Northwestern University Athletics
Kevin Johns, Garrick McGee Named Assistant Football Coaches
12/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 16, 2003
EVANSTON, Ill.-Northwestern head football coach Randy Walker announced today that Kevin Johns and Garrick McGee will fill two of the three open assistant coaching positions on his staff. Both Johns and McGee have joined the program and will serve as coaches at the upcoming Motor City Bowl.
Johns, who served as an offensive graduate assistant coach for the Wildcats from 1999-2001, replaces Jeff Genyk, who earlier this month was named head coach at Eastern Michigan. Johns will coach Northwestern's running backs. McGee comes to Northwestern after coaching wide receivers this past season at UNLV. He replaces Howard Feggins, the Wildcats' wide receivers coach, who became the offensive coordinator at Eastern Michigan.
Johns spent the past two seasons coaching wide receivers at the University of Richmond, an NCAA Division I-AA program. Before coming to Northwestern in 1999, Johns was an All-America quarterback at the University of Dayton. During his Dayton tenure, he recorded a 20-1 record as a starter and was twice named the team's MVP.
Johns, 28, graduated from Dayton in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. He received his master's in school administration from Northwestern in 2001.
"Kevin is one of the most impressive young coaches in our profession," said Walker. "I told him when he left for Richmond if I had a chance to hire him someday, I would."
McGee, who is in ninth year as a college or professional football coach, has coached at Langston (Okla.) University (1996-98), Northern Iowa (1999), Toledo (2002) and UNLV (2003). He also spent two seasons as the offensive quality control coach with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars for the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
A native of Tulsa, Okla., McGee concluded his college career at Oklahoma, where he played two seasons at quarterback. McGee left ranked fourth on the school's career passing list with 2,449 yards and was the coaches' pick for Big Eight Conference Newcomer of the Year as a junior in 1994. McGee earned his bachelor's degree from Oklahoma in 1996.
"Garrick is one of the rising young stars in the coaching profession," said Walker. "He is an impressive individual and will have an immediate impact on our program."
McGee, 30, will be making his second consecutive trip to the Motor City Bowl as a coach, after coaching the wide receivers for Toledo a year ago. At Northern Iowa, he served as an assistant coach to current NU offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar, then the head mentor at UNI.
Walker is expected to name a replacement for Jay Peterson, the Wildcats' defensive line coach who is also leaving for Eastern Michigan, before the end of the month. Peterson, however, will remain at Northwestern through the Motor City Bowl.
