Not the same Bill Johnson...You're thinking of the guy from Michigan State.
A key member of the Saints defensive coaching staff, Bill Johnson possesses a long history of developing the skills of top-notch defensive linemen throughout his coaching career. Now in his 36th year in the profession and his 16th NFL season, the Louisiana native arrived in New Orleans in 2009 after a two-year stint in Denver.
In 2015, Johnson brought along a young defensive line with only one starter over 26 years of age led by defensive team captain Cameron Jordan. He helped Jordan, a first round pick in 2011, become only the ninth player in team history with multiple seasons with double-digit sacks (10), as he also led the club with two fumble recoveries on the way to his second Pro Bowl selection. The club’s starting defensive tackle duo of John Jenkins and Kevin Williams combined for 109 tackles. Johnson also tutored a pair of rookies that turned in impressive starts to their careers. Tackle Tyeler Davison, one of the club’s fifth round draft picks, appeared in all 16 games with five starts and posted 26 tackles and 1.5 sacks. End Bobby Richardson, one of three undrafted free agents to make the club’s 53-man roster out of the preseason, played in 15 games with 11 starts and tied with Jenkins for the defensive line lead in tackles (66).
In 2014, Jordan led the line and finished second on the team with 7.5 sacks and added an interception and one fumble recovery. In 2013, Johnson helped oversee an alignment change up front, as Jordan and Akiem Hicks enjoyed career-best seasons, powering a defense that improved in league rankings to fourth in the NFL in both opponent yards per game and scoring defense. Jordan was selected to his first career Pro Bowl as he led the New Orleans pass rush, notching a career-high 12.5 sacks, ranked fifth in the NFL, while recovering two fumbles to tie for sixth in the league. In his first full season as a starter after moving from defensive tackle to defensive end, Hicks finished with 4.5 takedowns.
In 2012, Johnson tutored a line anchored by the duo of ends in Jordan and Will Smith. He helped Jordan post a team-best eight sacks, while also leading the defensive line with 76 tackles (54 solo), three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Smith ranked second on the club by chipping in six takedowns.
In 2011, the defensive front helped the Saints improve from 16th to 12th in the NFL in run defense. Smith led the line with 6.5 sacks (second on the team) and two forced fumbles. In 2010, the front four played an important role in a defense that improved from 25th in the NFL to fourth in yardage and from 20th to seventh in opponent points per game.
The line thrived under Johnson’s approach in 2009. Smith finished fifth in the NFL with a career-high 13 sacks. The front four was the first line of defense for a unit that finished second in the NFL in red zone touchdown percentage (39.3).
Johnson tutored the Broncos line from 2007-08. He coached a unit that in 2007 tied for second in the NFL with nine takeaways. Defensive end Elvis Dumervil tied for sixth in the league with 12.5 sacks.
During his six-year tenure as line coach with Atlanta from 2001-06, Johnson oversaw a unit that helped the club post 242 sacks. Atlanta twice ranked in the top 10 in fewest yards allowed and fewest yards per carry (2004, 2006). The Falcons also had a pair of Pro Bowlers up front under Johnson’s direction, including end Patrick Kerney and tackle Rod Coleman.
Coleman was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2005, and his 28 sacks from 2004-06 were the most by a defensive tackle in the NFL over that span. Kerney was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2004, and the defensive end had 53 sacks under Johnson’s tutelage from 2001-06, notching at least 10 takedowns in three seasons.
Atlanta reached the NFC Championship Game in 2004, with Johnson’s line leading the NFL in sacks (48) for the first time in franchise history. The Falcons also ranked eighth in the NFL in run defense. Kerney had a career-high 13 sacks and Coleman led all defensive tackles with 11.5.
Johnson jumped to the NFL and joined the Falcons in 2001 after a one-year stint at Arkansas working with the line, his second time coaching at the school. That season with the Razorbacks closed a 21-season stretch as a college assistant.
The longest coaching tenure of his career was at Texas A&M, where Johnson served as defensive line coach for eight seasons (1992-99) under head coach R.C. Slocum. The Aggies earned three conference championships during those years, went to six bowl games and finished in the top 10 three times. Nine defensive linemen under his instruction were selected in the NFL Draft, including Sam Adams, a consensus All-American in 1993 and the eighth overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 1994.
Johnson came to Texas A&M after coaching the defensive lines at Arkansas (1990-91) and Louisiana Tech (1988-89). In 1987, he served as a graduate assistant at the University of Miami under head coach Jimmy Johnson, working primarily with the linebackers on a team that went 12-0 and was voted National Champions. Prior to joining the Hurricanes, Johnson spent two years as an assistant at McNeese State University coaching the school’s outside linebackers in 1986 and its defensive line the year before.
He entered the coaching profession as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Northwestern State University, in 1980 and served in that capacity for two seasons before coaching defensive ends/linebackers at the school from 1982-84.
Johnson was a four-year letterman and two-year starter at Northwestern State after a standout prep career at Neville High School in Monroe, La.
PLAYING CAREER: Northwestern (La.) State, 1976-79
COACHING CAREER: Northwestern (La.) State, 1980-84; McNeese State, 1985-86; Miami (Fla.), 1987; Louisiana Tech, 1988-89; Arkansas, 1990-91, 2000; Texas A&M, 1992-99; Atlanta Falcons, 2001-06; Denver Broncos, 2007-08; New Orleans Saints, 2009-.
http://www.neworleanssaints.com/team/coaches/bill-johnson/2686246a-7d31-4c7a-a051-fddc46dfc846
