Denver Johnson (born October 17, 1958) 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 and former player. Johnson was the head football coach at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky, in the Southern United States. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper-level an ...

from 1997 to 1999 and at

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

from 2000 to 2008, and

Missouri Southern State University Missouri Southern State University (Missouri Southern, MSSU, or MoSo) is a public university in Joplin, Missouri. It was established in 1937 as Joplin Junior College. The university enrolled 4,087 students in Fall 2023. History Missouri Souther ...

from 2015 to 2018 compiling a career

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

record of 72–99. Formerly, he was the offensive line coach for the

Tulsa Golden Hurricane The Tulsa Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the Universit ...

from 2011 to the end of the 2014 season.Eric Bailey
"Tulsa names three football assistants"
''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is an American daily newspaper. It serves the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. The printed edition is the second-most circulated newspaper in the sta ...

'', January 18, 2011. Johnson was let go when head coach

Bill Blankenship Bill Blankenship (born December 12, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head high school football coach at Owasso High School in Owasso, OK. He was the head coach of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane ...

was fired on December 1, 2014. Johnson is currently the Director of High School Relations and Player Development at The University of Tulsa.

Coaching career

Johnson was the 20th head football coach for the

Illinois State Redbirds The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Teams play at the NCAA Division I level ( FCS in football). Most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference except football (M ...

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal cities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and is I ...

and he held that position for nine seasons, from 2000 until November 22, 2008. Johnson resigned from the program after the Redbirds final game of the 2008 season, a game they lost against

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

in overtime, 17–10. His overall coaching record at ISU was 48–54. This ranks him third at ISU in terms of total wins and eighth at ISU in terms of winning percentage. Prior to coaching at Illinois State, Johnson was the head coach at

. He was offensive line coach for

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

in 2009 and 2010, then moved to Tulsa for the 2011 season to join the coaching staff of

, who had been his college teammate at Tulsa. On April 1, 2015, Johnson was named the head coach of the

Missouri Southern Lions The Missouri Southern Lions are composed of 12 teams representing Missouri Southern State University in intercollegiate athletics. The Lions compete in the NCAA Division II and are members of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. ...

. Johnson resigned from Missouri Southern after three games into the 2018 season to be the full time caretaker for his wife who was suffering with and later passed away from Early Onset Alzheimer's. In 2020, Johnson was hired as the

offensive line 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 (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

coach for Lindenwood. In July of 2024 Johnson became the Director of Player Personnel and Development at The University of Tulsa.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Lindenwood profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Denver Living people 1958 births American football offensive tackles Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Houston Gamblers players Illinois State Redbirds football coaches Lindenwood Lions football coaches Los Angeles Express players Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Missouri Southern Lions football coaches Murray State Racers football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Oklahoma State Cowboys football coaches UT Martin Skyhawks football coaches Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Coaches of American football from Oklahoma People from Seminole, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma