Fansided

25 worst college football coaching hires in history

By Nicholas Ian Allen

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 1: Head coach Mike Price of the Washington State University Cougars manages the game from the sidelines during the 89th Rose Bowl game against University of Oklahoma Sooners at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2003 in Pasadena, California. Oklahoma defeated Washington St. 34-14. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 1: Head coach Mike Price of the Washington State University Cougars manages the game from the sidelines during the 89th Rose Bowl game against University of Oklahoma Sooners at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2003 in Pasadena, California. Oklahoma defeated Washington St. 34-14. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
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COLLEGE PARK, MD – SEPTEMBER 13: Head coach Ellis Johnson of the Citadel Bulldogs directs his team against the University of Maryland Terrapins during NCAA football game at Byrd Stadium on September 13, 2003 in College Park, Maryland. The Terrapins defeated the Bulldogs 61-0. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD – SEPTEMBER 13: Head coach Ellis Johnson of the Citadel Bulldogs directs his team against the University of Maryland Terrapins during NCAA football game at Byrd Stadium on September 13, 2003 in College Park, Maryland. The Terrapins defeated the Bulldogs 61-0. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

9. Ellis Johnson, Southern Miss

  • Hired: December 2011
  • Fired: November 2012
  • Record at Southern Miss: 0-12 (.000)
  • Career head coaching record: 17-40 (.298)

Few college football coaches are more highly respected among their peers than Ellis Johnson, who earned a sterling reputation as a defensive coordinator at Clemson, Alabama, Mississippi State and South Carolina, among others, during a coaching career that has spanned five decades (and counting).

Johnson never had success as a head coach. He was 5-6 in one year at Gardner-Webb, and 12-22 in three seasons at The Citadel, but after a four-year stint serving as Steve Spurrier’s right-hand man at South Carolina, the 4-2-5 guru was offered a third chance to run his own program – Southern Miss – in 2012. The third time was not the charm.

Southern Miss gained a reputation as one of the best mid-major college football programs in the country during a three decade stretch from 1980, when the Golden Eagles entered the AP Top 20 for the first time, until 2011, when Larry Fedora left for North Carolina after he led the program to a school record 12 wins, an upset victory over undefeated Houston in the Conference USA Championship Game and a No. 20 spot in the final AP poll.

Enter Johnson, who led Southern Miss to not only its first losing season since 1993, its first without a bowl game since 2001, and the only winless season among FBS programs. Going from 12 wins to 12 losses in the span of one year is simply unprecedented, and Johnson was fired after just one season on the USM sidelines. The Golden Eagles did not record a winning record again until 2015.

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