Football
vs
Purdue
Nov 15 (Sat)
TBA
John Donovan
- Title:
- Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach
- Email:
- football@uw.edu
- Phone:
- (206) 543-2223
John Donovan was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Washington football team on January 10, 2020. The 2021 season will be his second on Coach Jimmy Lake's staff.
In his first season, 2020, Donovan took over an offense that returned just four starters and, with a new redshirt freshman quarterback, helped lead the Huskies to a successful season, marked by efficiency, balance and precision. Washington was third in the nation in turnover margin (with just three turnovers) and were second in the Pac-12 in third-down conversions. QB Dylan Morris won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after two of the Huskies' four games.
Donovan, who spent the previous four seasons on the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive staff, came to Seattle with 19 years of collegiate coaching experience, including three years as offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt and two more at Penn State.
During his four seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Donovan spent two seasons (2017-18) with the quarterbacks and one each with the tight ends and running backs. In 2017, he worked with quarterback Blake Bortles, who helped lead the Jaguars to a 10-6 record and the AFC South title. Jacksonville beat Buffalo and Pittsburgh in the playoffs to advance to the AFC Championship game.
Working with the running game in 2019, he helped Leonard Fournette to a career-best 1,152-yard season that also included 76 receptions.
A defensive back at Johns Hopkins from 1993 to 1996, he finished his college career with 12 interceptions, still tied for seventh-most in Blue Jays history. His seven picks in 1996 are one short of the school record. He earned second-team All-Centennial Conference as a junior in 1995 and made the first team as a senior.
After a brief internship with the Carolina Panthers, Donovan began his coaching career in earnest as assistant defensive backs coach at Villanova in 1997. After that, he spent the next three seasons at a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech. In his first year in Atlanta, the Yellowjackets went 10-2 and beat Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl. Tech went 8-4 and 9-3 the following two years.
Following the 2000 season, Donovan was hired to be a member of Ralph Friedgen's first staff at Maryland, working as recruiting coordinator for the Terrapins for four seasons before taking over as running backs coach in 2005. He spent 2006 and 2007 as quarterbacks coach and then went back to work with the running backs for the 2008 through 2010 seasons.
In his first season at Maryland (2001), the Terrapins won the Atlantic Coast Conference and played in the Orange Bowl. During his tenure in College Park, Donovan was a part of seven bowl teams and three seasons in which Maryland won 10 or more games – the only three such seasons in Maryland history since 1976.
While at Maryland, Donovan worked alongside James Franklin, who hired Donovan as his offensive coordinator and running backs coach when Franklin was named head coach at Vanderbilt prior to the 2011 season.
In three years at Vandy, the Commodores went 24-15, easily the best three-year stretch in modern Vanderbilt football history. They went 9-4 in both 2012 and 2013, winning bowl games and finishing in the final AP top 25 each of those two years. Under Donovan's tutelege, running back Zac Stacy became the first player in Vanderbilt history with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Stacy earned second-team All-SEC and was drafted by the Rams in 2012.
In three years in Nashville, Donovan led the Vandy offense to three of the top-four total yardage marks in history, capped by a school-record 4,936 yards in 2012. That year, the Commodores averaged 30.1 points, the first team in program history to top 30 per game.
In 2014, Donovan moved along to Penn State along with Franklin, where he was named the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, working with future NFL tight ends Jesse James and Mike Gesicki, among others.
Donovan, a native of River Edge, N.J., earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Johns Hopkins and a master's in economics from Georgia Tech, He and his wife, Stacey, are parents of three children: son John Patrick, and daughters Cate and Shea.
