Brian Johnson Named Cal Football Strength Coach
Cal head football coach Justin Wilcox announced Friday that Brian Johnson has agreed to become the Golden Bears' head football athletic performance coach.
Johnson spent the past 11 seasons on strength and conditioning staffs at FBS schools and in the NFL, including the last three seasons as the director of strength and conditioning at Arizona (2018-20), where he heavily implemented sports science while also working as a liaison between the football program and the university's Center for Innovation in Brain Science.
"Brian will be a tremendous asset to our football program," Wilcox said in a statement. "He has been an integral part of several top football strength & conditioning programs over the past decade at the highest levels of collegiate and professional football, and that experience will allow him to hit the ground running. His ability to develop and motivate our student-athletes through hard work and character building in addition to his scientific and data-driven approach align well with the philosophy of our football program."
"I want to enhance the tremendous culture that coach Wilcox and his staff have already built at Cal by echoing the messages they are already giving to our student-athletes," Johnson said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to becoming part of this environment while building relationships and trust with a great group of young men who share the hunger of our coaching staff to win championships. I will do everything the game demands to prepare our student-athletes for practice and competition while always making sure to keep the health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes front and center in all of our decision-making and training methods. I will also work closely with university and community health officials on the strict COVID-19 protocols needed to keep our student-athletes as safe as possible."
"Brian joins us with over a decade of collegiate and professional strength & conditioning experience, and he is the perfect choice for the leadership of our football athletic performance program," assistant athletic director for athletic performance Mike Blasquez said in a statement. "Brian's coaching style and philosophy optimally integrates the use of scientific principles, character building and objective physiologic performance data to maximize player development, team culture and injury prevention. Brian will have an immediate positive impact on the direction of Cal football."
