Duke’s Mike Elko has found his new offensive coordinator
Duke football coach Mike Elko has found the man he wants to lead the Blue Devils’ offense and the university is closing in on finalizing the hire.
Kevin Johns, Memphis’ offensive coordinator the last three seasons, is already in Durham and his official hiring is expected soon, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
In addition to Memphis, Johns has also worked as offensive coordinator at Indiana (2011-16), Western Michigan (2017) and Texas Tech (2018).
He was coaching with the Hoosiers when the Blue Devils beat them, 44-41, in overtime to win the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl, which was Duke’s first bowl win since the 1961 Cotton Bowl. That season, Indiana led the Big Ten in scoring offense at 36.5 points per game.
Under Johns, Memphis averaged 30.1 points this season, No. 5 in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers were among the top five in the conference in scoring offense in each of his three seasons at Memphis.
During his one season at Texas Tech, the Red Raiders averaged 37.3 points per game, which was fourth in the Big 12 in 2018.
Johns is the Elko’s first hire on to his offensive coaching staff. Since taking over the Duke program on Dec. 10, Elko has hired Robb Smith as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, Lyle Hemphill to coach safeties and Harland Bower as defensive ends coach.
However, according to sources, Elko has also decided to retain Trooper Taylor from former coach David Cutcliffe’s staff. Taylor coached cornerbacks last season after coaching Duke’s wide receivers in 2019 and 2020. Elko plans to have Taylor coach on offense this season.
When Cutcliffe and Duke agreed to part ways on Nov. 28, after the Blue Devils went 3-9 overall and 0-8 in ACC play, Taylor became the team’s interim head coach who led the former staff as it worked to keep the recruiting class together before Elko was hired.
Johns played quarterback at Dayton from 1994-97, when he was a Division 1-AA All-American and two-time team most valuable player.
He began his coaching career at Piqua High School in Ohio as an assistant coach in 1998 before heading to Northwestern as a graduate assistant on offense from 1999-2001. Following two seasons as Richmond’s wide receivers coach, Johns returned to Northwestern where he coached from 2004-10. He was the Wildcats’ passing game coordinator from 2008-10.
Johns then coached at Indiana, where he was the co-offensive coordinator coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers from 2011-13 before running the offense as coordinator from 2014-16.
His lone seasons at Western Michigan and Texas Tech followed, preceding his last three seasons at Memphis.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 9:42 AM.