Head Football Coach

 Johnnie Cole

 On December 1, 2007, Johnnie Cole was named 13^th head football coach at head football coach at Texas Southern University. He brings more than twenty years of coaching experience to TSU. 

Prior to his return to TSU, Cole was the head coach at Lane College for three years.  During his leadership as head coach, he has the largest win/loss record turn-around in the school’s history.  He is also responsible for the first back-to-back winning seasons in Lane’s history (2006 & 2007).

The 2007 Lane College offense ranked second in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) and the defense ranked 12^th among all Division II programs in the country.  Three players from that team, Virgil Union, Ed Williams and Floyd Stanford played in the 2007-2008 East Coast All-Star Game which is ranked 25^th in the American Football Coaches Poll, ranked in the top ten Mid-HBCU Football 2006 Poll and ranked tenth overall in the Sheridan Black College Poll.   Also under his leadership, his team ranked third overall in the SIAC, first in total offense (2006), first in passing offense (2005 and 2006) and second in scoring (2006).

Cole was named SIAC Coach of the year and 100% Wrong Club Coach of the year in 2006.  He coached the SIAC player of the year for 2006; Jacoby R. Jones, who had 2098 all purpose yards in one season and was drafted by the Houston Texans. 

Under his leadership, two members of his coaching staff were elevated to head coaching positions:  Coach Rich Freeman is the current Head Football Coach at Morehouse College and Coach Darius Sneed was named Head Football Coach at Lane College.

Cole has been the wide receivers coach at Arizona Western (2004), offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Alabama State University (2000–2003), Tennessee State University (1996–1999), and Southwestern College (1991). He also held coaching positions at the University of Cincinnati, Southern University, Texas Southern University and with the Hamburg Blue Devils of NFL Europe.

Cole is known for engineering the HOBO offense (high octane big play offense). While at Alabama State, he won two Divisional East SWAC Championships, coached the player of the year, Darnell Kennedy, his offense ranked sixth in the nation in scoring (37.5 pg), third in total offense (486.0 ypg), and sixth in passing (293 ypg). Cole is credited with playing a major role in the success of NCAA Division I-AA quarterback Darnell Kennedy who ranks fourth nationally in passing (11,580 yds), third in total yards (12,650 yds), and third in touchdown passes (101).

During Cole’s tenure at Tennessee State in 1998, he won back to back Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championships, coached back- to-back offensive players of the year, Leon Murry (quarterback) and Tyron Butterfield (wide receiver).  His offense lead the OVC in every offensive category in 1999.  In addition, his offense ranked third nationally in NCAA Division I-AA in scoring (39.1 ppg), fourth in total offense (468 ypg) and fifth in passing (305 ypg).

During his 20 years of coaching, he had the pleasure of training several athletes who took those skills to perform in the NFL.

Cole, a native of Dayton, Ohio, earned a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1986 from Texas Southern University where he played quarterback.  He is married to the former Djuna Lynn Roberts of Springfield, Ohio. They have three children, two daughters Keosha, Kennedy and one son Johnnie Jr.