Temple University Athletics

Football

Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson was named Director of Player Development in June 2024. This comes after Johnson spent three months as the Assistant 
Director of Player Development. An Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach for Temple Football for eight months, Johnson returned to college athletics in January 2022 after many years in the private sector. In between, He also served as Assistant Dierctor of Football Opearations from 2022-24.
 
Johnson, founder and director of performance for Helix Elite Performance, is well known in Austin, Texas. He has trained various professional football players and world-class track and field athletes and is well known internationally for the first-rate results in strength and conditioning that he produces for his clients. Whether providing NFL off-season player development for the likes of the late Cedric Benson, Vince Young, Cedric Griffin, Lamar Houston, Michael Griffin, Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Charles and two-time Super Bowl champion Aaron Ross or training elite athletes like Sanya Richards-Ross (four-time Olympic gold medalist and 400-meter American record holder) and Michael Tinsley (2012 Olympic silver medalist), the Helix Elite Performance brand delivered excellence. 

Before Johnson ventured into the professional ranks, he served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for Texas from 2001-07. While with the Longhorns, the football team won the 2005 BCS National Championship and the women’s track & field team won back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 2005-06. During his time at Texas, he contributed to the success of 10 NFL first round draft picks, 31 overall NFL draft picks, and 30 NCAA All-Americans in football alone.

Johnson’s coaching time is not exclusive to professional athletes. Helix Elite Performance is the official training partner of Austin Junior Volleyball (AJV). These programs helped lead Austin Junior Volleyball to three National Championships in three different age groups in 2013.
 
Prior to his stint at Texas, Johnson coached at Minnesota in 1999, where he helped the Golden Gophers complete an 8-4 season – their first winning season since 1990.  He also spent time at Indiana (1999) and UNC-Charlotte (1997-1999) as a strength and conditioning intern and student assistant. Before his introduction to collegiate strength and conditioning, he coached multiple sports at East Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, N.C. 
 
Johnson holds a bachelor of science degree from North Carolina-Charlotte in health fitness and kinesiology. In 2003, he was Strength Conditioning Coach Certified (SCCC) through the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa). Johnson was a two-sport student-athlete at Alabama A&M in football (defensive/offensive line) and track and field (shot-put and discus). In 1988, Johnson earned the Most Valuable Field Event Performer award and the all-conference selection for the school’s first ever Men’s Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship. 
 
Johnson is a member of USA Track & Field, the National Strength & Conditioning Association and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. A native of Akron, Ohio, he and his wife Veronica have two daughters, Kyndall, a graduate of Coppin State, and Maya, a volleyball player at North Carolina A&T.