Another familiar face to head coach Hugh Freeze’s career has joined the Liberty football staff with the announcement of Bruce Johnson as the new running backs coach.
Johnson joins Liberty’s coaching staff after serving as an Assistant AD/Director of On-Campus Recruiting at Indiana during the 2018 season.
Johnson worked for Freeze in a variety of roles while serving on Freeze’s football staff at Ole Miss. He worked as a recruiting assistant/special teams quality control assistant (2012), assistant offensive line coach (2013-14), assistant tight ends coach (2015-17), offensive quality control assistant (2013-17), coordinator of recruiting development/academic liaison (2013-15) and senior player personnel analyst (2015-17).
Johnson helped the Rebels have a top 10 nationally ranked recruiting class for three-straight seasons (2013-15). Ole Miss had 25 players earn SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades and 121 players graduated during his time on staff in Oxford, Miss.
Under Freeze’s leadership, Johnson helped Ole Miss to bowl games from 2012-15, including back-to-back New Year’s Six bowl games. The span included victories in the BBVA Compass, Music City and Sugar Bowl games.
Johnson spent over a decade preparing for his time at Ole Miss, starting with working on coaching staffs at Desert Vista High School (1998), Shadow Mountain High School (1999) and Phoenix College (2000)
After serving as running backs and tight ends coach at San Diego in 2001, Johnson spent four season on staff at Alabama State. He worked with the tight ends and tackles in 2002, running backs in 2003 and tight ends and tackles in 2004-05, while serving as assistant recruiting coordinator his last three years in Montgomery, Ala.
Johnson’s final two stops before joining Freeze at Ole Miss were at Jackson State and Arkansas – Pine Bluff. He served as special teams coordinator and offensive line coach at Jackson State from 2006-09, before working as assistant offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Arkansas – Pine Bluff in 2010 and 2011.
Johnson played fullback at Arizona (1995-96) and Norfolk State (1997), while earning his bachelor’s degree from Arizona State in 1999. He and his wife, Michelle, have three children: Jaidyn, Brayden and Aydin.
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