John R. Settle (born June 2, 1965), is an American football coach and former player. He played professionally as a

running back 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. Ther ...

in 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). A 5'9", 207-lb.

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

running back from Appalachian State University, Settle attended

Rockingham County High School Rockingham County High School (RCHS) is located in Wentworth, North Carolina, North Carolina. It is located near Rockingham County Middle School, which feeds into the high school. Academics Many classes have optional honors credits and the school ...

where he still holds both the single game, single season, and career rushing records. He played for the Atlanta Falcons from 1987 to 1990 and the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

his next 2 seasons where he won a super bowl. During the 1988 NFL season, he was selected the

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 ...

after rushing for a career-high 1,024 yards and 7 touchdowns. He was the first undrafted running back in NFL history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. Settle was the running backs coach for the University of Kentucky. Settle was a founding member of the Pi Nu chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

College Statistics

* 1983: 135 carries for 613 yards with 4 TD * 1984: 185 carries for 795 yards with 5 TD * 1985: 254 carries for 1,340 yards with 14 TD * 1986: 317 carries for 1,661 yards with 20 TD

NFL Playing Career

Settle signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent and played six seasons in the NFL. In his first four with Atlanta

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

he was named to a

selection in 1988, when he accumulated 1,594 yards of offense (1,024 rushing and 570 receiving) and became the first undrafted free agent in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. His final two seasons he spent in Washington where he played for Washington’s Super Bowl-winning team in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

Coaching career

John began his coaching career at his alma mater in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

serving as the team’s running backs coach. Settle had a three-year stint coaching in the NFL as an offensive assistant from

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

with the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens (when they moved) under head coaches

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick (; born April 16, 1952) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Additionally, he exercises extensive authority over the Patri ...

and

Ted Marchibroda Theodore Joseph Marchibroda (March 15, 1931 – January 16, 2016) was an American football quarterback and head coach in the National Football League (NFL). He spent his four years as an active player with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1953, 1955&nd ...

. Settle then coached running backs at

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

from

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

– 2005, where he tutored six 1,000-yard rushers. Some of the players he coached included: Jaime Kimbrough, Paris Gaines,

Derrick Ward Derrick LaRon Ward (born August 30, 1980) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New York Jets in the seventh round of the 2004 NFL Draft and played for the New York Giants, Tampa ...

, Rodney Davis,

Dwayne Wright Dwayne Wright (born June 2, 1983) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State. Wright was a member of the New York Gia ...

, Bryson Sumlin, and Wendell Mathis. In 2006 he took the job as running backs coach at Wisconsin where he coached until 2010 when he once again returned to the NFL. In 2011 and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

John was the running backs coach in Carolina for the Panthers. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

he returned to Cleveland and was the Browns running backs coach. In

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

he returned to coaching collegiately at Pitt where he coached James Conner to 2014 ACC Player of the Year honors. He then returned to Wisconsin under head coach

Paul Chryst Paul Joseph Chryst (born November 17, 1965) is a former American football head coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach for the Wisconsin Badgers. Chryst was the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 2012 to ...

and coached the running backs there from 2015 to

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. Some of the players he coached included:

Corey Clement Corey Joel Clement (born November 2, 1994) is an American football running back for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Wisconsin, and was signed by the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in ...

, Dare Ogunbowale, Jonathan Taylor. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

John went to the SEC to coach at

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

as the team’s running backs coach and co special teams coordinator.

Personal life

He and his wife, Karen, have three children; Jonathan, Leighton and Devynn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Settle, John 1965 births Living people American football running backs Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football players Atlanta Falcons players Baltimore Ravens coaches Carolina Panthers coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Fresno State Bulldogs football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches National Conference Pro Bowl players People from Reidsville, North Carolina Pittsburgh Panthers football coaches Players of American football from North Carolina Settle family Washington Redskins players Wisconsin Badgers football coaches