.  If it were not for their D, MSU would have trouble winning at all, because their offense was pathetic.  With the better overall talent he will have at Arkansas, Coach Johnson will do quite well.   

[thewholehog]

Don't know if this has been posted.  If Ellis doesn't cut it, you won't see a Dork mentality.  He'll let them go.

He's all business and will cut dead weight.

[oldman1015]

my concern is that you think you know more about hiring coaches than coach petrino.

[Hogdomer]

It also doesn't hurt that by hiring Ellis Johnson the UofA will have demonstrated once again that we hire the best coaches possible, and the color of their skin is not even a consideration.

How does this apply?  If I'm not mistaken, both Bumpas and Johnson are white.

[Hogdomer]

Didn't MS State limit the rushing yards of both Slaton and Pat White the past two years? Nuff said. I think it was a pretty good hire.

No, Slaton had his best game of the year against MSU this year.  Also, WVU won 42-14 in 2006 and 38-13 in 2007.

[DeltaBoy]

I am worried/concerned about the hiring of Ellis Johnson as DC.  I was wondering if anyone else was worried/concerned?  I was hoping that Fort Smith native and Razorback Alumnus, Dick Bumpas, would be strongly considered and hired as DC for the UofA.  The following is a comparison of Bumpas' TCU Defense and Johnson's Mississippi State Defense this Season in 3 key national defensive categories (with a link to each category):

Rushing Defense

TCU-- 14th Ranked Nationally
Mississippi State-- 63rd Ranked Nationally

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2007&div=4&rpt=IA_teamrushdef&site=org

Scoring Defense

TCU-- 12th Ranked Nationally
Mississippi State-- 36th Ranked Nationally

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2007&div=4&rpt=IA_teamscordef&site=org

Total Defense

TCU--  17th Ranked Nationally
Mississippi State-- 25th Ranked Nationally

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2007&div=4&rpt=IA_teamtotdef&site=org

One interesting aspect that should be noted is that Herring's Arkansas Defense was ranked higher in Rushing Defense nationally than was Johnson's Mississippi State Defense (Arkansas-- 53rd Ranked vs. Mississippi State-- 63rd Ranked).

I hope that Ellis Johnson turns out to be a good/great hire for the UofA, but I wished that Dick Bumpas would have been strongly considered and hired.  Bumpas has a tremendous amount of coaching experience, and Bumpas' TCU Defenses have been excellent.  Oklahoma, Bob Stoops, and Adrian Peterson could be asked about regarding just how good Dick Bumpas is as a Defensive Coordinator.  In 2005, Bumpas' TCU Defense held Oklahoma's Offense (with Adrian Peterson) to just 225 Yards of Total Offense and 10 Points at Norman, OK.      





  

Apples vs Oranges comparsion and NO I am not worried about any of Coach Petrinos hires.

[RT1941]

How does this apply?  If I'm not mistaken, both Bumpas and Johnson are white.

I thought the same thing.....

[LJHOG]

My only concern is he won't find enough depth of talent on hand.  From and X's and O's perspective I figure he'll do just fine.  Mississppi State's D played pretty well most of the year.

[LSPRazorbac]

Is this thread serious?

Sissy St. was one of the better SEC defenses this year.  Their offense was just horrible.

[stlouiesooie]

For perspective, the author of this thread was also championing Patterson and Clint Conque for head coach....quite underwhelming considering where we are now!