At only 24 years old, barely old enough to buy a beer legally, Brian Johnson was named the offensive coordinator at Utah in 2011. Now, before his third season in Gainesville, he’s been given the same title for Dan Mullen’s Florida Gators.
He is also the first African American offensive coordinator in Florida football history, a fact that may have been overlooked by Johnson, but certainly not unappreciated.
“It does make you proud if that is the case,” Johnson said. “I haven’t looked that up, so I’m not sure. But it’s definitely something to be proud of, for sure.”
It’s historic for Johnson and the Florida football program but it also should shine a light on the inequity on coaching staffs across the country. According to a report from the Associated Press in February, there are only 13 black head coaches at the FBS level. There are 16 black defensive coordinators, the number increases to 22 if you include six more that are co-defensive coordinators. The offensive side of the ball has less diversity. Johnson joins seven other black coaches to hold the title of offensive coordinator; four others hold co-offensive coordinator titles.
“Obviously, that narrative has been out there in terms of guys climbing the ladder from an offensive perspective and it goes through that quarterback pipeline,” Johnson said. “And there’s definitely some truth to that, but you know, at the end of the day I just want to make sure our guys play really, really well and consistent week in and week out.”
This isn’t a publicity stunt. Dan Mullen and Johnson go back to 2003 when Johnson was a backup to Alex Smith at Utah, where Mullen was serving as offensive coordinator. This is the third time Johnson has ascended to the role of offensive coordinator. First was at his alma mater of Utah in 2012-13 and then in Houston in 2017. Mullen snapped Johnson away from Houston and brought him to Gainesville, where he served as quarterbacks coach in 2017 and 2018. Mullen trusts Johnson with calling plays, something Mullen has gotten a ton of credit for doing on his own for most of his career. Johnson has proved his worth in the way the Gators’ quarterbacks have played the past two seasons, most notably the way Kyle Trask was able to take over in the middle of a game and lead the Gators to the Orange Bowl in 2019.
The continuity that Mullen has been able to maintain with his coaching staff should also be examined. Mullen has been with John Hevesy and Billy Gonzales for more than a decade and the pair have held co-offensive coordinator titles for much of that time. The decision to make Johnson the offensive coordinator and bumping two close, long-time, loyal friends down a peg isn’t taken lightly.
“Coach Mullen and I kind of talked about for a little while. I think for him it was the perfect opportunity to make everything kind of fit into place. I don’t know in terms of our day-to-day operation … I think we’ll continue to have a really collaborative effort. Obviously, when you’re head coach is very involved in the offense, it’s a little bit different,” Johnson said. “He knows the ability to advance in this profession, being a quarterbacks coach is a pipeline to that and it’s something that’s his specialty and he’s done a good job helping me throughout the course of my career and helping me develop as a coach each and every day.”
Mullen saw it early on with Johnson when he was just a 17-year old quarterback riding the bench behind Alex Smith at Utah.
“You never know what’s going to happen for him in his life but I knew he would when he decided to get into coaching it would be something he would probably be good at. He was a great student of the game,” Mullen said. “He was around and coached and was involved that way. I think it was just kind of in him and once you knew that, I knew all along that if that was something he wanted to do he would be good at.”
At the end of the day, Brian Johnson is going to be a superstar. He’s going to be a head coach and the decision by Dan Mullen to promote Johnson shows that Mullen sees that. He’s doing what he can to help Johnson gain the experience and exposure that is necessary to be considered for a head coaching job. That’s good on Mullen, but it should never be forgotten or overlooked how the title wasn’t handed to Johnson, he earned it.