For Michigan State's Jesse Johnson, Coaching means Everything
For the former Spartan defensive back Jesse Johnson, East Lansing will always be home.
Michigan State will always be home.
"It wasn't really planned, but it was something I've always wanted to do. Michigan State is a special place to me. It's home," Johnson said.
When the former walk-on graduated from MSU, he became a defensive/special teams coach at The Citadel in 2012. He made stops at Central Michigan (2013-14) as a graduate assistant and Syracuse (2015) and again at CMU in 2016 as an on-campus recruiting coordinator.
"Then I got a call from Harlon Barnett … spring of 2017, I believe it was," said Johnson. "He was seeing if I wanted to come home. I left Central Michigan."
Johnson was eventually hired as a defensive analyst, but after Dantonio's retirement and the hiring of Mel Tucker, his alma mater didn't elect to keep him around.
However, in his mind, it had nothing to do with Dantonio's decision.
"In my opinion, that didn't affect everything. It was the COVID-19 hitting right when everything happened," Johnson said. "There's still a lot of jobs open in February, that really didn't affect me much with Coach D's late retirement. It's more of the COVID and people not knowing about the uncertainty."
"I know a lot of colleges and a lot of pro teams went on a hiring freeze where they are not hiring anybody."
Johnson's original plan was to travel around the country and talk with people he knew within coaching circles. The idea is to "put feelers out there and show my face to a bunch of different universities and coaching staffs."
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit.
"Everything shut down. There was no chance for me to be able to go see spring ball. Go meet with coaches and try to find a job … that's what made everything so tough because the people that were looking for a job couldn't go network," said Johnson.
Coaching football is a profound passion for Johnson, one he will never rule out doing again. He enjoys it. He loves it, and sticking around sports is essential to him.
Although it has more to do with the players than the game itself, it's more than winning and losing; it's about helping young people find and achieve their dreams.
His dream was to play football at Michigan State, and as a coach, all he wants is to help other student-athletes do the same.
“I like being interactive. I love relationships with people. What makes me happy is being able to have a conversation with someone," Johnson said. "Someone is telling me their goals and their ambitions and what their dreams are. Being able to help them get to where they want to be.”
“My mom and dad, my grandparents, and some close friends. They really helped me out. I remember thinking about being lucky enough to have those people in my corner; some people aren’t that lucky.”
When he was a graduate assistant at MSU, Johnson was fortunate enough to have a lot one-on-time working with former Spartan Justin Layne. Their meetings and discussions helped them develop a strong relationship and encouraged Layne to do whatever it took to get to the NFL.
“I’ll never forget when he got drafted. I texted him congratulating him, and one of the happiest moments that I’ve had is when I texted him congratulations when he got drafted by the (Pittsburgh) Steelers; he said, ‘thank you, you helped me get here.’ That was one of the brighter moments in my coaching career," he said.
For Johnson helping student-athletes realize their dreams, helping them achieve their goals and get to where they want to be in life will never go out of style.
And neither will being a Spartan.
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