Will Johnson joined the UCF staff in December 2025 ahead of the 2026 football season.
Johnson joins the Knights from North Dakota State, where he was the cornerbacks coach for the last two years. He was a part of a pair of Missouri Valley Conference Championships with the Bison and was an NCAA Division I FCS National Champion in his first year with the program. In his final season with the Bison, North Dakota State ranked third in the FCS in passing yards allowed, on average surrendering just 148.4 yards per contest. Additionally, the Bison were first in the FCS in team passing efficiencey defense and scoring defense, allowing just 13 points per game
Johnson came to NDSU after four seasons at the FBS level as a graduate assistant on the defensive staffs at Southern California and Oklahoma. He worked with current UCF defensive coordinator Alex Grinch over those four seasons as well as Lincoln Riley, assisting with meetings and drills for defensive backs, film breakdown, scout team and special teams. Grinch and Johnson were together at Oklahoma in 2020-21 before joining Riley at USC from 2022-23.
Originally from Baltimore, Johnson was a defensive back for three seasons at Oklahoma from 2015 to 2017. He went to NFL camps with the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles in 2018.
Johnson graduated from Oklahoma in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and he earned a master’s degree in organizational leadership at Oklahoma in 2021.
Will Johnson Coaching History
| YEARS | SCHOOL | POSITION |
| 2026-present | UCF | Defensive Backs |
| 2024-25 | North Dakota State | Cornerbacks |
| 2022-23 | USC | Graduate Assistant - Defense |
| 2020-21 | Oklahoma | Graduate Assistant - Defense |