Lake’s UW Huskies hire John Donovan as next offensive coordinator
Jan 10, 2020, 9:16 AM
UW Huskies head coach Jimmy Lake has hired John Donovan as the program's next OC and QBs coach. (AP)
(AP)
The UW Huskies have their replacement for Bush Hamdan in John Donovan.
UW Huskies QB Jacob Eason declares for NFL Draft
Donovan, who spent the last four seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was selected as the program’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Friday morning per a press release from the University of Washington.
In addition to his run in Jacksonville, Donovan has experience calling plays at the collegiate level, having served as offensive coordinator at both Vanderbilt and Penn State. Overall, he has 19 years of experience coaching college football.
“Coach Donovan has a great deal of experience at both the college and NFL levels, learning from a lot of great offensive minds about coaching the kind of aggressive, pro-style offense we want to play here at Washington,” Lake said in the release. “From my own experience, I know how much a coach can learn and grow by spending significant time in the NFL. I’m excited for him to get to Seattle and get started.”
đź—’The Resume
Get to know our new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, John Donovan. #PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/29KIZvAabq
— Washington Football (@UW_Football) January 10, 2020
“I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of such a great university, with unbelievable football tradition, like the University of Washington,” Donovan said. “Thanks to Coach Lake and everyone involved for this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to getting started. Go Dawgs!”
While with Jacksonville, Donovan spent two seasons as quarterbacks coach as well as a season coaching the tight ends and another coaching the running backs. He was the quarterbacks coach when the Jaguars went 10-6 and went to the AFC Championship game.
When coaching the running backs last season, he helped running back Leonard Fournette achieve a career-high 1,152 rushing yards and 76 receptions out of the backfield.
Donovan played defensive back at Johns Hopkins from 1993 to 1996 and had 12 interceptions.
He interned with the Carolina Panthers and began coaching as an assistant defensive backs coach at Villanova in 1997. He then went to Georgia Tech where he was a graduate assistant for three seasons.
After Georgia Tech, he was hired at Maryland as a recruiting coordinator for four seasons before coaching the running backs in 2005. In 2006 and 2007, he was the Terrains’ quarterbacks coach before returning to running backs coach from 2008 to 2010.
While coaching at Maryland, Donovan coached with James Franklin, who took Donovan with him to Vanderbilt to be offensive coordinator when Franklin was named head coach before 2011. When Franklin was hired at Penn State, he took Donovan with him again to be his offensive coordinator.
Donovan will have a tough task from the start, as UW has lost their two best offensive lineman, their leading passer, rusher and two leading receivers to the NFL Draft.
Donovan replaces Hamdan, who coached for the Huskies under Chris Petersen from 2015 to 2019, the last two years as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He was fired after Lake officially took over for Petersen after UW’s bowl win over Boise State.
