BOZEMAN — Last week, Montana State announced the hiring of Al Johnson to be its new offensive line coach. The Bobcats’ newest assistant football coach made his first media appearance on Thursday.
Johnson, 44, came to MSU after one season as the running backs coach at Wisconsin, where he started at center in the early 2000s. The Brussels, Wisconsin, native played eight seasons in the NFL, then took an assistant O-line coaching job at Division III St. Norbert in 2014, took the same job at Wisconsin in 2016 and became the head coach at Division II East Central in 2018.
Johnson is replacing Brian Armstrong, who left MSU last month for the O-line coaching job at Fresno State.
Johnson talked to reporters Thursday at the Bobcat Athletic Complex about his new team, his coaching philosophy, playing with a former Montana Grizzly, playing with the recently retired Tom Brady and more.
NOTE: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. The full interview can be viewed in the video below.
Q: Welcome to Bozeman. Very exciting. People say maybe you've got some big shoes to fill, but you've got a resume that (indicates) you can absolutely do that. What gets you excited about this job?
AJ: Thank you. Great to be in Bozeman. The world works in funny ways. My family and I took a trip here in June. We went by and flew into the airport, drove around the (Bobcat) stadium. We actually stayed to go, obviously, to Yellowstone.
The kids are not wanting to move again, but they're a little more excited knowing what they're coming to. They've been to Bozeman and (seen) how beautiful it is here and the great tradition within this team.
Q: What were your thoughts seeing the stadium at that moment, not knowing you'd eventually be a coach but knowing that there is such a rich history here?
AJ: It's one of those surreal things because you can't really think or plan that I would be in this situation. Then going by and just thinking, ‘I see why people come here,’ and how beautiful it is surrounded by the mountains, and then knowing the great tradition.
I was actually brought to it when I was playing for the Cowboys. I played for Dallas, and my second year, we signed an unrestricted free agent O-lineman from that team we don't talk about — I've learned we don't mention their name — Cory Procter. I played with Cory in Dallas for three years, and I still talk to him for it to this day. Cory was the first one to really start telling me about the (Cat-Griz) rivalry game and what it means to the state and to the people and how literally divided it is. I've watched the games and watched the playoffs and been able to see that and just to see the passion and the fans and the players and the team and this area.
So I'm really excited to be a part of it, and I can't wait to really just get going. I've got to learn a lot of names before that.
Q: I'm assuming Cory reached out when he found out you're going to be wearing the blue and gold, right?
AJ: Not yet. I think he might still be mad. But we'll talk at some point. I'm sure he'll give me a lot of stuff for that.
Q: How did you get connected with Montana State (and head coach Brent Vigen)?
AJ: Like a lot of things, it's a lot about networking. I was able to work with (Wisconsin O-line coach) Bob Bostad, and I know (Wyoming offensive coordinator) Tim Polasek really well. Those guys I've known for years, so it's really just connection and were able to really just get my name that I would be interested in this position and then getting an interview and then kind of just taking it from there and having conversations with (MSU offensive coordinator) Housewright and Coach Vigen (who coached with Polasek at North Dakota State) and kind of going through that process. I was excited to be offered and happy to accept it and even happier to be here today.
Q: Was getting back into O-line coaching a big part of taking this job?
AJ: Yes, actually. I really wanted to get back into O-line. O-line is my passion. I played that. Coaching’s sometimes a funny business. I was head coach for four years. I was athletic director my last year when I was head coach at D-II East Central in Ada, Oklahoma, but I also coached O-line that whole time. So I've really coached the O-line my whole coaching career other than last year when I coached the running backs at Wisconsin.
Q: What do you think of this O-line that you're inheriting?
AJ: I'm very blessed. This is a situation (with) pressure, and I like that. I told Coach Vigen this: I want to go somewhere where the standard’s high, where the expectations are high and winning is the standard and playing well and having a great O-line is the standard. There's a lot of pressure that comes with that, but I embrace that.
So I'm very blessed, and I mean that. This is a very good O-line and a line with a lot of talent. One, I’ve got to make sure I don't screw them up, and, two, do what I can to help them and fit into the offense and try to put all the pieces in the right place to ultimately get to Frisco and come home with the big trophy.
Q: When you get settled in after getting to know the O-line and finding a place to live, for that matter, what's first on the agenda?
AJ: I've already kind of started that. You have to be able to multitask. You have to watch all the games. I think, for me, that's the first spot that you want to start. I've started at the last game of the ,and I'm working my way backwards. Watching all the games, that's really helped me get a feel for the seven O-linemen that played last year and kind of where our starting point is.
Obviously we all have ideas, and I have ideas, but you don't want to just come in and say, ‘Well we need to change this and do this.’ You don't want to change something that was working. You just really want to add to it.
