Off Season Topic #1374 Did Ellis Johnson's Departure End Spurrier's Career?

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at least appeared to be a poor choice.

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Whammy did ok at DC. Definitely not as good as EJ. It's just a blower that he left so recently and now is back, in a different (read: diminshed) role. I think he has a wealth of knowledge, probably one of the best in the country that had he stayed, we might not have seen the collapse we did last year.

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Personally I think Shane Beamer leaving ended started the end to HBC era more than anything

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Boom. Although I don't think it was just his leaving.

If Jay Graham is hired as recruiting coordinator instead of Bubba who knows where this program would be right now.

Johnson's departure itself did not end Spurrier's Career. He left after the 2011 season and we had two more 11-2 seasons after that.

Although I agree that Ward's promotion was a major factor in Spurrier's demise. Particularly because Ward hired Deke Adams

No, Johnson leaving didn't end the career. What ended his career was the fact we stopped recruiting the day we signed Clowney. After that moment recruiting became mundane and a nuisance for the staff. They started buying into "we'll win with you or without you" thought process insteading realizing the reason we were winning was because we had landed the top tier players. Whammy's first few years proved if you have enough talent even a poor coach can appear to be pretty good. Once our talent started declining our coaches were exposed. Spurrier never loved recruiting, but he had enough of a chip on his shoulder his first five or six years here to prove people wrong that he did enough to get good players. Spurrier ended his own career when he put his son in charge of recruiting and checked out.

Some guy on here, gamecock22 or something aired dirty laundry on the main board and the old man didn't like that. I'm sure he still lurks from time to time.

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Whammy did ok at DC.

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Gotta disagree with you there. Whammy was never fit to be DC. He was a very lazy coach who stressed laying the wood instead of good form tackling and solid fundamentals. He got by purely off the talent of Clowney, Swearinger, Quarles, Allen, and Holloman. Recruiting ability was all he could offer our program, and he was even lagging in that regard.

Promoting Ward to DC was the first sign that Spurrier was packing it in. We could've had pretty much anyone we wanted after the 2011 season, but Spurrier always had a blind loyalty to his staff, and in that situation, it was dangerous and didn't work.

I certainly think you could trace the beginning of the downfall to Ellis' departure, but it easily could've been prevented with the hiring of an up-and-comer who was eager to prove himself at DC. Spurrier didn't do it. A lot of our problems could've been prevented by not having Bubba in charge of recruiting, but Spurrier didn't do it.

In the end, I think Spurrier was responsible for the end of his career.