In football, everyone loves to talk about good coaching hires. You know him, the guy with the rings, the championship pedigree and experience to weather the slings and arrows of football.

Then there’s the other kind of hire, the highly hyped coordinator on a good team who parlays his team’s success into a head coaching gig.

When Southern Miss hired Larry Fedora four years ago, he was a superstar. He was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State under Mike “I’m a man, I’m 40” Gundy of Youtube fame and his offenses put up points as quickly as the shuttle climbed into space.

He was the hottest property in coaching circles, even if he called USM “Southern Miss University” three times in his opening news conference. But he always had one foot out the door. Eventually, when the Golden Eagles got further than the New Orleans Bowl, Fedora found a greener pasture — at the University of North Carolina.

But there’s another kind of coaching hire. He’s not a great one, at least not to the untrained eye. But he’s a solid one who turns into a great one over the long haul.

Southern Miss hired that kind of coach Tuesday, bringing in former South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson. Ole Miss did the same with former Arkansas State coach Hugh Freeze a few weeks ago.

Both coaches want to be where they are now. Neither of them has one foot out the door. Both have been assistants at their new jobs. Johnson is 59 and ready to find his final gig. Freeze, a Senatobia native, is where he always dreamed he would be. Ole Miss is his greener pasture.

Both are the right men at the right time. Ole Miss wasn’t exactly overwhelmed with a lot of big names in its search to replace Houston Nutt. But Freeze brings instant credibility to the recruiting trail, as he helped Ed Orgeron fill the Ole Miss cupboard with an amazing array of talent. His no-huddle spread offense will finally allow the Rebels to stop trying to beat LSU and Alabama at their own power-running game.

The offense will allow them to recruit the kind of playmakers Ole Miss lacked when the last of Orgeron’s and Freeze’s recruits left the field for the final time.

Rebuilding the Rebels is going to be a long-term project, but Freeze knows that a couple of recruiting classes could return credibility.

Johnson brings instant credibility as a recruiter and as a brilliant defensive mind. His defenses at Alabama, Mississippi State and South Carolina were among the nation’s best. Whereas Fedora was bombastic, Johnson is more dignified and low key, just like former coach Jeff Bower.

He intends to keep the spread offense that has piled up points and put fans into the stands. If the Golden Eagles can continue their defensive improvement, there’s no reason why Johnson can’t get the Golden Eagles into a BCS bowl one day. While BCS busters Boise State and TCU are in bigger markets and have more revenues than Southern Miss, there’s no reason that the Golden Eagles can’t crash the BCS party.