Denver Johnson (born October 17, 1958) 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 and former player. Johnson was the head football coach at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

from 1997 to 1999 and at

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

from 2000 to 2008, and

Missouri Southern State University Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,346 students in Fall 2021. History Missouri Southern ...

from 2015 to 2018 compiling a career

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 ...

record of 72–99. Formerly, he was the offensive line coach for the

Tulsa Golden Hurricane The Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the University of Tu ...

from 2011 to the end of the 2014 season.Eric Bailey
"Tulsa names three football assistants"
''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of Lee Enterprises. The new owners announced in January 202 ...

'', January 18, 2011. Johnson was let go when head coach

Bill Blankenship Bill Blankenship (born December 12, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He was the head coach of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 2011 through 2014.Eric Bailey"Bill Blankenship named new Tulsa football coach" ''Tu ...

was fired on December 1, 2014.

Coaching career

Johnson was the 20th head football coach for the

Illinois State Redbirds The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Teams play at the NCAA Division I level ( FCS in football). The football team competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference wh ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Illinois' seventh most ...

and he held that position for nine seasons, from 2000 until November 22, 2008. Johnson resigned from the program after the Redbirds final game of the 2008 season, a game they lost against

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

in overtime, 17–10. His overall coaching record at ISU was 48–54. This ranks him third at ISU in terms of total wins and eighth at ISU in terms of winning percentage. Prior to coaching at Illinois State, Johnson was the head coach at

. He was offensive line coach for

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

in 2009 and 2010, then moved to Tulsa for the 2011 season to join the coaching staff of

, who had been his college teammate at Tulsa. On April 1, 2015, Johnson was named the head coach of the

Missouri Southern Lions The Missouri Southern Lions are composed of 12 teams representing Missouri Southern State University in intercollegiate athletics. The Lions compete in the NCAA Division II and are members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. ...

. Johnson resigned from Missouri Southern after three games into the 2018 season.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Denver Living people 1958 births American football offensive tackles Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Houston Gamblers players Illinois State Redbirds football coaches Los Angeles Express players Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Missouri Southern Lions football coaches Murray State Racers football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches UT Martin Skyhawks football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players People from Seminole, Oklahoma