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Football pro turns college coach
Off to college and the pros
Johnson’s road to success started with a move from his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, to D.C. for college. He was looking for a school with a robust athletic program, and his high school football coach happened to be a fraternity brother of Howard University’s football coach. “I knew about Howard’s academic repu-
MAY 2025
I N S I D E …
PHOTO BY TIMOTHY COX
By Timothy Cox Football fans may be familiar with the name Jimmy Johnson, the former coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Now another Jimmie Johnson (no relation), a famous name in the NFL ranks, has come to Baltimore. Last year, the athletic department at Morgan State University hired Johnson as an assistant football coach. “I started playing football in Augusta, Georgia at age six. At 58, I’m still a fan of the game and enjoy helping young people become the best that they can be on the gridiron,” Jimmie Olden Johnson Jr. told the Beacon. Johnson had a 10-year professional career as a tight end, including three years with the Super Bowl XXVI-winning Washington Redskins (now Commanders) and other teams, including the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. Johnson got a strong start with an athletic scholarship to Howard University in Washington, D.C., often called the Harvard of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Morgan State, another HBCU, hired Johson as assistant offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator last spring. According to the university’s new athletic director Dena Freeman-Patton, they hired him because his professional and collegiate pedigree will help develop young athletes. It’s a task Johnson takes very seriously. “We strive to help our players make the transition from high school to becoming fine young men,” Johnson said. “As coaches, we find ourselves in various roles: mentors, big brothers, father figures, psychologists. It’s our priority to field a successful team and win as many games as possible, but along that route we emphasize developing good people, great students, and eventually paving the road from young men to manhood.”
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LEISURE & TRAVEL
Iceland’s otherworldly sights range from glaciers to the Northern Lights; its capital, Reykjavik, offers cool museums and an oceanside lagoon-spa page 15
Jimmie Johnson Jr. played football in the NFL for 10 years and joined the coaching team at Morgan State University last spring. “I’m one of the lucky people blessed enough to have a job in an industry that I still love,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t feel like work to me.”
tation — that was important to me. But in high school, I excelled both in football and basketball, so I really wanted to go to a school that allowed me to play both sports,” he remembered. “Howard’s head coach…assured me, my parents and coach that I would be well taken care of if I came to D.C. Plus, I’d be allowed to play both sports,” Johnson said. At Howard, he played basketball his senior year but focused mostly on football. After redshirting his freshman year of college, he became an award-winning tight end on the football team. Despite pledging Omega Psi Phi fraternity in college, he said he focused on good grades and staying in physical shape, often forgoing the party scene. As a fifth-year senior, he was selected first-team All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and became a two-time
Sheridan Broadcasting Black College AllAmerican in 1987 and 1988. Johnson graduated from Howard in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in consumer studies. During his three years with D.C.’s football team, Johnson earned a Super Bowl ring for his team’s victory over the Buffalo Bills in 1992. Johnson stayed in the NFL after retiring as a player. He began coaching in 2001 and working for NFL teams such as the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 through 2014 and the New York Jets in 2015. He also coached college football teams, including Texas Southern and South Carolina State. He worked as a coaching analyst at the University of Maryland, recruiting and developing tight ends for its football team. During this past year at Morgan State, See COACH, page 19
ARTS & STYLE
MICA professor Michael Weiss creates paintings and stained glass page 18
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