Colorado coach Dan Hawkins on Wednesday introduced former Illinois State head coach Denver Johnson as the Buffaloes’ offensive line coach.
“He’s very highly respected, and is a great man and a great coach,” Hawkins said of Johnson.
“He has experience coaching with and against Big 12 competition and has recruiting ties in the Big 12 region, especially Texas. I think he’s a great fit for our staff and for our team. When we started looking for someone, his name kept cropping up and from a lot of different sources. And even more so, he really wanted to be a Buff.”
Johnson is a former lineman at Tulsa and in the NFL. He last had an assistant coaching job in 1996, at Oklahoma.
As first reported Tuesday in the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph, Johnson will join CU after compiling a 69-66 record over 12 years as a college head coach, the first three at Murray State and the past nine at Illinois State.
Johnson, 50, retired as Redbirds coach after last season with a 48-54 career record there.
“I was impressed by the vision and leadership of Hawk and this is an exciting time for Colorado football and I am glad to become part of it,” Johnson said.
