John Baxter (born June 28, 1963) 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. He is currently the special teams coordinator at Fresno State University. He previously served as

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

coordinator at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. He is also the founder of the education company Academic Gameplan, and author of the 2013 book ''I Hate School: How a College Football Coach Has Inspired Students to Value Education and Become Lifelong Learners'' ().

Career

Baxter's coaching career includes stints at Iowa State, Arizona, Maine, Maryland, Tulane, Fresno State, USC, and Michigan. He has served under coaches such as

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

, Ed Orgeron, Pat Hill, and Dick Tomey. From 1994 to 1995, Baxter coached football at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. From 1997 to 2009, he coached at Fresno State University under Pat Hill and served an integral role in achieving ten bowl bids from 1999-2009. From 2010 to 2013, Baxter coached at the

under Lane Kiffin and Ed Orgeron. After the 2011 season, he was awarded "National Special Teams Coordinator of the Year" by FootballScoop . Baxter was named special teams coordinator at Michigan on January 16, 2015. On December 28, 2019, USC fired Baxter as their special teams coordinator.

Personal

Baxter is a graduate of Loras College and has earned a master's degree in higher education from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. He and his wife, Jill, are the parents of Kelly and McKenzie. Jill's father is former Utah and Weber State University head coach Ron McBride.

References

External links

USC profile

Academic Gameplan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baxter, John 1963 births Living people Arizona Wildcats football coaches Fresno State Bulldogs football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Maine Black Bears football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches USC Trojans football coaches Tulane Green Wave football coaches Iowa State University alumni Loras College alumni Sportspeople from Chicago Coaches of American football from Illinois