Bethune-Cookman University Athletics

John Powers enters the 2015 season starting his sixth year as the offensive line coach for Bethune-Cookman University.

Under Powers’ direction, the Bethune-Cookman offensive line has helped pave the way for the Wildcats offense to finish no lower than fifth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference ranks for rushing offense, scoring offense and total offense in each of the last four years. Due in large part to Powers, the running game for the Wildcats has been a staple of the offense for the previous five seasons.

During the 2014 campaign, Powers worked with another young Division I offensive line. The Wildcats finished the season fifth in the conference for total offense with 361.4 yards per game, but managed to place third in the league for rushing offense (199.2 yards/game). Those numbers once again allowed the Wildcats to claim a share of the league’s title – the fourth of its kind in the last five years. Following the regular season, senior center Andrea Edouard was named to the All-MEAC Second Team, the second time in as many years he has earned all-conference recognition.

In 2013, Powers coached one of his youngest offensive line units in recent years, but pushing them to once again establish the league’s best rushing offense (243 y/g) and scoring offense (29.6 p/g). The Wildcats rushing offense finished 10th in the FCS, while the scoring offense ranked 41st. In all, the Cats rushed for 3,159 yards and 39 touchdowns during the 2013 MEAC Championship campaign.

As a unit, the Cats amassed 12 games in which they rushed for 150 yards or more, including a season-best 475 yards in a decisive 42-12 win over Hampton. The Cats also ran for 436 yards in a nationally-televised game at North Carolina Central, while the offensive line blocked for quarterbacks Quentin Williams and Brodrick Waters in assisting B-CU with a season-best 304 yards passing in the opening round of the FCS Playoffs at Coastal Carolina.

Additionally in 2013, the offensive line helped establish running back Isidore Jackson as the all-time leading rusher in B-CU history, as he tallied 828 yards on the year, giving him 3,277 yards in his illustrious career with the Maroon and Gold. In all, four Wildcats rushed for more than 400 yards – Jackson (828), Cary White (485), Quentin Williams (424) and Anthony Jordan (410), with each scoring no less than five touchdowns via the ground game.

Newcomer and center Andrew Edouard was named to the All-MEAC First Team, alongside line mates Alex Monroe and Rashard Brown. Anthony Kibler picked up third team accolades. Monroe went on to collect Beyond Sports Network All-America honors, as Edouard and Monroe established themselves to the Boxtorow All-America Team.

In 2012, he saw tackle Terrance Hackney earn All-America honors as well as being named MEAC Offensive Lineman of the Year.

His offensive line paved the way for running back Isidore Jackson to become just the seventh player in school history to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in a single season. It was the first time the feat had been accomplished by a running back since Steve Wallace in 1997 and the first overall since quarterback Allen Suber in 2002. Jackson also finished the campaign second in the league for rushing yards, marking the highest finish for a Wildcat running back in league standings in more than 10 years.

As a whole, the Wildcats offense line unit paved the way for a MEAC-leading 4,665 yards of total offense under the head coach Brian Jenkins’ spread-option attack. That total includes a league-leading 2,928 yards on the ground, mostly from running back Isidore Jackson. Hackney's blocking exploits were instrumental in placing Bethune-Cookman atop the conference in scoring offense (29.4 points per game).

The Wildcats were not only the MEAC’s top offensive team a season ago, but they were also the league’s top scoring team averaging 29.4 points per game. That allowed them to rank in the top 40 nationally as well. Additionally, the Cats were the only team in the conference to average at least 225 yards rushing and 140 yards passing per game. They were one of just five teams nationally to accomplish the feat as well.

In the rushing category, B-CU led the league and finished 10th nationally with an average of 244.42 yards per game, and accumulating 28 rushing touchdowns on 2,933 yards rushing for the season.

With the multiple-look offense of the Wildcats offensive system, the offensive line play becomes crucial, and Powers’ linemen  aided in B-CU’s FCS fifth-place ranking in 2011 for total offense (212.8 yards per game).

In 2010, he guided a B-CU offensive line that set the stage for the offense to set single season school record marks for points (457) and yards (5,107).

Powers came to Daytona Beach from Ball State University where he served on the Cardinals football staff beginning in 2006. In 2007, he coached the offensive line which helped register a school-record 5,640 yards of total offense including a school record-setting 3,667 yards passing and 30 TD passes in 2007, surpassing marks by the unit he oversaw in 2006 (3,112 yards, 27 passing TDs).

Before Ball State, Powers was an assistant coach at Lehigh for five seasons, also serving as the Recruiting Coordinator in 2004 and 2005, where he developed a reputation as one of the top line coaches in the northeast. Powers was credited with taking a very inexperienced unit and training them into all-conference players, as well as coaching players to all-conference status, including one All-American.

Powers is in his 23rd season overall as a football coach. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Wagner in 1992 and also at Columbia from 1993-94. He returned to Wagner as a full-time assistant coach for two seasons before returning to Columbia as the Recruiting and Run Game Coordinator for three seasons before his stint at Lehigh.

Powers earned his Bachelor's Degree in English at Villanova in 1990, where he was an offensive lineman for the Wildcats. He was a two-year letterwinner for the Wildcats and a member of the 1989 Yankee Conference Championship team.

He has three children; Rory, Riley, and Patrick.