Football

One of the most intriguing additions to the coaching staff is offensive line coach and running game coordinator Dave Johnson. Most recently the offensive coordinator and O-line coach at Colorado State, Johnson’s resume touts 35 years of coaching experience, including the Football Bowl Subdivision with stops at Ohio, UMass, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Georgia and Marshall.

 

“We were very fortunate to get someone with Dave’s background,” Alexander said. “He has a tremendous playing background at West Virginia, then coached at Georgia and has coached 19 bowl games. It’s a wealth of experience.

 

“He’s a very good teacher. I look for the same thing when hiring assistant coaches as when I was an assistant principal hiring teachers – we want people who have knowledge of the subject matter because you can’t teach what you don’t know. Dave has a strong background in football. You look at the fit on the staff, character, how does it fit in the Tennessee Tech community, the Cookeville community, the philosophy of what we believe in here as far as the culture in the locker room. To me, it’s all of those things.

 

Alexander continued, “He has spent some time and coached in the southeast part of the country, so he wanted to get back down to this area. He has family that’s about to move down here – his son is moving here in June along with his grandkids and he has other family that’s close to here within a three- or four-hour drive. For him and his wife, Lynn, it was a great opportunity to get back into a part of the country they were familiar with.”

 

With the stops he’s made and the roles he’s held, Johnson is a great addition to the Tech staff.

 

“He’s been a run game coordinator, he’s been an offensive line coach, he’s been a tight ends coach,” Alexander said. “He was the offensive coordinator and run game coordinator at Colorado State for the last couple of seasons. He was the O-line coach at Ohio under Frank Solich for five years. He was with Mark Richt at Georgia for eight years. We’re very fortunate to add him.

 

“Dave and Jeff both reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, I heard you guys might have an opening,’ and I said, ‘Really? You’re interested? That’s awesome.” Add in Chris and Bert and we have a lot of guys with Purple and Gold ties here, guys who played here.”

 

In his career, Johnson has coached in 19 bowl games -- the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, 2016 Dollar General Bowl, 2015 Camellia Bowl, 2012 Belk Bowl, 2011 Auto Zone Liberty Bowl, 2010 Champs Sports Bowl, 2009 Konica Gator Bowl, 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl, 2008 Allstate Sugar Bowl, 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl, 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl, 2005 Outback Bowl, 2004 Capital One Bowl, 2003 Nokia Sugar Bowl, 2001 Music City Bowl and the 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Motor City Bowls.

 

With his help, Johnson has helped lead teams to nine conference championships, including titles in the Big East, the Mid-American and Southeastern Conferences. He mentored 12 NFL players, five All-Americans and 32 all-conference selections.

Johnson received his bachelor’s in speech communications in 1983, then master’s in sport management and administration in 1985 from West Virginia. 

 

He started his coaching career with two seasons as a graduate assistant, coaching tight ends, at UVW. then spent a season as the offensive line and tight ends coach at Shippensburg. Johnson then had a 10-season tenure at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, spending the last seven as the offensive coordinator.

 

He then began a successful stretch on the FBS level with four years as tight ends coach, including three seasons as the recruiting coordinator at Marshall, then took the tight ends/special teams post at Georgia from 2001 through the 2008 season.

 

Johnson then returned to his alma mater for a three-year stint as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Mountaineers, before taking the tight ends coach post at Cincinnati for two seasons.

 

After a one-year stop at UMass in 2013, Johnson spent four years at Ohio University, the final three as offensive line coach and run game coordinator.