“On my Twitter page it says: rocket scientist, football coach.
“There have been schools where I have coached and kids would ask, ‘you’re an engineer, coach?’ and they seemed so shocked that I’m an engineer. It’s funny! I have two kids on my team this year who are seniors, and they’re going to major in engineering in college. I’m sure there are others that would say, ‘Wow, if Coach Johnson can do it, so can I.’ I’ve brought guys out [to Kennedy Space Center] during Bring Your Child to Work Day. The kids are always wondering, when is a launch? I’m sure they’re all paying more attention to it because I’m around.
“[My job also] sparked a conversation with fellow coaches. The American Football Coaches Association did a profile on me last year about how NASA has helped me become a better football coach. For one, the foundations of flight control — those values of being competent at your job, having confidence, being vigilant — translate directly to the football field and then vice versa [when] dealing with adversity. In football, you can be down, you can play hurt, and you learn to fight through adversity. Sometimes, fighting through engineering problems can be tough to solve, but you learn how to persevere, and you find a solution to the problem you’re working on.
“As far as similarities, in football, you have a lot of people from different backgrounds and different abilities, and you have to get together to achieve a goal. That’s no different from what we do around here.”
— Yusef Johnson, Flight Design Engineer, Kennedy Space Center
Image Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett
Interviewer: NASA / Tahira Allen