Ellis Johnson ( American football coach ) 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 . 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 . 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 ) . Johnson resigned his position to take the linebackers coach position at The Citadel . 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 . After only two years at Clemson , Johnson returned to Alabama in January 1997 to serve as defensive coordinator for head coach Mike DuBose . He served at Alabama through the 2000 season when he was hired as head coach at The Citadel . 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 . 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 . During his only season at Gardner – Webb in 1983 , he led the Runnin ' Bulldogs squad to a five wins and six losses ( 5 – 6 ) . He resigned his position on January 10 , 1984 , to become the defensive coordinator for Mack Brown at Appalachian State . 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 . During his three seasons at The Citadel from 2001 to 2003 , he led the Bulldogs to 12 wins and 22 losses ( 12 – 22 ) . He resigned his position on December 15 , 2003 , to become the defensive coordinator for Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State . Southern Miss . Johnson was hired on December 20 , 2011 , as the Golden Eagles head coach . At his introductory news conference he noted USM ’ s 18 straight winning seasons and said : " I am convinced you can always be successful . " 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 . 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 . The October 20 , 2012 , Marshall game resulted in the most points scored against USM at home since 1987 , Brett Favre ' s freshman year . 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 " . 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 . ” 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 . " 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 . 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 .