GoGamecocks.com
Moves work out for Nix, Johnson
Defenses for both USC and Mississippi are flying high
In this file photograph, USC held its first official football practice in Columbia getting ready for the 2006 football season. Defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix works the defense out.
Rich Glickstein/rglickstein@thestate.com /The State
CommentsTo look at Brian VanGorder’s bio on the Atlanta Falcons’ Web site, it is as if VanGorder’s 17-day stint in Columbia never happened.
It’s hard to fault the Falcons for glossing over VanGorder’s layover in South Carolina: He never coached a game with USC, never sold his house in Georgia and barely had time to learn the names of the administrative assistants in the Gamecocks’ football offices.
VanGorder’s drop-in with Steve Spurrier’s staff was part of a 45-day period of musical chairs involving a handful of defensive coordinators, four SEC schools and the aforementioned Falcons.
When the music stopped, Tyrone Nix had jumped from USC to Mississippi (after also talking to Arkansas), Ellis Johnson moved from Mississippi State to Arkansas to USC (after also talking to Georgia Tech) and VanGorder returned to the NFL.
Fast-forward eight months: The Gamecocks (3-2) have the country’s top-ranked defense under Johnson, and Mississippi (3-2) is coming off its first signature win under Houston Nutt — a 31-30 stunner against No. 4 Florida that Nix’s defense sealed by stuffing Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, on fourth-and-short.
As their teams prepare to face each other Saturday in Oxford, Miss., Johnson and Nix believe they’re where they are supposed to be.
“Right now, everybody has a job. That’s the best thing. Somebody won’t be happy after Saturday,” said Johnson, a Winnsboro native who tried previously to come to USC.
“It’s been good for me personally. I haven’t looked back on any of it. Hopefully, we can do what we need to do here because we’d certainly like to be here a while.”
Nix, who spent three years at USC, has no regrets, either.
“Timing is the key on everything,” he said Tuesday during a phone interview. “I’m blessed and fortunate to be in the situation I am right now. I’m sure everybody else feels the same way.”
Nix and Spurrier say they parted on friendly terms.
After defensive meltdowns against the Nutt-coached Razorbacks and Tebow-led Gators during USC’s season-ending, five-game losing streak, Spurrier decided he needed to make changes.
Nix was not fired. But when Spurrier did not assure Nix he would keep his coordinator’s title, it encouraged Nix to look for another job.
“I thought at that time if there was something out there too good to be true that I need to take advantage of it,” Nix said. “It was obvious we didn’t play up to the expectations, and we didn’t play as well as we needed to. You pray about these things and you do what you think’s best. And at the time, I think we all agreed that it was good for me and it was good for South Carolina to have a change.”
Nix received a big pay increase from Mississippi, going from $200,000 a year at USC to $350,000. That raised the salary bar for Johnson, who received the same financial package at Arkansas and USC.
Hours after being jilted by VanGorder, Spurrier turned to Johnson, the veteran defensive coach who spent three weeks at Arkansas after Bobby Petrino bolted the Falcons for Fayetteville.
Spurrier said at the time he should have hired Johnson initially. After watching the Gamecocks shut out N.C. State in the opener and rise to No. 1 and No. 2 nationally in total defense and pass defense this week, Spurrier is pleased how everything transpired.
“It’s worked out super for Ty and, obviously, it’s worked out super for us,” Spurrier said.
The 56-year-old Johnson installed a different defense than Nix’s four-linebacker scheme. In Johnson’s 4-2 alignment, USC plays with two inside linebackers and a hybrid safety/linebacker that Johnson calls a ‘spur.’
The results have been impressive. The Gamecocks have allowed 221.4 yards per game, including 105 in the air, while giving up less than two touchdowns per game.
But don’t bring the numbers up to Johnson, who is not a big stats guy.
“I don’t think they’re irrelevant, but I don’t put a lot of stock in them,” he said. “We’ve probably not played the tougher part of our schedule. We’ve been very blessed with injury problems not biting us like it did last year. A lot of things still got to play out. We’ll see where we are at the end of the season.”
At the end of last season, USC middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley was recovering from knee surgery and considering following Nix out the door — until Nix nixed the idea.
“I wasn’t thinking about the NFL. It’s just I wasn’t going to stay if he was going to leave. And I had told him that,” Brinkley said. “So he just broke it down to me: You need to stay.”
Brinkley remains in close contact with Nix and sent his former position coach a congratulatory text message when the Rebels beat Florida.
Likewise, Nix, who turned 36 on Tuesday, had kept an eye on his former players.
“They’re playing salty on defense. They’ve got them all playing hard and they’re chasing the football,” he said. “They look good. I’m really proud of those guys. I miss some of them.”
Reach Person at (803) 771-8496.
Date What happened
| Dec. 11 | Mississippi’s Houston Nutt hires Tyrone Nix as defensive coordinator |
| Dec. 19 | Steve Spurrier announces Brian VanGorder as Nix’s successor at USC |
| Dec. 31 | Ellis Johnson leaves Mississippi State to become defensive coordinator at Arkansas |
| Jan. 7 | VanGorder arrives in Columbia for his first day at USC |
| Jan. 24 | VanGorder returns to the Atlanta Falcons; Spurrier hires Johnson |
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