Kevin Johns is in his first season as the offensive coordinator/quarterback coach at Western Michigan after spending six seasons at Indiana University, including three as the offensive coordinator after three years as co-offensive coordinator.
During his career, Johns was named the top wide receivers coach in the Big Ten in 2011 by Rivals.com. He mentored notable receivers such as Cody Latimer who went on to be selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos. Another receiver, Shane Wynn, ended his career tied for second in receptions (189), third in kick return yardage (1,854) tied for third in receiving touchdowns (20), fourth in all-purpose yardage (4,429), seventh in receiving yardage (2,198) and tied for eighth in total touchdowns (25) on the IU career lists and went on to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Johns also coached quarterbacks at IU, where he had the opportunity to coach Nate Sudfeld who became the first Hoosier quarterback to be drafted since 2003 when he was drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.
Sudfeld finished his career first in passing touchdowns (61), passing yardage (7,879), 350-yard games (6), 300-yard games (11), 250-yard games (13), 200-yard games (19), four-touchdown games (5) and three-touchdown games (10), tied for first in 400-yard games (1), second in completion percentage (60.3) and completions (593), third in total offense (8,011) and fourth in attempts (983) on IU’s career lists in 37 games (26 starts).
During his tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers offense set 54 school records, including points, total yardage, passing yardage and rushing yardage in a single season. His unit topped the Big Ten in passing offense in 2012, 2013 and 2015. From 2012-15, IU was first in the Big Ten in passing yardage, second in total yardage, and fourth in rushing yardage per game. In 2016, the team was second in passing and third in total yardage.
Johns showed the ability to create a balanced offense in 2015 when the Hoosiers became the fourth team in FBS history with a 3,500-yard passer, two 1,000-yard rushers and one 1,000-yard receiver in the same year. That year, IU led the Big Ten in total offense, scoring offense and passing offense, becoming the first B1G team since Ohio State in 1995 to do so.Â
In 2014, Johns’ unit set the program single-season record with 3,163 rushing yards and averaged 263.6 rushing yards per game (ninth nationally, and third in the Big Ten) in 2014. It came a year after the Hoosiers were one of six teams (Baylor, Colorado State, Florida State, Marshall and Oregon) nationally to rank in the top 30 in scoring, total, passing and rushing offense and one of three programs (Baylor and Florida State) to average over 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards in 2013.
The 2013 Hoosier offense also became the first team in Big Ten history and the only team in the FBS with five 1,000-yard pass-catchers playing together at one time led by Latimer who earned second team All-Big Ten honors and closed out his career tied for fourth in 100-yard games (7th) and seventh in yardage (2,042) and catches (135) on the Indiana all-time lists. Wynn finished second in the B1G and tied for 19th nationally with 11 touchdowns, which ranks third on the IU single-season chart.
Prior to his time in Bloomington, Ind., Johns spent the 2004-10 seasons at Northwestern University, including the last five as wide receivers coach. He was running backs coach in 2004 and 2005 and was appointed recruiting coordinator in July of 2006, a position he held until January of 2008, when he assumed the role of passing game coordinator. He also served as NU’s offensive graduate assistant for three seasons from 1999-2001 under former Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson, who served as offensive coordinator.
Between stints at Northwestern, Johns worked as the University of Richmond’s receivers coach for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
During his playing days he was a starting quarterback at the University of Dayton, Johns recorded a 20-1 record and was named a Division I-AA All-American. Johns graduated from Dayton with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics in 1998. In August 2001, he received his master’s degree from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy.
Kevin and his wife, Krista, have twin sons, Logan and Tyler (11), and a third son, Carter (9).
Â
