QB Coach Kevin Johns Making Early Impact, Why Gundy Was ‘Fortunate’ to Land Him

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s ongoing quarterback battle dominated headlines throughout the offseason and will continue to do so for the next month.

But the guy responsible for turning one of Hauss Hejny or Zane Flores into a superstar wasn’t easy to find last offseason when Mike Gundy went looking for a new quarterbacks coach.

“There were very few guys out there at that position that I felt like were capable of coaching these guys and doing it the right way,” Gundy said. “Very few. It was hard. That was one of the hardest positions to find in this last search.”

Gundy ended up going with Kevin Johns, who coached quarterbacks and coordinated offenses at multiple stops, including Indiana, Duke and most recently Oklahoma last season when he stepped in for the final five games.

Hejny actually committed to Duke initially before ultimately choosing to follow in his parents’ footsteps and compete at TCU.

“Coach Johns, he was the most thorough recruiter that I had,” Hejny said when he committed to OSU. “He came to like three or four of my high school practices during playoffs. He had his camera out. He was videoing things the whole practice. There was no other coach that had done that. He had a really good relationship with my parents. (He) went out of his way to build a relationship with my parents. He was real thorough about it and personal about everything. Just recruited me the right way and showed a lot of interest and belief in me. That meant a lot to me and my family, and I believed in him as a coach to prepare me for the next level throughout my college career.

“I’m just super glad that everything has come full circle, that he’s at Oklahoma State, and it’s all gonna work out how it’s supposed to. So, I’m super blessed to be back in a quarterback room with him.”

Oklahoma State’s quarterback doubled down on his praise of Johns on Saturday when asked how to describe his improvement since arriving in Stillwater.

“I would say defensive recognition, just overall understanding of the game,” Hejny said. “I’m seeing a lot. I’ve seen a lot more on the field in terms of defensive recognition, whether it’s coverage, defensive line alignment, the game is kind of slowing down for me mentally.

“That is props to our quarterback coach. He takes a lot of pride and preparation for his quarterbacks and getting his quarterbacks prepared.”

Gundy said Johns was one of only two or three coaches that he identified during his search that he thought could be capable of coaching the Cowboys’ quarterbacks.

“He comes from a good background,” Gundy said. “He comes in very highly regarded from people that I trust and understand. … We were very fortunate that he was available.”

Johns has either coached quarterbacks, coordinated offenses or handled both jobs every season from 2015 to 2023. During those nine years, five of his quarterbacks threw for 3,300 passing yards, four threw at least 25 touchdowns and four completed more than 60% of their passes.

One of the outlier seasons was his one-year stint at Western Michigan in 2017. However, his offense bounced back in 2018. In fact, all three of those numbers go up if you count that Texas Tech squad which saw two quarterbacks, including a young Alan Bowman, attempt 150-plus passes. The top two passers that year combined threw for more than 3,500 yards, 25 touchdowns and completed more than 68% of their passes. For context, all OSU passers last season combined for 3,147 yards, 21 touchdowns and a 59.5% completion rate.

“His pedigree and background is good for what he’s done,” Gundy said. “He’s called plays, he’s been a coordinator, he’s handled his own position and is very experienced with quarterbacks. I can do the research with people that know him and have worked with him and players that have played with him and if they improved during the time he was coaching them.”