Taver Johnson to be Temple's defensive coordinator
Taver Johnson, who coached the secondary at Purdue for the last three seasons, will be named Temple's defensive coordinator, according to two sources.
Taver Johnson, who coached the secondary at Purdue for the last three seasons, will be named Temple's defensive coordinator, according to two sources.
At Purdue, Johnson was defensive backs coach in his first two years and cornerbacks coach this past season.
Purdue fired Darrell Hazell at midseason, but Johnson remained on the staff. Jeff Brohm was named Purdue's new coach on Dec. 5.
Hazell, a graduate of Cinnaminson High, gave a glowing report on Johnson during a telephone interview on Monday.
"I think that is a great hire and he will bring a lot of experience and expertise to Temple," Hazell said. "I think he has a tremendous amount of passion around the kids and they will feed off that."
Johnson has extensive coaching experience at the Division I level. Before coming to Purdue he was an assistant for two years at Arkansas, coaching the linebackers and the defensive backs. Johnson was named interim head coach at Arkansas in the spring of 2012 before the hiring of John L. Smith.
He also was a cornerbacks coach at Ohio State, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Miami (Ohio) and special-teams coordinator for one season with the Cleveland Browns.
Johnson was a graduate assistant at Notre Dame, and defensive coordinator at Millikin University in Illinois and defensive line coach at Wittenberg University in Ohio.
A native of Cincinnati, Johnson was a two-time all-American at Wittenberg and the North Coast Athletic Conference defensive player of the year in 1992 and 1993.
"He will also bring some of that Philadelphia toughness that Temple has always had," Hazell said.
Cory Robinson, who was cornerbacks coach at Toledo this season, will be hired as a defensive assistant, according to the sources.
Robinson was director of player personnel for Maryland in 2015. He also served as defensive backs coordinator at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and was a high school assistant coach for two schools in Maryland.
He is expected to coach cornerbacks at Temple, but that likely won't be determined until new coach Geoff Collins hires his entire staff.
Collins has retained three assistants - Ed Foley (tight ends/special teams), Frisman Jackson (receivers) and Chris Wiesehan (running backs).
Dave Patenaude has been hired as offensive coordinator and Jim Panagos as defensive line coach.
@sjnard