• 2020-2021 – Washington – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2016-2019 – Jacksonville Jaguars – Offensive Assistant
• 2014-2015 – Penn State – Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends
• 2011-2013 – Vanderbilt – Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs
• 2008-2010 – Maryland – Running Backs
• 2006-2007 – Maryland – Quarterbacks
• 2005 – Maryland – Running Backs
• 2001-2004 – Vanderbilt – Recruiting Coordinator
• 1998-2000 – Georgia Tech – Graduate Assistant
• 1997 – Villanova – Assistant Defensive Backs
In his first season, 2020, Donovan took over an offense that returned just four starters and, with a new redshirt freshman quarterback, helped lead the Huskies to a successful season, marked by efficiency, balance and precision. Washington was third in the nation in turnover margin (with just three turnovers) and were second in the Pac-12 in third-down conversions. QB Dylan Morris won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after two of the Huskies' four games.
Donovan, who spent the previous four seasons on the Jacksonville Jaguars offensive staff, came to Seattle with 19 years of collegiate coaching experience, including three years as offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt and two more at Penn State.
During his four seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Donovan spent two seasons (2017-18) with the quarterbacks and one each with the tight ends and running backs. In 2017, he worked with quarterback Blake Bortles, who helped lead the Jaguars to a 10-6 record and the AFC South title. Jacksonville beat Buffalo and Pittsburgh in the playoffs to advance to the AFC Championship game.
Working with the running game in 2019, he helped Leonard Fournette to a career-best 1,152-yard season that also included 76 receptions.
A defensive back at Johns Hopkins from 1993 to 1996, he finished his college career with 12 interceptions, still tied for seventh-most in Blue Jays history. His seven picks in 1996 are one short of the school record. He earned second-team All-Centennial Conference as a junior in 1995 and made the first team as a senior.
After a brief internship with the Carolina Panthers, Donovan began his coaching career in earnest as assistant defensive backs coach at Villanova in 1997. After that, he spent the next three seasons at a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech. In his first year in Atlanta, the Yellowjackets went 10-2 and beat Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl. Tech went 8-4 and 9-3 the following two years.
Following the 2000 season, Donovan was hired to be a member of Ralph Friedgen's first staff at Maryland, working as recruiting coordinator for the Terrapins for four seasons before taking over as running backs coach in 2005. He spent 2006 and 2007 as quarterbacks coach and then went back to work with the running backs for the 2008 through 2010 seasons.
In his first season at Maryland (2001), the Terrapins won the Atlantic Coast Conference and played in the Orange Bowl. During his tenure in College Park, Donovan was a part of seven bowl teams and three seasons in which Maryland won 10 or more games – the only three such seasons in Maryland history since 1976.
While at Maryland, Donovan worked alongside James Franklin, who hired Donovan as his offensive coordinator and running backs coach when Franklin was named head coach at Vanderbilt prior to the 2011 season.
In three years at Vandy, the Commodores went 24-15, easily the best three-year stretch in modern Vanderbilt football history. They went 9-4 in both 2012 and 2013, winning bowl games and finishing in the final AP top 25 each of those two years. Under Donovan's tutelege, running back Zac Stacy became the first player in Vanderbilt history with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. Stacy earned second-team All-SEC and was drafted by the Rams in 2012.
In three years in Nashville, Donovan led the Vandy offense to three of the top-four total yardage marks in history, capped by a school-record 4,936 yards in 2012. That year, the Commodores averaged 30.1 points, the first team in program history to top 30 per game.
In 2014, Donovan moved along to Penn State along with Franklin, where he was named the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, working with future NFL tight ends Jesse James and Mike Gesicki, among others.
Donovan, a native of River Edge, N.J., earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Johns Hopkins and a master's in economics from Georgia Tech, He and his wife, Stacey, are parents of three children: son John Patrick, and daughters Cate and Shea.
• 2020-2021 – Washington – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
• 2016-2019 – Jacksonville Jaguars – Offensive Assistant
• 2014-2015 – Penn State – Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends
• 2011-2013 – Vanderbilt – Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs
• 2008-2010 – Maryland – Running Backs
• 2006-2007 – Maryland – Quarterbacks
• 2005 – Maryland – Running Backs
• 2001-2004 – Vanderbilt – Recruiting Coordinator
• 1998-2000 – Georgia Tech – Graduate Assistant
• 1997 – Villanova – Assistant Defensive Backs
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