Bobby Johns (born May 17, 1946) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach. He served as an assistant coach in the college ranks for many years as well as head coach for a pair of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s and at the

University of West Alabama The University of West Alabama (UWA) is a public university in Livingston, Alabama. Founded in 1835, the school began as a church-supported school for young women called Livingston Female Academy. The original Board of Trustees of Livingston F ...

from 1997 through 2000. He is also a former

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

All-American

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played for coach

Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...

at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

Early years

After graduating from Banks High School in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, Johns enrolled at the University of Alabama. Playing

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in high school, during his freshman year he moved to defensive back. For the Crimson Tide, Johns was a member of the 1965 national championship team, was selected All-SEC three times (1965–1967) and All-America twice (1966–1967). He was selected in the 12th Round of the

1968 NFL Draft The 1968 National Football League draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968. The Min ...

by the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

, but elected to pursue a coaching career instead. As recognition for his career at Alabama, Johns was elected to the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fame ...

in 2010.

Coaching career

Early in his career, Johns coach at both McAdory and E.B. Erwin High School where he compiled an overall record of 52 wins and 30 losses (52–30) during his eight-year tenure as a high school head coach. From Erwin, Johns entered the college coaching ranks in 1972 where he coached defensive backs at Florence State University now UNA. Between 1984 and 1996 he coached at

Valdosta State Valdosta State University (VSU or Valdosta State) is a public university in Valdosta, Georgia. It is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. , VSU had over 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students. VSU a ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

and West Alabama. After serving one season as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

at West Alabama, in December 1996 he was promoted to the head coach position after the resignation of

Todd Stroud Todd Stroud (born December 17, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He is the assistant head coach and defensive line coach at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, a position he has held since 2019. He was previously ...

. Prior to entering the 2000 season with the Tigers, Johns announced he would resign from his position effective at the end of the season. For his career at West Alabama, Johns compiled a record of 11 wins and 31 losses (11–31).

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johns, Bobby 1946 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide football players All-American college football players Chattanooga Mocs football coaches Eastern Kentucky Colonels football coaches Florida State Seminoles football coaches High school football coaches in Alabama North Alabama Lions football coaches Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Valdosta State Blazers football coaches West Alabama Tigers football coaches