Craig Johnson (born March 3, 1960) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who was the

running backs A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. There ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He was the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

from 2011 to 2013. Prior to the Vikings, he was the quarterbacks coach for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

from 2002 to 2009 and the running backs coach for the 2010 season. He served as an Analyst for the University of Maryland during the 2020 season. On February 7, 2022, Craig Johnson agreed to terms to join

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

as their new running back head coach.

Coaching career

Wyoming

Johnson began his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

in 1983.

Arkansas

In 1984, Johnson would move to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

also as a graduate assistant.

Army

In 1985, Johnson was a part-time assistant coach at

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, tutoring the fullbacks.

Rutgers

From 1986 to 1988, Johnson served as running backs coach for

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

VMI

From 1989 to 1991, Johnson was the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

. Under Johnson, VMI's offense ranked fifth in the nation in total offense in 1990 and first in rushing offense in 1991.

Northwestern

From 1992 to 1996, Johnson served as the quarterback coach for

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. At NU, he was part of the first back-to-back

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

champions (1995–96) in the school's history. Johnson's quarterback Steve Schnur earned first-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior and posted a career-high 336 passing yards in the 1996 Rose Bowl against

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

Maryland (first stint)

From 1997 to 1998, Johnson was the quarterbacks coach at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He also served as the Terrapins' offensive coordinator for two years (1997–98). In his last year at Maryland, the Terrapins led the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

in rushing offense (235 yards per game avg).

Titans

In 2000, Johnson landed his first NFL coaching job as an offensive assistant and quality control coach with the

. In 2002, Johnson was promoted to quarterbacks coach. As quarterbacks coach, Johnson has developed an NFL co-MVP (

Steve McNair Stephen LaTreal McNair (February 14, 1973 – July 4, 2009),Steve McNair Found Dead
...

, 2003), an NFL Rookie of the Year (

Vince Young Vincent Paul Young Jr. (born May 18, 1983) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. Young was drafted by the Tennessee Titans as the third overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, and ...

, 2006) and helped an accomplished veteran recapture his high level of play (

Kerry Collins Kerry Michael Collins (born December 30, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Collins was a member of six NFL teams, most notably the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, ...

). The quarterback group has totaled six

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

invitations during his coaching tenure. In 2010, Johnson was promoted to Assistant Head Coach and running backs coach. That year, Pro Bowler Chris Johnson ran for 1,364 yards and led the team with 44 catches.

Vikings

From 2011 to 2013, Johnson was the quarterbacks coach for the

. In his first year with the Vikings, the team drafted quarterback

Christian Ponder Christian Andrew Ponder (born February 25, 1988) is a former American football quarterback. He played for the Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at Florida State, and was drafted by the Minnesota ...

. Under Johnson’s guidance, Ponder threw for 1,853 yards and 13 touchdowns in 11 games. Ponder also finished the season with eight touchdown passes and only one interception in the red zone, where he had a league-leading 114.3 passer rating.

Giants

In 2014, Johnson became the running backs coach for the

. Johnson welcomed two backfield newcomers,

Rashad Jennings Rashad Andre Jennings (born March 26, 1985) is an American football running back and coach for the Fan Controlled Football Kingpens. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He also played for the ...

and rookie

Andre Williams Andre Williams may refer to: * Andre Williams (musician) * Andre Williams (American football) * Andre Williams, British DJ better known as Shy FX {{hndis, Williams, Andre ...

, who helped the team average 100.3 rushing yards a game in 2014. In 2015, the Giants welcomed newcomer Shane Vereen to the backfield. Vereen was second on the team in rushing (260 yards on 61 carries), and receiving (59 catches for 494 yards and four touchdowns). The three receiving totals were all career highs. Jennings led the Giants in all three major rushing categories with 195 carries for 863 yards (both career-high totals), and three touchdowns in 2015. In 2018, rookie

Saquon Barkley Saquon Barkley ( ; born February 9, 1997) is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Prior to entering the NFL in 2018, Barkley played college football at Penn State for three seasons gai ...

was voted rookie of the year. He had back to back 1,000 seasons under Johnson.

Maryland (second stint)

Johnson will serve as a Senior Analyst at the University of Maryland Football program for the 2020 season.

Indiana

In 2022 he became the running backs coach for Indiana

Personal life

A native of

Rome, New York Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...

, Johnson grew up in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, ...

, and earned three letters as a quarterback at

, throwing for more than 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior in 1982. Johnson and his wife, Darlene, are parents of two daughters, Shelby and Sydney.

References

External links

New York Giants profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Craig 1960 births Living people Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Army Black Knights football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches New York Giants coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Sportspeople from Rome, New York Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Tennessee Titans coaches VMI Keydets football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football players