Craig Johnson enters his seventh season with the Titans and fifth as quarterbacks coach. He originally came to Tennessee as an offensive assistant/quality control coach and was promoted to quarterback coach prior to the 2002 season.

Since joining the Titans he has primarily dealt with the quarterbacks. This year he will be called upon to mold this year’s first round pick Vince Young into an NFL-ready signal caller and continue the growth of starter Billy Volek.

In his first six seasons with the team, Johnson helped develop QB Steve McNair into one of the finest quarterbacks in the NFL, co-MVP of the league in 2003 and three Pro Bowl selections. Over the six-year period, McNair set career highs in every category, including passing yards (3,387 in 2002), completion percentage (62.6 in 2000), touchdowns (24 in 2003) and passer rating (100.4 in 2003).

He also has been instrumental in the progression of Billy Volek into a starting-caliber NFL quarterback. In 2004, Volek was called upon to replace an injured McNair and direct the team in eight starts. He showed that he was ready for the spotlight as he has established a new standard for NFL quarterbacks in passing yards over his first 10 career starts (2,789 yards). No NFL quarterback has thrown for more yards in their first 10 starts and Volek also became just the fourth player in NFL history to post consecutive 400-yard passing games (Fouts, Marino and Simms) in 2004.

2003 was a year to remember as McNair became the first franchise quarterback to earn NFL MVP honors. He also became the first AFC quarterback since 1995 to post a yards-per-attempt average of 8.0 or higher (8.04) and the only AFC quarterback to produce a touchdown in every game he started in 2003. Additionally, each of the three Titans quarterbacks (McNair, Billy Volek and Neil O’Donnell) finished the year with passer ratings above 100.

Johnson joined the Titans staff after spending three seasons as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Maryland. During his tenure, he also served as the Terps’ offensive coordinator for two years (1997-98). In his last year at Maryland, the Terps led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rushing offense (235 yards per game avg.).

He served as the quarterback coach for five seasons at Northwestern University (1992-96). At NU, he was part of the first back-to-back Big 10 Conference champions (1995-96) in the school’s history. Johnson’s quarterback Steve Schnur earned First-Team All Big 10 honors as a senior and posted a career-high 336 passing yards in the 1996 Rose Bowl against USC. In three of his five years at NU a Wildcats QB earned All Big Ten honors.

Prior to his stint at Northwestern, Johnson served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for three seasons (1989-91) at Virginia Military Institute. Under Johnson, VMI’s offense ranked fifth in the nation in total offense in 1990 and first in rushing offense in 1991. He broke into college coaching as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Wyoming, in 1983 before moving on to the University of Arkansas in 1984 in the same capacity. In 1985, he was a part-time assistant coach at Army, tutoring the fullbacks. Johnson then served as running backs coach for three seasons (1986-88) at Rutgers. A native of Rome, N.Y. (3/3/60), Johnson grew up in Aurora, Colo. and earned three letters as a quarterback at Wyoming, throwing for more than 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns as a senior in 1982. Johnson and his wife, Darlene, are parents of two daughters, Shelby (16) and Sydney (14).