Dennis Johnson joined head coach Dave Aranda’s football staff in January 2020. He serves as defensive line coach.

In 2022, Johnson helped lead Siaki Ika to an All-America season, with the nose tackle totaling 24 tackles and two tackles for a loss, leading the team with five QB hurries. In addition to Ika’s ability to command multiple blockers in the middle of the defensive line, Johnson broke in a new weapon in Jaxon Player, and found ways to highlight the talents of returning fixtures TJ Franklin, Gabe Hall, Cole Maxwell and Brayden Utley. Johnson presided over a defensive line that proved to be a real strength of the BU defense in 2021, helping the Bears finish second in the conference in rushing defense (118.4 ypg), scoring defense (18.3 ppg) and sacks (3.14 per game), all of which ranked in the top-17 nationally. Additionally, the Mississippi native tutored three players who earned All-Big 12 recognition, highlighted by LSU transfer Siaki Ika earning Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year. Cole Maxwell and TJ Franklin also earned All-Big 12 Honorable mention, as that trio combined for 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss. Gabe Hall finished second on the team with six sacks, including a three-sack performance against Kansas State, becoming the first player since James Lynch in 2019 to tally three sacks in one game. Under Johnson’s leadership, defensive end William Bradley-King earned All-Big 12 honors in 2020 and was selected to the Senior Bowl. A graduate transfer, Bradley-King tied for the team lead with 3.5 sacks. He was selected in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Washington Football Team.

Johnson, a LSU graduate and member of the school’s 2011 Southeastern Conference Championship team, came to Waco following a 2019 season spent as an analyst at LSU. He served from 2016-18 as a full-time coach, first with the outside linebackers (2016-17) before moving to defensive line (2018). He moved off the field in 2019 for medical reasons. Johnson is also a talented recruiter with an innate ability to land big-time recruits. He has played a pivotal role in LSU’s last three signing classes that ranked No. 5 (2019), No. 15 (2018) and No. 7 (2017) nationally. In 2018, Johnson continued the development of LSU veterans Rashard Lawrence and Breiden Fehoko, while younger players like Glen Logan, Tyler Shelvin and Neil Farrell all emerged as future standouts for the Tigers. Lawrence capped his junior season with four tackles for loss and two sacks in LSU’s Fiesta Bowl win over UCF. He was named the defensive MVP for his play in the bowl win over UCF. In his first year as LSU’s outside linebackers coach in 2016, Johnson played a key role in the development of senior Duke Riley, who in his first and only season as a starter for the Tigers, led the team in tackles with 93 and was later selected in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. Riley was also named LSU’s most valuable player for the 2016 season and earned a spot in the Senior Bowl. He was first elevated to a full-time assistant coach in September 2016 where he coached outside linebackers for the final eight games of the season. He was then given the job on a permanent basis when Ed Orgeron was named LSU’s head coach in late November. Johnson, who is affectionately nicknamed “Meatball,” is a former LSU defensive lineman who was a member of the Tigers’ 13-0 regular season and Southeastern Conference Championship team in 2011.