Q: You've worked at so many different levels. As you visit with the kids, what strikes you about similarities and differences between this group and the other kids you've coached?
AJ: Every kid — even in that room with 15 personalities and then four more that are coming on — they're all different, and they all have different backgrounds. That's the beauty of being a college coach is you get to meet guys from so many different backgrounds.
We all know that college football is changing by the day with the (transfer) portal and NIL and stuff like that. But here, you get a sense of the love that they have for this university, the desire to win and to keep getting better. … Nobody’s satisfied. From all the meetings I've had with them, they all have even higher goals and they want to keep working. In the few days that I've been able to see them in the weight room and running, they attack each day to get better. No one is just satisfied with what they've accomplished already.
Q: Do you have a philosophy or specific things you focus on with offensive line coaching?
AJ: First and foremost, my job is to help them. At the end of the day, each player is different and each player has just a little bit different athletic traits, personality traits, just kind of a mental way they go about things. It's really to figure out who they are and kind of what makes them tick and then how can I help them. What one technique might be good for one of the O-linemen, the guy right next to him might need a little bit different technique, mainly because of his athleticism or he bends or he’s stronger.
To be an O-lineman, you have to be physical. You have to be tough. There has to be a sense of, ‘I am going to win this block. I will not let my man make the play.’ There has to be an edge to you that, ‘Every day, I'm going out and you're not touching that ball. Whether it's Tommy (Mellott) running the ball or the quarterbacks throwing the ball, whoever it is, my man’s not making the play.’ You’ve got to kind of have that in you, and there's plenty of words in the English dictionary that describe that. I probably can't put them on the air. But you have to have that edge about you. You really do. I get the sense early on that these guys have that. That's where Coach Armstrong I think did a great job. Recruiting is really where it all starts, and these guys have done a great job recruiting.
Q: Have you and Armstrong had any passing conversations before he left to kind of give you an idea of what you're coming into?
AJ: We haven't, just because of timing and stuff. It’s even more so nowadays, I can imagine — because I've been there — Coach Armstrong got hired and went right on the road recruiting. He switched out his Cat logo for the Fresno logo and went recruiting.
The big help a lot of times is the grad assistants and assistant coaches that have been with (the players). They can help start to lay the groundwork of each player and their personality. Coach Houseright and Coach Vigen have really helped in that too, and then they'll have meetings.
It's tough. It really is. When you start over, you walk into a meeting room, and they're looking at you, like, ‘Can I trust this guy? Is he full of it? Is he not?’ The first things I tell them is, ‘It takes time. I'm not here to try to rush it. I just want you to be you, and I'm going to be myself.’ And over time, we will build that trust that it takes to have a good relationship between player and coach.
Q: Seeing this run-heavy offense with a lot of downhill blocking and things like that, does that kind of get your inner offensive lineman pretty excited to be doing a lot of down blocking instead of pass blocking?
AJ: Yeah. I don't think they mind pass blocking as much. I think it really does come down to being successful and doing what our roster and what our offense can be consistently good at.
Obviously we love to run the ball and for a lot of reasons. You get to be physical and you get to impose your will and you get to wear teams down. It's also harder to defend and it opens up the pass and it's more consistent. We can all look outside right now and see the snow. To win the big games in the playoffs — and, as I was told the other day, maybe even in October here — you have to be able to play in some bad weather. The best way to do that is to, a lot of times, run the ball.
But yeah, I think most O-linemen would like to run the ball in some form or fashion. And that's where Coach Housewright does a great job in that system of mixing it up: who we’re reading, who's running the ball, motion shifts, things like that.
Q: What did you take from not just playing at Wisconsin but coaching there too that you think you'll be able to bring to Montana State?
AJ: I think the mindset, how you have to go about your business, the detail that it takes. Especially watching this film, the defenses each week will play you differently. There's a lot of different defenses, a lot of different looks, a lot of different schemes, and you have to take the same set of plays and be able to block it up against whoever we're playing.
Ultimately, offense can be complicated at times, but it still comes down to 11 guys doing their job, and before you can really do your job, you have to be able to know what your job is. So being able to communicate that and get through to that and then being able to have 11 guys out there, including the five up front, being on the same page and block the guys that we need to block.
Q: Did you play with Brady in ‘09 (with the New England Patriots)?
AJ: I did. I was pretty beat up at that time. I had to get another knee surgery and stuff, and he was actually just coming off of the year where he had (the injury that led to) the “Brady Rule.” That was the year before. He was there most of the offseason working out so I did get to see him work.
I really am thankful for my time there, even though I didn't get to play very much, just because I kind of see how that organization was operated and how it was run and how the players kind of went about their business. Even though I didn't have any aspirations to coach at the time, looking back, it was a very useful tool.
