Logan Johnson, who joined the Harvard football staff as an assistant coach in March 2015, enters his 11th season with the Crimson in 2025, coaching the defensive line.
In 2024, Johnson's work with the defensive line helped the Crimson rank 23rd in the FCS in scoring defense and 30th in rushing defense, all while winning its second straight Ivy League crown. The unit also featured two All-Ivy League picks in first-teamer Jacob Psyk, who led the Ancient Eight in sacks (31st nationally), and second-team performer Tyler Huenemann.
Johnson coached a D-line that anchored a unit that ranked 20th nationally in rushing and scoring defense en route to the 2023 Ivy League championship. He guided Thor Griffith to All-America and All-Ivy First-Team honors and coached Nate Leskovec (second team) and Huenemann (honorable mention) to all-league recognition.
In 2022, Johnson coached a group that played a role in the Crimson ranking fourth in the FCS in rushing defense, ninth in first downs defense, 12th in sacks and 21st in team tackles for loss. He tutored a pair of All-Ivy League First-Team picks in Truman Jones and Griffith, with Jones, a Bushnell Cup winner, garnering All-America accolades from several media outlets. Leskovec, meanwhile, was an Honorable Mention All-Ivy choice.
Returning to the gridiron for the first time since 2019, Johnson helped Harvard become the top rushing defense in the FCS in 2021, as the unit allowed just 64.6 yards per game. The Crimson defensive line played a key role in Harvard finishing second in sacks (3.8 per game), which included a program-record-tying 9.0 against Lafayette, second in fourth-down conversion defense (.250), fifth in team tackles for loss (8.0) and fifth in scoring defense (14.9). Johnson coached Griffith to FCS Freshman All-America honors, with Chris Smith and Jacob Sykes garnering first-team All-Ivy League accolades, and Leskovec receiving second-team recognition.
In 2019, Johnson was an integral part of the Crimson being one of the top defensive lines in the country. Harvard ranked first in the FCS in team sacks (4.3 per game), fifth in team tackles for loss (8.6 per game) and sixth in rushing defense (89.8 yards per game), all numbers that led the Ivy League. Johnson helped Brogan McPartland earn first-team all-Ivy League honors after totaling an Ivy-best 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss in just seven games. Nasir Darnell, meanwhile, captured Honorable Mention all-Ivy League accolades with three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Harvard capped the 2018 campaign by defeating Yale, 45-27, in the highest scoring episode of The Game. The Crimson earned 13 All-Ivy selections, including five on the first team, and finished 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Ivy League. Stone Hart was a finalist for the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year.
For the second year in a row, two defensive linemen earned All-Ivy recognition, as Hart and Richie Ryan were both honored by the conference. The Crimson finished third in the League with 26 sacks and was also third in run defense.
Two members of the defensive line - DJ Bailey and Langston Ward - earned All-Ivy League recognition in 2016, as Harvard finished 7-3 overall. The Crimson defense ranked No. 7 in the country in rushing defense and 15th overall in points allowed per game.Â
The defensive line helped the Crimson to its 17th Ivy title in 2015 by allowing just 13.0 points per game. Defensive end James Duberg was named All-Ivy second team after registering 16 tackles and four quarterback hurries.
Johnson spent 2014 as a defensive line coach at Bentley after working as a special teams quality control coach at Coastal Carolina in 2013. His duties with the Chanticleers also included breaking down film and creating individual weekly scouting reports for each special teams unit, organizing NFL scouting visits throughout the 2013 season and organizing special teams unit substitutions during games.
Prior to his stint at CCU, Johnson spent two years as an assistant coach at Fitchburg State, working with the running backs, linebackers and special teams.
A Fitchburg, Massachusetts native, Johnson received his bachelor of science in exercise and sports science in 2011, and earned his MBA from Fitchburg State in 2013. He played offensive and defensive line at Fitchburg State and earned first-team All-New England Football Conference honors as a senior in 2010.
Johnson lives in Waltham, Massachusetts, with his wife, Alyssa, and their daughter, Evie.
