John Haneline is in his second season as the Penguins' Defensive Coordinator. He is in his fourth year overall as an assistant coach for Head Coach Doug Phillips. Haneline has served as YSU's linebackers coach throughout his YSU tenure.
In his first season as defensive coordinator in 2024, YSU had six players with 45 or more tackles. Linebackers Devin Johnson and Preston Zandier combined for 96 stops on the season.
YSU had one of the best linebacker duos in the MVFC in 2023. The Penguins had a great amount of success during the year winning eight games and advancing to the FCS Playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
Alex Howard and Greg Benton Jr. finished as the Penguins' top tacklers for the campaign. Howard, an honorable-mention all-league pick, led the Guins with 76 total tackles, including a team-best 9.5 TFLs. Benton was second on the squad with 66 stops and 7.5 TFLs. The pair combined for six sacks as well.
The defense held nine opponents to 111-or-fewer yards rushing in a game throughout the year and four times YSU held an opponent to under 155 yards passing in a game. Overall, the unit allowed just 102.2 yards rushing per game. The lowest per game total since 2012 and the second lowest since 1998 and ranked 10th in the FCS in rushing defense (102.2 ypg).
He also served as co-Defensive Coordinator for the Guins in 2023.
In 2022, YSU's linebacker group showed growth throughout the season. A deep position, the Guins were able to play at a high level behind Griffin Hoak, Benton Jr., Howard and Johnson.
Benton registered 36 tackles while starting all 11 games after transferring from Western Illinois. Howard came on strong late in the season to finish with 34 tackles while making just three starts. He was named the MVFC Defensive Player of the Week following the Illinois State victory. Hoak continued his consist play posting 28 tackles making eight starts. Johnson added 26 stops during the campaign.
Before joining the YSU staff in February 2022, he was the defensive line coach at Western Illinois from 2018-21. In his final three years, his oversight broadened to include the defensive run game. At Western, Haneline had an All-MVFC selection in each of his four campaigns.
In his first year with the Leathernecks, he coached Khalen Saunders to first-team All-MVFC and All-American (Associated Press and STATS FCS) honors. The Kansas City Chiefs selected Saunders 84th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, and he became Western's first NFL draftee in 10 seasons.
In 2021, Hunter Mason was named an Honorable-Mention All-MVFC selection. During the spring campaign earlier in 2021, WIU's Eryk Preston was an MVFC Honorable-Mention pick. In 2019, LaCale London was an honorable-mention All-MVFC selection.
Haneline joined the Western Illinois staff after two seasons at Mississippi State, where he served in defensive quality control capacity in 2016 and 2017. In his role, he assisted in coaching the defensive line. In his first stint with the Bulldogs in 2014, he was a defensive graduate assistant working with the linebackers and was named interim linebackers coach ahead of the Orange Bowl (2015).
Haneline's coaching career also featured stops at Colorado School of Mines (linebackers in 2015) and Toledo (graduate assistant in 2013).
As a player, he suited up for the Bowling Green football team from 2004-09 and was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter. The Falcons were crowned the GMAC Bowl champions in 2004 and earned were Mid-American East co-champions in 2007.
A graduate of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from BGSU in 2009.
Haneline resides with his wife, Heather.
