Ellis Johnson favors a nine-game SEC schedule

ANNISTON -- Ellis Johnson has spent an overwhelming portion of his storied coaching career in the SEC.

He has seen his share of the conference's rivalries and understands the region better than most anyone in the profession.

With the conference's athletic leadership set to decide on the conference's future football scheduling format "soon," as commissioner Mike Slive said on Monday, Johnson has a preference for what he'd like to see in the eight versus nine-game conference schedule debate.

"I'm certainly not one of the coaches that will have any input if coaches do," Johnson said on Friday. "But I've always thought the ninth game made more sense."

Johnson's view is in opposition to Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, who has long been in favor of an eight-game league schedule with Georgia as the permanent East division.

A 40-year coaching veteran, Johnson has been in four different SEC locations (Alabama, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Auburn). He would like to see traditional rivalries kept in tact and for every team in the conference to face one another over time.

"When I was in the SEC when they first started the East-West, and we had two permanent and one rotator (in cross-division games), and it worked better," he said. "What you're getting into now, is you've got Missouri in the east, which makes no sense at all, so to straighten it all out, you're going to have to go to a nine-game schedule. That's my opinion.

"Does it make it harder? You're dadgum right, because I think we're the best conference in America, and when you've got to play nine of them instead of eight of them, it's simple math. But it does cut out on some of the regional and national-flavored scheduling. There's some negatives to it, but I think the only way you're going to keep natural rivals able to play each other, and also have good balance, and put these things back to a logical reason with matchups, to me it only makes sense. I can't imagine what Missouri is spending, sending their volleyball team and track team all over the place. I don't know how they do it."