Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Saints defensive ends coach Bill Johnson twice was a target hire of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. This season, Sean Payton beat him to the punch, hiring Johnson five days before Williams.
If there is a silver lining to the Saints losing starting defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith for four games at the start of the season, it’s that team officials have had months to prepare for their drug-related suspensions.
That involves stocking a roster with short-term and long-term replacements and hiring a defensive line coach to deftly handle the change in culture that Coach Sean Payton demands under new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
Enter Bill Johnson, an affable, tough-minded, good ol’ boy whose coaching glass is always half-full.
“To me, it’s an opportunity for somebody else to show that they can play,” Johnson said between practices Wednesday. “Then, when they come back, it’s an opportunity for us to be stronger in the fifth week of the season. It’s an opportunity for us to be stronger in the 16th, 17th, 18th week, because we have somebody else better.”
Listening to Payton and Williams talk, the Saints’ organization hired the ideal defensive line coach for this season and beyond, because of his passion for the game, his reputation for getting the most out of his players and his knowledge of the pass rush.
“He has got a good ol’ boy sense of humor, but he has also got a good ol’ boy sense of kick you in the ass, too,” Williams said. “The players love him, and they love being around him. He coaches them hard, but they have a good time because they laugh and joke, too.”
The pairing of Williams with Johnson has been a work in progress. Williams first tried to hire Johnson in Buffalo in 2001 and again at Washington in 2004, each time to no avail.
Payton actually beat Williams to the punch, hiring Johnson five days before Williams signed in mid-January.
“I’ve tracked Bill for a long time,” Williams said. “I was tracking him when he was in college football. I’m really pleased that we finally have a chance to get our contracts matched up, and we get to work together.”
That opportunity presented itself when Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen fired Mike Shanahan and his coaching staff, enabling Johnson to pursue coaching opportunities in Seattle, Green Bay and New Orleans.
Johnson, 54, reportedly turned down a job offer at Green Bay and signed with the Saints.
“It was harder to hire a staff in ’06 than it is in ’09,” Payton said. “Obviously, I’m biased, but we changed the culture, and how we’re perceived in this league nationally is much different. We were able in ’09 to hire a Gregg Williams and a Bill Johnson, when I don’t know in ’06 those same opportunities would have presented themselves.”
So who is Bill Johnson and why all the fuss? A native of Monroe and former standout at Neville High School and Northwestern Louisiana, he is entering his 30th year of coaching in the college and professional ranks, the last eight with Atlanta (2001-2006) and Denver (2007-08).
While with the Falcons, he helped the club post the seventh-highest sack total in the NFL (third in the NFC) with 242.
“There was a four-year stretch when he was in Atlanta when they led the league in sacks with a four-man rush,” Williams said. “If we’re going to be any good here, we’ve got to do a better job rushing the passer out of a four-man rush.”
Saints defensive tackle Rod Coleman said he benefited from Johnson’s coaching when they were together in Atlanta from 2004 through ’07. Coleman signed with the Saints in March after being released by the Falcons in February 2008 and sitting out the ’08 season.
Coleman registered 28 sacks under Johnson from 2004-06 — the most of any NFL defensive tackle during that period — and went to the Pro Bowl after the 2005 season.
“Bill is intense,” Coleman said. “He makes you dig deeper than you thought you could. It has helped me that I was with him in Atlanta, so I know his mentality and his methods of madness. He’s basically going to grind you, grind you and push you to your limits.
“He’s still tweaking his vision, but as long as you’re working hard for him, he’s going to take care of you. He’ll go to bat for you as long as he knows you’re out there busting your butt for him out there between those white lines.”
What happens on the field is what matters most to Johnson, whose desire to coach a 4-3 defense means more to him than being back in his home state.
“People say I’m here because I had to come back to Louisiana,” Johnson said. “I promise you, if the things I was looking for as a coach would have been in Canada, I would have gone to Canada to coach. I was looking for an element of what I am as a coach and an opportunity to do that with a group that I could rally together and bond with.
“My passion is coaching defense the way I know how to coach defense. I wanted a four-man front, and this is where it was.”
Brian Allee-Walsh can be reached at ballee-walsh@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3805.
