John Donovan (born September 11, 1974) is an American football coach who currently is the senior offensive analyst for the Florida Gators.
He most recently the senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL).
During his freshmen year, the defensive coordinator was Chip Kelly, and Donovan often served as the scout team quarterback.
[1] Shortly after, he moved on to take an assistant secondary coaching spot for the Villanova Wildcats football team in 1997.
He was temporarily promoted to coach the running backs in the 2000 Peach Bowl after Ralph Friedgen's departure to Maryland.
[11] During his time at Penn State, Donovan coached TEs Jesse James and Mike Gesicki, both of whom were drafted into the NFL.
[12] Following the firing, a former graduate assistant who worked on the staff during the 2014 season claimed on Twitter that the offense was largely designed by the "HFC" and PennLive.com's David Jones wrote an article headlined "John Donovan was scapegoat for rebuild that will take longer than fans can accept."
However, Penn State won the Big Ten Championship the year after Donovan was fired, as new OC hire Joe Moorhead implemented his own system and employed a more accurate, more mobile quarterback, Trace McSorley.
In 2019, while being coached by Donovan and Terry Robiskie, RB Leonard Fournette had his most productive season as a professional.