Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn began building his coaching staff by hiring veteran defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson and up and coming offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee.
Johnson was formerly the head coach at Southern Miss. and brings 16 years of SEC coaching experience with him to Auburn.
His previous stops were at Alabama from 1997 2000, Mississippi State from 2004-2007 and South Carolina from 2008-2011.
"Ellis is one of the top defensive minds in all of college football. He is very experienced and has tremendous success coaching in the Southeastern Conference," Malzahn said. "He is a man of integrity who will be a great ambassador for Auburn. We're very pleased to have him join our staff and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our program."
This experience is valuable when it comes to recruiting in the SEC. Johnson is known as a relentless recruiter. At his last stop in the SEC at South Carolina Johnson signed the number one high school player in the country according to Rivals.com and ESPN, Jadeveon Clowney.
Johnson also knows what it takes to compete with top rival, Alabama.
Johnson runs a 4-2-5 base defense that highlights three safeties with the third safety being a hybrid player known as a "spur" in Johnson's defense.
"I'm very fortunate for the opportunity to coach at Auburn and return to the Southeastern Conference, where there is so much tradition and history," Johnson said. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Gus Malzahn, both as a man and a coach, and I really look forward to working for him. Auburn has a wonderful family environment and is a great community, which is a blessing for me, and my family. This is truly a home run for me. I can't wait to get started and I'm ready to go to work."
Lashlee, the offensive coordinator has the least coaching experience of all the staff, but he has the most experience working with Malzahn.
"Rhett is one of the best young offensive minds in college football," said Malzahn. "I've been with Rhett a long time and he's been an incredibly valuable right-hand man. He has a great knowledge and understanding of Auburn and will be a tremendous asset for this program both on and off the field."
Lashlee played for Malzahn in high school at Shiloh Christian School in Springdale, Ark. in 2002.
Lashlee was later a graduate assistant at Auburn from 2009-2010 before accepting the offensive coordinator position at Samford University under head coach Pat Sullivan in 2011.
Lashlee successfully installed Malzahn's high tempo offense while at Samford and improved Samford's offense from being ranked number 100 in the nation in scoring offense to 43.
In 2012 Lashlee was reunited with Malzahn at Arkansas State.
Lashlee's offense helped the Red Wolves to a 10-3 (7-1) record with a Sun Belt Championship and a bowl victory over Kent State in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
"We're very excited to be back in Auburn to rejoin this program and the Auburn family, which has the best fans in the country," Lashlee said. "I'm looking forward to working with Coach Malzahn and help get this team headed in the right direction and return to winning football games. Auburn holds a special place in my family's heart, as this is where our twin boys were born, so we are blessed to be back. I'm excited to get to work."
With Malzahn's coaching staff complete all efforts focus on offseason training and recruiting.
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