Crimson Red Sports

I am constantly amazed at the number of sports talkers & fans who constantly say Ellis Johnson is a "good" defensive coordinator. this myth has been perpetuated, mostly by Tide fans, from his time with Coach Mike DumBose 1997-2000. Well, let's look at the facts, they tell the real story.

From 1997-2000, the Tide D gave up an average of 22.3 points per game. Who really thinks those are good numbers? In the Big 12 or WAC, he would have been considered a defensive genius, but in the SEC & Alabama, it's crummy. We won the SEC in 1999, but gave up 20 points a game, and was 10-3 on the year.

From 2004-2007 he was at Mississippi State. Those teams surrendered 24.4 points a game, not exactly the numbers of a bone-jarring D.

From 2008-2011 he was at South Carolina.  Those teams gave up 20.8 points a game. His best year was 2011 when his super D gave up 18.3 points a game.

A good defense surrenders 15 points a game. A very good D allows 12-13 points a game, a great D 10 or less.

Johnson going to Auburn is good news for us.


 :dog:

I always thought Johson was a fair DC. The one good year Dubose had was due to the offense. In several games we had to out score the other team. I have no idea what Johnson had to work with at Miss State. The defense at USCe has improved since he left. I don't think he is a bad DC, he just is not a good one. To be successful in the SEC you have to have a good defense. Malzahn better be ready to score a lot of points.

The barn is trying to get Tracy Rocker back as the DL coach. If they get him that will be a good hire.

This myth just will not go away. Bruce Feldman said on Finebaum today that Johnson was an "elite" DC. Does no one ever check their facts before making such statements?



 ???




 >:(

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2012/12/auburn_makes_ellis_johnsons_hi.html


Seems hiring a fired, 0-12 coach would get you a break on the price?  ???

There are many factors that go into to this.  One, how much rest does the O give the D?  Two, is the head coach an offensive or defensive guy?  I promise if he is very offensive he recruits more of those players than he does defensive players.

Sorry, I do not buy this excuse. Everywhere he has been, the pattern is the same. DumBose & Croom were defensive guys.


 :wave:

Not excuses, facts.  If a head coach is more offensive, many times they recruit better offensive players and will take an offensive player over a defensive player and have the defensive coach make do. 

As I said, the pattern involving Johnson stays the same no matter where he coaches, whether it's DumBose, Croom, or Spurrier. He's overrated and the stats bear that out.


 ;)

I am not trying to break up a good fight but for what it is worth I think you are both right.

Another myth got started on Finebaum about Johnson today. One of his employees were filling in for him & he stated that yeah Johnson was winless at Southern Miss, but there were reasons for it. In other words, it wasn't his fault he took a 12-2 team & went winless.


 :eyeroll:

Well for my 2-cents, whatever the reasons, Marsh has a point about the results.

I don't get why Gus rushed out and hired this guy, and paid pretty good $$$.  Did he not have other choices?? Maybe some connection we're missing.  Somehow, I don't think this speaks well for Gus...and that's good for us.

No fight, he is talking in general terms and I am talking about one specific coach. In general I have seen what he is saying, especially in the NFL. Ellis Johnson is still an average to fair (at most) DC.


 :-*

What I am stating is not all directed at EJ.  It applies to all coaches.  If you really want to evaluate EJ's work then you would look at how the D did before he got to a certain school.  Was the D better/worse the year before EJ/a coach got there.  Also you would look at things such as did they change the scheme.   

Before I state this let me say I love Bama's defensive staff.  For the sake of discussion, did they do a better job this year or last?