Bobby Johnson
Bobby Johnson went 89–102 as a head coach, 1994–2009, at Furman and Vanderbilt. Share
Eight seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1994–2001 at Furman. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 89–102 career
- Seasons
- 16
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2008 7–6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Furman * | 3–8 | 6th | |||
| 1995 | Furman * | 6–5 | 3rd | |||
| 1996 | Furman * | 9–4 | 3rd | NCAA Division I-AA Quarterfinal L | ||
| 1997 | Furman * | 7–4 | 3rd | |||
| 1998 | Furman * | 5–6 | T–6th | |||
| 1999 | Furman * | 9–3 | T–1st | NCAA Division I-AA First Round L | ||
| 2000 | Furman * | 9–3 | 2nd | NCAA Division I-AA First Round L | ||
| 2001 | Furman * | 12–3 | T–1st | NCAA Division I-AA Championship L | ||
| 2002 | Vanderbilt | 2–10 | 6th (Eastern) | |||
| 2003 | Vanderbilt | 2–10 | T–5th (Eastern) | |||
| 2004 | Vanderbilt | 2–9 | T–5th (Eastern) | |||
| 2005 | Vanderbilt | 5–6 | T–4th (Eastern) | |||
| 2006 | Vanderbilt | 4–8 | 6th (Eastern) | |||
| 2007 | Vanderbilt | 5–7 | 6th (Eastern) | |||
| 2008 | Vanderbilt | 7–6 | T–3rd (Eastern) | Music City Bowl W | ||
| 2009 | Vanderbilt | 2–10 | 6th (Eastern) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 32 | 5–27 | 16% |
| Against top-10 teams | 9 | 1–8 | 11% |
| Against rivals | 39 | 8–31 | 21% |
| Conference games | 64 | 12–52 | 19% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 37 | 11–26 | 30% |
| At home | 52 | 18–34 | 35% |
| On the road | 42 | 10–32 | 24% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 28 | 17–11 | 61% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 67 | 12–55 | 18% |
His own 95 games on file, 2002–2009, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Richt 2002–2009 | 1–7 | Georgia | 8 | |
| Rich Brooks 2003–2009 | 2–5 | Kentucky | 7 | |
| Phillip Fulmer 2002–2008 | 1–6 | Tennessee | 7 | |
| Steve Spurrier 2005–2009 | 2–3 | South Carolina | 5 | |
| Urban Meyer 2005–2009 | 0–5 | Florida | 5 | |
| Houston Nutt 2005–2009 | 2–2 | Arkansas, Ole Miss | 4 | |
| Tommy Tuberville 2002–2008 | 1–3 | Auburn | 4 | |
| David Cutcliffe 2002–2008 | 0–4 | Ole Miss, Duke | 4 | |
| Ed Orgeron 2005–2007 | 2–1 | Ole Miss | 3 | |
| Jim Grobe 2005–2008 | 1–2 | Wake Forest | 3 |
Bobby Johnson’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Ole Missseries | 8 | 3–5 |
| Kentuckyseries | 8 | 2–6 |
| South Carolinaseries | 8 | 2–6 |
| Georgiaseries | 8 | 1–7 |
| Tennesseeseries | 8 | 1–7 |
| Floridaseries | 8 | 0–8 |
| Auburnseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Mississippi Stateseries | 4 | 1–3 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Furman | Defensive ends coach | |
| 1977–79 | Furman | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1981–83 | Furman | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1983–92 | Furman | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1993 | Clemson | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1994–2001 | Furman | Head coach | |
| 2002–09 | Vanderbilt | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Art BakerFurman
- Dick SheridanFurman
- Ken HatfieldClemson
- Tommy WestClemson
Assistants who became head coaches
- Bruce FowlerFurman
- Clay HendrixFurman
- Herb PaterraCharlotte Hornets
- Robbie CaldwellVanderbilt
- Ted CainVMI
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Art Baker | Furman | 1976–77 | 1976: defensive ends coach; 1977: defensive backs coach | |
| Dick Sheridan | Furman | 1978–85 | 1978–83: defensive backs coach; 1983–85: defensive coordinator | |
| Ken Hatfield | Clemson | 1993 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Tommy West | Clemson | 1993 | Defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Fowler | Furman, 1994–2001: assistant coach; Vanderbilt, 2002–09: defensive coordinator | Furman | |
| Clay Hendrix | Furman, 1994–2000: offensive line coach; 2001: assistant head coach and offensive line coach | Furman | |
| Herb Paterra | Vanderbilt, 2002: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Charlotte Hornets | |
| Robbie Caldwell | Vanderbilt, 2002–09: offensive line coach | Vanderbilt | |
| Ted Cain | Vanderbilt, 2002–09: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach; 2009: special teams and tight ends coach | VMI |
Other assistants under him (2)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jamie Bryant | Vanderbilt, 2002–07: secondary coach; 2008: special teams and defensive backs coach; 2009: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Desmond Kitchings | Vanderbilt, 2008–09: running backs coach and special teams coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Johnson’s teams went for it on 16% of fourth downs and on 26% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 25.4 seconds a play, 2004–2009.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 10 g | 12 of 71 17% | 29% | 42% | 21.8 | −0.06 | |
| 2005 8 g | 9 of 62 15% | 28% | 59% | 25.4 | −0.05 | |
| 2006 9 g | 16 of 74 22% | 34% | 49% | 28.1 | −0.12 | |
| 2007 11 g | 22 of 96 23% | 30% | 44% | 27.0 | −0.14 | |
| 2008 13 g | 12 of 110 11% | 18% | 44% | 28.7 | −0.20 | |
| 2009 11 g | 12 of 103 12% | 17% | 50% | 20.9 | −0.21 | |
| All 62 g | 83 of 516 16% | 26% | 47% | 25.4 | −0.14 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.