Lee Johnson is an arena football coach and former

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

and

defensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played his

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 ...

at the University of Missouri, and was an AFL offensive lineman and defensive lineman from 1995 to 1996. He has been a football coach since 1997. After being 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 the Orlando Predators from 2010 to 2011, he became the San Antonio Talons head coach in 2011. Lee then enrolled at University of Missouri, and played defensive line on the

Missouri Tigers football The Missouri Tigers football program represents the University of Missouri (often referred to as Mizzou) in college football and competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Missouri's ...

team from 1987 to 1990. The Washington Redskins signed Johnson after he went unselected in the

1991 NFL Draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott Mar ...

. He played 2 years as an offensive lineman and defensive lineman in the AFL, with the

Charlotte Rage The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and ...

from 1995 to 1996. He first became a regular starting offensive/defensive lineman in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

with Charlotte. In 1997, while not even being one year removed from the AFL, Johnson was a defensive line coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League. under head coach

Jeff Reinebold Jeff Reinebold (born November 19, 1957) is an American gridiron football coach who is the director of player development at the University of Hawaiʻi. Prior to Hawaiʻi, He was appointed the special teams coordinator for the Montreal Alouette ...

. In 1998, Reinebold promoted Johnson to

. In 2000, he returned to the AFL as a defensive coordinator for the Carolina Cobras. He then became a defensive line coach at the

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

level, starting in 2001 with the

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games f ...

. After coaching Berlin to 2 consecutive World Bowl championships in 2001 & 2002, he moved to the Colorado Crush, and served as defensive coordinator during the 2003 season, before being demoted to offensive and defensive line coach and led the Crush to an ArenaBowl XIX championship. After the 2006 season, Johnson was named the defensive coordinator for the

Austin Wranglers The Austin Wranglers were an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances i ...

of the AFL. After the Wranglers folded, Johnson joined the Cleveland Gladiators as their offensive/defensive line coach. When the AFL shut down, Johnson took the role of line coach with the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

Peoria Pirates The Peoria Pirates were a professional arena football team that last played in AF2, the minor league to the Arena Football League (AFL). They played their home games at Carver Arena, part of the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois, and were coached b ...

, where he worked under Arena Football Hall of Fame head coach, Mike Hohensee. Johnson then took the defensive coordinator job with the Orlando Predators in 2010 and 2011, helping them extend their longest playoff berth streak in AFL history to 18 and 19 seasons. After the Predators two postseason runs, Johnson was offered the head coaching job for the San Antonio Talons. Johnson helped lead the Talons to a Central Division championship in 2012. Following the 2012 season, Johnson was signed to a 2-year contract extension. In October 2014, Johnson was hired as the Director of Football Operations for the Portland Thunder. He was also the Assistant Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator of the Thunder.

Head coaching record

Arena Football League

College

* Johnson was interim head coach

References

External links

Lee Johnson (coach) at ArenaFan Online

Lee Johnson (player) at ArenaFan Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Lee Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American football offensive linemen American football defensive linemen BC Lions players Berlin Thunder coaches Charlotte Rage players Cleveland Gladiators coaches Denver Broncos coaches Lincoln Blue Tigers football coaches Missouri Tigers football players Orlando Predators coaches San Antonio Talons coaches Shreveport Pirates players Tampa Bay Storm players Winnipeg Blue Bombers coaches African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football Portland Thunder coaches Colorado Crush coaches Carolina Cobras coaches Austin Wranglers coaches Peoria Pirates coaches