Northwestern University Athletics
Armon Binns Named Wide Receivers Coach
1/24/2023 3:32:00 PM | Football
EVANSTON, Ill. – Armon Binns has been named Northwestern's wide receivers coach, Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Football Coach Pat Fitzgerald announced on Tuesday.
"We're thrilled to officially welcome Armon, Lauren, Noah, Eli and Eden, to our Northwestern football family," said Fitzgerald. "His experience at the position as both a player and a coach will be invaluable to our wide receivers and the offensive group as a whole. With spring practice approaching, we're excited to see the impact he will have on the field and in the lives of our student-athletes."
Binns, who most recently wrapped up the 2022 season with Youngstown State, brings a wealth of experience and success to the team. In his first season at Youngstown State, Binns led the wide receivers group to one of the most productive years in school history. Under his guidance, Bryce Oliver became the first YSU wide receiver to be named first-team All-MVFC since 2010. Oliver finished the season with 59 catches for 821 yards and 10 touchdowns. Additionally, newcomers Max Tomczak and Latrell Fordham made a huge impact, combining for 44 catches and 628 yards.
"I am honored and excited to join the football family at Northwestern," said Binns. "The opportunity to work with Coach Fitzgerald, Coach Bajakian, and the rest of the Wildcat staff developing players in the most competitive conference in the country is truly a dream come true. I cannot wait to get to work with the remarkable student-athletes on this team."
Binns starred as a wide receiver at Cincinnati from 2007-10, where he led the Bearcats in receiving in both his junior and senior seasons while earning his bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Binns caught 61 for 888 yards and 11 TDs as a junior and helped UC capture the 2009 BIG EAST Conference title. As a senior in 2010, Binns hauled in 75 passes for 1,101 yards and 10 TDs to earn first-team All-BIG EAST honors and was named team MVP. In 2019, He was inducted into the James P. Kelly University of Cincinnati Athletics Hall of Fame with the 2009 football team.
Binns played four seasons in the NFL as part of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs organizations. In 2012, Binns made five starts and totaled 24 receptions for 277 yards and a TD between the Bengals and Dolphins, before missing all of the 2013-14 season with a knee injury. After joining the Ottawa Redblacks of the CFL for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Binns earned a master's degree in family and human development from Arizona State in 2018.
Following two years in the private business sector, Binns embarked on his coaching career as a senior offensive analyst at Notre Dame in 2018. He mentored Miles Boykin who led the Fighting Irish in receptions, yards, and receiving TDs during a 12-1 season which ended in a College Football Playoff appearance, while also working with the wide receivers and scout team defensive backs.
Binns spent the 2019 campaign as the wide receivers coach at Hampton. He coached WR Jadakis Bonds, a First-Team All-Big South Conference selection who set the school's single-season mark and lead the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision during the regular season with 15 TD receptions.
At Cincinnati, he was an offensive quality control coach in 2020-21. The Bearcats won AAC Championships in each of his two seasons with the program and finished the 2021 season 13-1 advancing to the College Football Playoff.
Binns received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from UC in May 2012 and earned a master's degree in family and human development from Arizona State in 2018. Binns, a native of Pasadena, Calif., and his wife Lauren have three children, sons Noah and Eli and daughter Eden.
