Johnson attended and played college football at Wittenberg University (1990–1993), where he was a back-to-back All-American and the All-North Coast Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and 1993.
[1] After graduating from Wittenberg, Johnson joined his alma mater's staff and served as the defensive line coach for the 1994 and 1995 seasons.
Johnson would go on to spend five seasons at Ohio State, where he coached three consensus All-Americans in Malcolm Jenkins, Kurt Coleman and Chimdi Chekwa.
[1] In 2011, after Jim Tressel resigned from Ohio State, Johnson went south to coach the linebackers for Arkansas in 2012.
In May 2022, Johnson was announced as the defensive pass game coordinator and safeties coach at Eastern Michigan.
We thought it would be ideal if we could find a candidate who knew Fred, and had significant relevant coaching experience along with the maturity, sensitivity, and emotional intelligence to be able to come into this very complicated situation.