John Jenkins

John Jenkins (born June 20, 1952) is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach the University of Houston from 1990 to 1992, compiling a record of 18–15. A proponent of the run and shoot offense, Jenkins also coached professional football in the United States Football League (USFL), the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL). He served as the head coach of the CFL's Ottawa Renegades in 2006, the FXFL's Blacktips in 2014 and the Hudson Valley Fort for part of 2015. During his career as a coach, Jenkins has mentored a number of notable quarterbacks such as Andre Ware, David Klingler, Jim Kelly, Eric Crouch, Kliff Kingsbury, Anthony Calvillo and Doug Flutie.

Early life and playing career Jenkins was raised in Pampa, Texas. He played college football at the University of Arkansas.

Coaching career

Houston Gamblers After serving as the special teams coach for the Houston Gamblers of the USFL in 1984, Jenkins was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1985 with the departure of Mouse Davis, who moved to the Denver Gold as head coach. Jenkins kept the run and shoot offense that Davis had installed, but modified the offense into his own version. In Jenkins' debut as offensive coordinator against Steve Young and the Los Angeles Express, the Gamblers trailed 33–13 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. Employing a hurry-up offense, the Gamblers came back to win the game 34–33. Since the game was not televised, Sports Illustrated dubbed it "The Greatest Game Never Seen".

In the fourth week of the 1985 season, the Gamblers met Davis' Denver Gold in the first game ever to pit two run and shoot offenses. The two offenses showed only small similarities as Jenkins employed various new tactics such as motioning receivers out of the backfield and going into empty sets. The Gamblers won 36–17.

After the game, quarterback Jim Kelly was on pace to finish the season with 7,434 yards and 78 touchdowns. But due to a leg injury, he missed six games of the regular season and he fell well short of those marks. However, Kelly and his backup, Todd Dillon, combined 6,118 yards passing on the season, a record for professional American football. The Gamblers offense also featured three receivers—Clarence Verdin, Gerald McNeil, and Richard Johnson—that each totaled over 1,000 yards, a rarity that only Don Coryell's San Diego Chargers accomplished in the early 1980s. The Gamblers made the playoffs with a 10–8 record, and lost to the Birmingham Stallions, 22–20.

Dream Team In 1986, Donald Trump, owner of the New Jersey Generals, bought the Houston Gamblers. The Gamblers and the Generals were merged, matching the USFL's leading rusher, Herschel Walker, with its leading passer, Kelly, and creating what ESPN called the "Dream Team". There were also rumors of Jenkins installing a two-quarterback system with Doug Flutie in the slot. However, after a failed attempt to launch the season in the fall, the USFL folded, and the "Dream Team" never took the field.

Houston Cougars

Offensive coordinator Jenkins moved to the University of Houston and joined the Houston Cougars football staff as the offensive coordinator in 1987. There he inherited a veer option offense featuring Andre Ware, who only threw one touchdown pass his entire high school career, and converted it into one of the most prolific passing attacks in college football history.

When Jenkins joined the Cougars, he had further developed his offense from a pure run and shoot attack into what he referred to as the "Multiple Adjusting Passing Offense" or "MAPO".

Head coaching record College