John Lovett (born December 1, 1950) 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 was the

defensive backs 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 ...

coach for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

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) from 2013–2014. He was the

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 ...

for

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

in 1994,

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

from 1999–2001, Clemson from 2002–2004,

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

from 2005–2006, and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

from 2009–2010. Lovett has coached in nine bowl games: the 1997 Motor City Bowl, 1998 Independence Bowl,

2000 Citrus Bowl The 2000 Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game following the 1999–2000 football season. The game matched the 1999 Michigan State Spartans football team, Michigan State Spartans against the 1999 Florida Gators football team, Florida Gator ...

, 2001 Peach Bowl, 2002 Tangerine Bowl, 2004 Peach Bowl,

2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl The 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl was the seventh edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game started at 1:00 PM US EST on Saturday, December 27, 2008. The game, tel ...

2009 Champs Sports Bowl The 2009 Champs Sports Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference. Played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida, the game started at ...

, the 2010 Sun Bowl, and the

2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas The 2012 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, the seventh edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game held on December 28, 2012 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas as part of the 2012-13 NCAA football bowl season. T ...

Playing career

Lovett graduated from

C.W. Post College LIU Post (formally, the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and often referred to as C.W. Post) is a private university in Brookville, New York. It is the largest campus of the private Long Island University system. The campus is nam ...

in December 1973 and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in fall 2008. Joining the team as a walk-on linebacker, Lovett quickly earned a scholarship and served as the team's co-captain his senior season. He played for

Dom Anile Dominick Anile Sr. (December 19, 1937 – February 23, 2018) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at C. W. Post College—now known as LIU Post—in Brookville, New York from 1968 to 1979. Af ...

, who is now a Consultant to Player Personnel for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

. At the completion of his career, Lovett enrolled in graduate school at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

, earning his Master's Degree in 1975.

Coaching career

Early career

Upon graduation, Lovett began his career in coaching at

Saint Joseph Regional High School Saint Joseph Regional High School (known as SJR, St. Joe's or Joe's) is a private, Catholic Church, Roman Catholic, University-preparatory school, college preparatory school for boys, located on a campus in Montvale, New Jersey, Montvale, in B ...

in 1976. After two seasons as a prep school coach, he took his first collegiate coaching position as an assistant at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

in 1978, where he was paid only $500 per year. In 1983, Lovett spent a season in the Ivy League at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

before moving back to New York to work under

Joe Walton Joseph Frank Walton (December 15, 1935 – August 15, 2021) was an American football player and coach who retired after 20 years as the head coach and creator of the football program at Robert Morris University. Walton played eight seasons in t ...

as the defensive quality control coach for the

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

of the

in 1984.

Maine and Cincinnati (Tim Murphy)

The following season, Lovett was hired by

Buddy Teevens Eugene Francis "Buddy" Teevens III (born October 1, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Dartmouth College, a position he held from 1987 to 1991 and resumed in 2005. Teevens also served as the he ...

as the defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

Black Bears. In 1987,

Tim Murphy Timothy Murphy may refer to: Politics * Tim Murphy (American politician) (born 1952), American Republican Party politician from Pennsylvania * Tim Murphy (Canadian politician) (born 1959), Canadian politician * Timothy J. Murphy (1893–1949), I ...

took over as head coach and the team went on to win the conference championship and qualified for the Division I-AA playoffs. When Murphy was hired as the new head coach of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 1989, Lovett joined him as the defensive coordinator for the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

. He stayed at the school until 1993, when he was hired as the secondary coach for the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Confer ...

. In 1994, head coach Jack Cosgrove brought Lovett back to Maine to again serve as the school's defensive coordinator. Cosgrove had work alongside Lovett when he was offensive coordinator of the Black Bears before being named the head coach.

Ole Miss and Auburn (Tuberville)

In 1995, he joined new head coach

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville ( ; born September 18, 1954) is an American retired college football coach and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama since 2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football co ...

's staff at Ole Miss to coach the secondary. Four seasons later when Tuberville took the head coaching position at

, Lovett followed him to the school, where he was named the defensive coordinator. Tuberville fired Lovett following the 2001 season.

Clemson

Lovett was hired by

Tommy Bowden Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is a former American football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida State Universi ...

to serve as the defensive coordinator at Clemson from 2002–04, where he helped develop one of the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

's top defenses. In 2004, Clemson was 11th in the nation in pass defense efficiency (103.4) and 26th in total defense (327.3 yds/g). In 2003, his defense allowed just 19.2 points per game as Clemson finished the year with nine wins and a top 25 national ranking.

Bowling Green

Lovett served as the defensive coordinator at

from 2005–06. In addition to coordinating the defense at Bowling Green, Lovett coached linebackers in 2005 and defensive backs in 2006. In his first year with the

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

, Lovett's defense ranked 20th in the country in turnover margin.

North Carolina

Lovett spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons as the special teams coordinator and a defensive assistant at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, where the kickoff coverage unit ranked among the nation's top 15 and the

Tar Heels Tar Heel is a nickname applied to the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is also the nickname of the University of North Carolina athletic teams, students, alumni, and fans. The origins of the Tar Heel nickname trace back to North Carolina's promi ...

blocked six kicks in 2008. He coached the NCAA all-time leader in combined kick return yards in

Brandon Tate Brandon Tate (born October 5, 1987) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at North Carolina. Early years and family Tate att ...

, who also established the ACC career mark for kickoff return yards.

Miami

On February 12, 2009, Lovett was hired by coach Randy Shannon as the new defensive coordinator for the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

. He served at the position for two seasons until being let go with the rest of the coaching staff following the firing of Randy Shannon at the end of the 2010 season.

Texas Tech

Lovett was hired by his former employer at Auburn, Tommy Tuberville, to serve as the

Defensive backs coach 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 ...

for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raide ...

Cincinnati

Following head coach

's departure to

, Lovett remained a member of the Texas Tech staff through the

. Following the game, it was announced on January 4, 2013 that Lovett would be following Tuberville to Cincinnati to accept the defensive backs coach position.

Philadelphia Eagles

On February 8, 2013, Lovett was named the defensive backs coach for the

. On January 19, 2015, it was announced that Lovett would move to a job in the Eagles pro personnel department.

California

Lovett was named the cornerbacks coach for the

California Golden Bears football The California Golden Bears football program represents the University of California, Berkeley in college football as a member of the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division I FBS level. The team plays its home games at Californi ...

team on July 27, 2015. He was released in January 2017 following Sonny Dykes' dismissal as head coach.

References

External links

Clemson profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett, John 1950 births Living people Auburn Tigers football coaches Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Brown Bears football coaches California Golden Bears football coaches Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Maine Black Bears football coaches Miami Hurricanes football coaches Hartford Colonials coaches LIU Post Pioneers football players New York Jets coaches North Carolina Tar Heels football coaches Ole Miss Rebels football coaches Philadelphia Eagles coaches Philadelphia Eagles executives Sam Houston Bearkats football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches Union Dutchmen football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches High school football coaches in New Jersey University of Denver alumni People from Nyack, New York Coaches of American football from New York (state) Players of American football from New York (state)