He is also a former college football All-American defensive back who played for coach Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama.
Playing quarterback in high school, during his freshman year he moved to defensive back.
For the Crimson Tide, Johns was a member of the 1965 national championship team, was selected All-SEC three times (1965–1967) and All-America twice (1966–1967).
[1] He was selected in the 12th Round of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, but elected to pursue a coaching career instead.
[3] After serving one season as defensive coordinator at West Alabama, in December 1996 he was promoted to the head coach position after the resignation of Todd Stroud.