Did I really just hear that first-year University of South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson threw his hat in the ring for the Mississippi State head coaching vacancy here recently?

I realize loyalty to a school among coaches in college athletics is an illusion. Has to be, since athletics directors cut people loose routinely and staying at one school for more than five years is the exception rather than the rule. I also understand that in this era contracts, especially long-term ones, are absolutely meaningless and present no obstacle for a coach or A.D. with a mind to break it.

I get all that.

Ellis Johnson                              Photo by Matt Alsup

Still, something about Johnson’s rush to hike up his skirt for MSU strikes me as poor judgment. Before I say anything else, though, let me first convey in the strongest possible terms I think hiring Johnson was the best decision Steve Spurrier has made at USC. Were Johnson a high school recruit, he’d be a five-star stud, and no one can be anything but massively impressed with the job he did this past regular season, with the exception, of course, of the Clemson game in which his unit failed miserably and looked every bit as bad as the defenses of years past — worse, in fact, since they surrendered the most points to Clemson under Spurrier.

What bugs me is that Johnson had to know MSU, where he obviously has many contacts from working there, was looking for an offensive-minded coach, which they hired. So unless he was told differently by his sources there, to anyone else it was obvious that since the Bulldogs had just gone through a depressing tenure under a respected defensive coach whose offenses were the worst in the league every year, they hardly would be eager to tread the same path.

Secondly, the timing of his interest was poor, coming as it did with the stink of the Clemson game still very much in the room. While I’ve been the first to heap scorn on the offense’s performance, specifically from the quarterback position, the defense absolutely abandoned ship versus the Tigers and got manhandled by an injury-riddled, makeshift offensive line that other defenses had little difficulty stymieing.

It’s precisely how poorly the defense played in the last two games of the season, in fact, that has most fans concerned about the bowl game. I have confidence the offense will score points with Stephen Garcia at quarterback, just as it did every time he played significant minutes in big league wins over Kentucky and Tennessee. But now I have zero confidence that USC can return to form on defense after getting its spirits crushed and butts whipped by Florida and Clemson. I mean, did Emmanuel Cook even play against Clemson? Besides Darian Stewart, who played his ass off, the entire defense looked lost and as if they wanted to be anywhere else.

So, at a time when questions about where the defensive players minds are abound, their coordinator’s head is dreaming of sugar plums in Starkville. A better tactic would have been for him to have squashed any rumors of interest, perceived or otherwise, and reiterate his commitment to USC.

Which brings me to the other point I’m troubled by. I know Johnson wants to be a head coach again more than anything else in the whole wide world — it’s part of his contract that USC waives a buyout fee if Johnson leaves to become a head coach somewhere else — but doesn’t he understand or hasn’t he been told that the best chance to do that is to stay put and take over when Spurrier retires in four or five years? Though nothing is on paper, it’s common knowledge that Johnson would be tops on the list of replacements. I even expect that to be addressed formally in the coming offseason.

And if Johnson is eager to leap at whatever opportunity presents itself, why agree to the mid-year contract extension he signed back in October? If you’ll recall, the whole idea of the thing was, in Spurrier’s words, to send a message to recruits that Johnson “is going to be here and that I’m going to be here for several more years.”

Uh, not so much, it turns out, had MSU wanted Johnson.

Now the mid-year extension was absolutely deserved. But it also was premature, especially given Johnson’s apparent impatience to be a head coach. He’s already the highest-paid assistant in school history, so it can’t be about money. And why, if you want to be a head coach, would you want to forego a chance to work with one of the most successful college football coaches in history? I’d think that could only help one’s chances and make one a better overall coach, especially on offense.

Finally, much hay has been made about Johnson’s long-awaited homecoming, and he himself has stated on numerous occasions how much it means to him for his family to be back home. Except that he was ready to move them again had the Bulldogs made a sincere offer.

Again, I understand that loyalty to a school does not exist among coaches. But it should, especially given the loyalty the school and fans have shown Johnson as evidenced by the unusual mid-year extension. I’m hoping that Johnson’s interest in MSU wasn’t sincere and that the only things on his mind are getting his defense’s swagger back in time to play Iowa and hauling in what looks like perhaps the best defensive recruiting class in school history. Before, I’d never have questioned that that was the case. But now, coming off a devastating loss to Clemson and the MSU speculation, who knows for sure? Only Johnson, and it’d be a nice Christmas present to USC fans if he would make his position clear.