Craig Johnson (born March 3, 1960) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who was the running backs for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was the quarterbacks coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

from 2011 to 2013. Prior to the Vikings, he was the quarterbacks coach for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

from 2002 to 2009 and the running backs coach for the 2010 season. He served as an Analyst for the University of Maryland during the 2020 season. On February 7, 2022, Craig Johnson agreed to terms to join

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

as their new running back head coach.

Coaching career

Wyoming

Johnson began his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

in 1983.

Arkansas

In 1984, Johnson would move to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

also as a graduate assistant.

Army

In 1985, Johnson was a part-time assistant coach at

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, tutoring the fullbacks.

Rutgers

From 1986 to 1988, Johnson served as running backs coach for

Rutgers Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

VMI

From 1989 to 1991, Johnson was the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Virginia Military Institute The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

. Under Johnson, VMI's offense ranked fifth in the nation in total offense in 1990 and first in rushing offense in 1991.

Northwestern

From 1992 to 1996, Johnson served as the quarterback coach for

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. At NU, he was part of the first back-to-back

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champions (1995–96) in the school's history. Johnson's quarterback Steve Schnur earned first-team All-Big Ten honors as a senior and posted a career-high 336 passing yards in the 1996 Rose Bowl against

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

Maryland (first stint)

From 1997 to 1998, Johnson was the quarterbacks coach at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. He also served as the Terrapins' offensive coordinator for two years (1997–98). In his last year at Maryland, the Terrapins led the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

in rushing offense (235 yards per game avg).

Titans

In 2000, Johnson landed his first NFL coaching job as an offensive assistant and quality control coach with the

. In 2002, Johnson was promoted to quarterbacks coach. As quarterbacks coach, Johnson has developed an NFL co-MVP ( Steve McNair, 2003), an NFL Rookie of the Year ( Vince Young, 2006) and helped an accomplished veteran recapture his high level of play (

Kerry Collins Kerry Michael Collins (born December 30, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Collins was a member of six NFL teams, most notably the Carolina Panth ...

). The quarterback group has totaled six

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

invitations during his coaching tenure. In 2010, Johnson was promoted to assistant head coach and running backs coach. That year, Pro Bowler Chris Johnson ran for 1,364 yards and led the team with 44 catches.

Vikings

From 2011 to 2013, Johnson was the quarterbacks coach for the

. In his first year with the Vikings, the team drafted quarterback Christian Ponder. Under Johnson's guidance, Ponder threw for 1,853 yards and 13 touchdowns in 11 games. Ponder also finished the season with eight touchdown passes and only one interception in the red zone, where he had a league-leading 114.3 passer rating.

Giants

In 2014, Johnson became the running backs coach for the

. Johnson welcomed two backfield newcomers, Rashad Jennings and rookie Andre Williams, who helped the team average 100.3 rushing yards a game in 2014. In 2015, the Giants welcomed newcomer Shane Vereen to the backfield. Vereen was second on the team in rushing (260 yards on 61 carries), and receiving (59 catches for 494 yards and four touchdowns). The three receiving totals were all career highs. Jennings led the Giants in all three major rushing categories with 195 carries for 863 yards (both career-high totals), and three touchdowns in 2015. In 2018, rookie

Saquon Barkley Saquon Rasul Quevis Barkley ( ; born February 9, 1997) is an American professional American football, football running back for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Penn State Nittany ...

was voted rookie of the year. He had back to back 1,000 seasons under Johnson.

Maryland (second stint)

Johnson will serve as a Senior Analyst at the University of Maryland Football program for the 2020 season.

Indiana

In 2022, he became the running backs coach for Indiana.

Personal life

A native of Rome, New York, Johnson grew up in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

, and earned three letters as a quarterback at

, throwing for more than 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior in 1982. Johnson and his wife, Darlene, are parents of two daughters, Shelby and Sydney.

References

External links

New York Giants profileIndiana Hoosiers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Craig 1960 births Living people Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches Army Black Knights football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Minnesota Vikings coaches New York Giants coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Sportspeople from Rome, New York Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Tennessee Titans coaches VMI Keydets football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football players