Ben Johnson has been one of the top head-coaching candidates in back-to-back cycles. His turnaround of the Lions' offense has been a major factor in Detroit's rapid rise.Yet the Lions offensive coordinator is staying put, NFL Network's Tom Peli sero reported Tuesday.Johnson had been considered among the top candidates for the Commanders' and Seahawks' openings at head coach. OC Ben Johnson informed the and that hes staying in Detroit, per sources.Johnson is still only 37 and will be a hot head coaching candidate again next year. But first, he wants Tomas Hyka Kids Jersey to take another shot at bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Detroit. Tom Peli sero (@TomPeli sero) The Lions have become an offensive force under Johnson. The 37-year-old has become known for his creative plays, which keep even the brightest defensive minds gue sing.But his path to the top of thehead-coaching candidate pool did not start with drawing up creative plays. Johnson has spent a lot of time around standout NFL minds throughout his career, which has taken him from working alongside a pair of future NFL head coaches in Miami to landing his prime position in Detroit.BENDER:"I think Ben's a rock star, man," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said, . "He's a young guy, but he's kind of gone a little longer, harder road to get to where he's at. He's been around some really good coaches, now, some guys who have coached some pretty good quarterbacks."Just being around Mike Sherman when I was with him down there in Miami . Joe Philbin, who was with Aaron Rodgers. Then he's with Adam Gase, who had Peyton Manning and those guys. So he understands quarterback Pierre-Edouard Bellemare Men Jersey play well. He was with Zac Taylor, who was with me in Miami. We were all together there in Miami. So, he understands it well."Who is Ben Johnson?Johnson is the Lions' offensive coordinator. He wrapped up his second season in the role with a lo s in the NFC championship game after being promoted from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator in 2022.Where did Ben Johnson go to college?Johnson went to North Carolina. A longtime Carolinian, he was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and played quarterback in high school at A.C. Reynolds High in Asheville, North Carolina.While he walked onto the North Carolina football team in 2004,he did not see any playing time with the Tar Heels. He graduated in 2008 with bachelor's degrees in computer science and mathematics.T.J. Yates, who served as the starting quarterback forNorth Carolina during Johnson's career, praised his teammate's football knowledge and teachability."He was always a guy that was willing to help out, teach, and you could just tell," Yates said, . "When a guy talks football, the teaching part just naturally comes out of them and that's something you could really see from Ben early on."DeCOURCY: Johnson worked as a junior programmer from 2008 to 2009. Another teammate of Johnson's at North Carolina, Cam Sexton, that Johnson was certain programming was his future."If you asked me back then, what would Ben Johnson be doing today, I would Cody Eakin Kids Jersey have said he would most likely be working on the Artemis program at NASA," Sexton told the Post.Instead, Johnson went to Boston College in the summer of 2009, where he worked on earning his master's degree in administrative studies. While there, he officially started his coaching career.Ben Johnson coaching timelineAs soon as Johnson arrived on campus at Boston College, he began his time working as a graduate a sistant. While with the Eagles, he color-coded the offensive coordinator's play sheets and quarterback's wrist bands to a sist with signifying different personnel groups and make identifying plays easier, per the Washington Post.Johnson held that role for two years before he was moved up to coaching tight ends at Boston College in his final season (2011) with the team.Upon wrapping up his graduate degree in the winter of 2011, Johnson was brought onto the staff of Joe Philbin's Dolphins as an offensive a sistant. After the 2012 season, he was moved up to a sistant quarterbacks coach, working under now-Bengals head coach Zac Taylor."I've tried to hire Ben many, many times. He always just gets promoted to where I can't get him. Dan Campbell knows that," Taylor said in 2022, . "I've always tried to find a place for him on staff, whether it's offense, defense, special, it doesn't matter. He's one of those guys you want on your staff because he's brilliant."Johnson kept working his way up the ladder. In 2015, Philbin was fired, and Campbell stepped Colin Miller Jersey in as the interim head coach. With the move, Campbell promoted Johnson to tight ends coach, filling the void Campbell left with his promotion.Campbell left to be the offensive coordinator in New Orleans the next season, but Johnson stayed in Miami to become the a sistant wide receiver coach under Adam Gase for a pair of seasons before being promoted to wide receivers coach in 2018.Johnson was brought on by the Lions in 2019 to be the offensive quality control coach during Matt Patricia's second year as the head coach. Johnson then moved up to tight ends coach in 2020, a role he held again in 2021 during Campbell's first year as William Carrier Kids Jersey the Lions head coach. Midway through the campaign, Campbell put him in charge of the pa sing game.The succe s found in the second half of the season for Detroit led Johnson to earn a promotion to offensive coordinator starting in 2022. The turnaround was immediate. The Lions ranked 25th in scoring offense in 2021. They ranked fifth in scoring offense in 2022.It wasn't just the scoring that improved. The playbook was suddenly much more creative, and in the two years Johnson has been offensive coordinator, the Lions have had perhaps the league's most unpredictable offense, with unique play calls seemingly popping up every week."We've got a library of things that catch our eye whether in the NFL or college that goes back for years now," Johnson said, per the Post.The 2023 season saw no regre sion from Johnson's previous season, as the Lions went from averaging 26.6 points per game in 2022 to 27.1 in 2023, still ranking fifth in the league. And due in large part to Johnson's coaching, the Lions went to the NFC conference championship for the first time since the 1991 campaign.Johnson will now have a chance to continue building on the Lions' succe s in 2024, as well as improve his stock for the next coaching cycle when he will again be a top-tier candidate.